Vegan & Vegetarian Korean Market Adventure Gwangjang Market

Jungho was a great guide, explaining the markets, culture and food real well in clear English allowing lots of questions. The food was great as was the experience of walking through the markets and watching food preparation. Along with tasting drinks and learning local customs. Fantastic experience and great way to experience vegan options in Seoul.

Great food. Great tour guide. Chef Yie does a wonderful job. He is very knowledgeable and makes the tour fun and delicious.

Myself, spouse and 3 other travelers arrived early at the appointed time and place, which was reconfirmed by email prior to the tour. No one met us or contacted us to advise of status or cancellation. We tried emailing with no response and were not provided phone info. Do not recommend this operator.

We had such a great experience on this food market tour. Our guide was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and made the whole tour feel very relaxed and personal. He shared lots of interesting facts and little stories about Korea and Korean food, which made the experience much more than just tasting different dishes. He took us to some really great places in the market and introduced us to food we probably would not have found on our own. His English was excellent, and he was very easy to talk to throughout the tour. We were a group of four, two in our 60s and two in our 30s, and he took great care of all of us and made sure everyone was comfortable and included. Overall, a very enjoyable, well-organized and genuinely fun experience. We would definitely recommend this tour! The food was great, and so was the guide!

Excellent tour! Chef researched the market and took us to the best places. Excellent English as well. Highly recommend.

This was a great way to experience the Gwangjang market, especially as a vegetarian. We got to try a wide variety of dishes, which were all delicious - I wish I had more room in my stomach! Chef Yie was welcoming, knowledgeable, kind and an excellent tour guide. Thank you for sharing vegetarian Korean cuisine with everyone!

This tour was EXCELLENT! Our tour guide was extremely upbeat with a great sense of humor and a fascinating knowledge of food. If you are vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, or even veg curious - this tour is a must do for you in Seoul. It's hard to pick a favorite food we tried, but don't sleep on those donuts :) Thanks so much for an awesome food tour - I'd take this same tour again!

My family and I had a great time with Chef Yie, experiencing vegan/vegetarian food in the market. The bibimbap was really good! He was very knowledgeable and made the evening enjoyable.

If you're a vegetarian or vegan and want to sample a variety of specially selected dishes in this famous Korean market, this is the tour for you. Chef Yie has specifically picked the best stalls in the market for specific dishes and the tastes didn't disappoint. He provided great background on the foods and answered every question we asked. Definitely recommend this tour!

Lots of variety of tast food (you will eat get full by the end) and an excellent way to experience a authetic Korean market stress free as someone wanting vegan/vegetarian! Chef Yie was an excellent guide, very knowledgeable about the food and many funny anecdotes!

Had a great time touring Gwangjang market with Chef Yie. He was entertaining, friendly and gave us a really good insight into Korean food. Thank you.

We had such a great time—thank you so much! Everything was perfectly organized, and it made a huge difference to explore such a busy market with your guidance. We loved all the food and really appreciated not having to wait in long lines. Also to see what can be vegan is amazing. It’s usually so difficult for us. You were so friendly and knowledgeable, and it truly felt like a five-star experience. We’ll definitely recommend this tour! Thanks again for a wonderful day!

We had an amazing culinary experience with Chef Yie. He introduced my daughter and me to some delicious Korean food, all vegan. We loved it and highly recommend this experience.

Interesting and perfect tour to experience Korean vegan food. Chef Yie knows everything about the food and we had a wonderful and enjoyable experience with him. An only recommend.

Great food tour! You get to taste many korean staples and hear about some of the history and the food is incredible ! You dont have to worry about the language barrier, its all taken care of by Chef Yie. He's so nice and friendly and a no nonsense person. Had a fantastic few hours just tasting all the food we wanted to try in Seoul!

Fantastic service offered by Chef Yie. A wonderfully friendly host who runs super popular vegan tour in Seoul- highly recommend!

We had a lovely time at the market thanks to Chef Yie! He was very knowledgeable about food and made sure we enjoyed the best of Korea’s traditional vegetarian dishes. We loved that he was a ‘VIP’ and could not only order for us, but also cut the line. He taught us about Korean drinking traditions which was fun! On top of it all, he was a very friendly and easy-going person. It was wonderful to hear all about his international travels. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour and would recommend it to everyone (even meat eaters)!

