Let’s be honest: Korea is a tough country to travel vegan. Broth hides in everything, fish sauce sneaks into “vegetable” dishes, and asking about ingredients can be a linguistic adventure. Which is why Plantude COEX — a 100% vegan restaurant inside Starfield COEX Mall — deserves a spot on every plant-based traveler’s map.
I’ve been twice, most recently with my mother, who eats vegan — and she left saying it was the best meal she’d had in ages. That’s the review, really. But here are the details.
What is Plantude?
The name blends “plant” and “attitude,” and the concept is simple: every single item on the menu is vegan — no menu-decoding, no “does this have fish sauce?” anxiety. Just order anything. Plantude COEX’s run by CJ, one of Korea’s biggest food companies, so this isn’t a scrappy cafe that might vanish — it’s a polished operation with a proper kitchen.
The menu is Korean and Korean-fusion comfort food gone plant-based: soup curry, eggplant rice bowls, gosari (fernbrake) oil pasta, ragu pasta, cream tteokbokki, bibimbap, tofu gangjeong, tofu karaage with buckwheat noodles.
Getting there
- Address: B1 floor, Starfield COEX Mall, 513 Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu (Google Maps)
- Landmark directions: on the basement level, in front of the Megabox cinema, next to the Godiva shop
- Subway: Samseong Station (Line 2) connects directly to the mall; Bongeunsa Station (Line 9) works too
- Hours: 11am–9pm daily
If you’re doing the COEX circuit anyway — the famous Starfield Library, the aquarium, K-pop landmarks — this slots perfectly into the day.
Ordering
You order from a tablet at your table, and here’s the good news: you can switch the tablet’s language to English. Between that and photos of every dish, this might be the lowest-stress ordering experience a vegan traveler can have in Seoul. Cards accepted.
Prices: mains run roughly 15,000–20,000 KRW, sides around 11,000 KRW — expect about $13–18 per person for a full meal, which is fair for what you get (and for COEX).
What we ordered
Crumbled Tofu Bibimbap + Tomato Sundubu Stew
The stew stopped me the first time I tried it: tangy tomato meets silky Korean soft tofu, lightly spicy, and the combination genuinely works — familiar and new at once. The bibimbap comes loaded with chewy tofu crumbles and fresh vegetables; mix it all up with the soy-based sauce. Together it’s a big, satisfying meal.
Sapporo-Style Soup Curry with Multigrain Rice
My personal favorite. When I visited, this came as a deep, slightly spicy curry poured over the rice, topped with crispy battered eggplant — rich sauce, crackly batter, and multigrain rice (oats and barley) with real texture, plus paprika and broccoli. Fair warning: this is rich, well-seasoned food — not exactly ascetic health fare, and gloriously so.
Menu update: the dish has since been reworked into a true Sapporo-style soup curry — a thinner, brothier curry topped with assorted vegetable tempura, with the multigrain rice served in a separate bowl. I haven’t tried the new version yet, but the core idea (crispy fried vegetables + spiced curry) is the same, and my photos below show the earlier plating.
Assorted Mushroom & Tofu Gangjeong
Gangjeong is Korean-style crispy fried bites in a glossy sauce — usually chicken, here made with tofu, shiitake, and king oyster mushrooms. The tofu turns unexpectedly chewy-bouncy rather than soft, the coating stays crackly, and the soy-based glaze is addictive. Generous portion for a side.
Basic table sides are jalapeños and pickles — vegan, obviously, like everything else.
Local tips
- This is comfort food, not diet food. If you’re vegan for health reasons and keeping things strictly clean, know that the seasoning runs bold and some dishes are fried. If you’re vegan for any other reason: feast.
- Mall restaurants get busy at standard Korean meal times (12–1pm, 6–7pm). Going slightly off-peak means no wait.
- Non-vegan travel companions will be perfectly happy here — nothing reads as a compromise. My omnivore self can confirm.
- Dining with non-vegan friends? My COEX restaurant guide has options for everyone.
Verdict
Plantude solves a real problem: it lets vegan travelers eat Korean food without interrogating anyone about broth. But it clears a higher bar than that — it’s just a good restaurant that happens to be vegan, good enough that a vegan diner tired of her daily routine called it her best meal in months. If you’re plant-based and anywhere near COEX, this is the safe bet that doesn’t feel like settling.