Our Vegan & Vego Market tour with Chef Yie was just so enjoyable. The food (soo much of it!!) and experience was great, but spending time with Chef Yie was a highlight of our trip. He's such a lovely man, and great conversationalist which made it so much more enjoyable.

Me and my teenage daughter had an amazing tour with our guide chef Yie showing us a lot of vegan/vegetarian korean food that we never would have been able to find ourselves. We got to try so many different korean dishes and go to hear a lot of interesting things about their history and significance in Korean culture. Finding vegan food in Korea can be a challenge so this tour was really worth it + we were so well taken care of by Yie who is both very kind and knows a lot about Korean cooking and food. An absolute 5 star experience!!

Great experience. Interesting and enjoyable to get to know the culture. Chef Yie was the perfect guide.

We did this tour on our first day in Seoul and it was the perfect introduction to the city and Korean food culture. Chef Yie was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about food, and he made the whole experience relaxed, fun and really informative. Walking through Gwangjang Market with him was fantastic. He introduced us to a range of traditional Korean dishes that were vegan or vegetarian, many of which we would never have discovered on our own. Everything we tasted was absolutely delicious and it was fascinating to learn about the ingredients and stories behind the food. The donuts at the end were absolutely divine, but honestly every stop along the way was just as good. If you’re vegan or vegetarian and visiting Seoul, I highly recommend this tour. It’s a great way to experience Gwangjang Market without worrying about what you can eat. Tip: Come hungry because you will eat a lot of amazing food!

We had our tour in 2025. Chef Yie is the friendliest and the most knowledgeable guide! The food was incredible 😍

I cannot recommend this enough. Chef Yie was an amazing guide/host who not only was informative and had us trying so much delicious food but also just a lot of fun guy to talk to! If you are thinking at all about doing this, do it. I would also say very much recommended even if you are not vegan/vegetarian I think anyone would love it.

Me and my partner, Matt, did the market tour ran by Chef Yie. Genuinely worth every single penny, no doubt in my mind! One thing...you will be extremely full afterwards! I wouldn't have wanted to visit the market any other way and it was one of our most memorable experiences of Korea. It was great to try food from authentic Korean restaurants. Chef Yie is friendly, knowledgeable and great fun and we wholeheartedly recommend this trip. I hope our paths cross again at some point!

Amazing experience, we are globe-trotting vegan family. Have done vegan street food tours all over Southeast Asia, Chef Yie is fantastic! The different dishes and spots he covers give a very comprehensive overview of what is most adored in Korean food ("Cultural keynote flavors" as I call them) Would have never been able to ascertain what was vegan and which stall to hit without him. Having a Chef as a guide is a game-changer, my bar has been raised. If you are hoping to get an overview of quintessential Korean flavors, keeping it vegan, and looking to do a smash and grab for knowledge, this is it! Glad I did it at the beginning of my 12 days in Seoul, changed the trip immensely for me.

Great Vegan Tour at Gwangjang Market! I really enjoyed the vegan food tour at Gwangjang Market. The market’s atmosphere was lively, and there were so many tasty vegan options like mung bean pancakes and rice flour donuts. The chef was super knowledgeable, explaining health benefits and sharing easy recipes. He made sure all the food fit our vegan diet, so I felt totally comfortable. If you’re vegan and want to explore Korean food, this tour is a must!

Chef Yie was the best! We got delayed in traffic due to the protests, but he waited for us . The experience was way beyond what we expected. Never thought that we would find so many vegetarian options. Of course the rice flour donuts were the bomb! I would recommend this tour to anyone coming to Seoul. Chef thought out the various aspects of the tour and walking around the market and sampling was the highlight of my trip to Korea!

What a great tour! Chef Yie was a pleasure to talk to and gave us the chance to try some delicious food. We would recommend!

The market is a great place to visit to learn more about Korean cuisine, and as a vegetarian/vegan, there's no better way to discover it with your own vegan chef!

This was such an amazing experience for our family. Chef Yei has all the connections at the food market and was able to secure us seats in the busiest of spaces. We wished we had done this at the start of our trip. Highly recommend!

Enjoyed both food and company of our guide Chef Yie is obviously knowledgeable and was excited to share his experiences with us. We learned not just about the foods but also the Korean culture.. Highly recommend arriving on an empty stomach—you’re in for a treat!

Good food and information on the market. Worthwhile for people that want an introduction to food in the market. Was focused on vegetarian foods.

This was our favourite tour ever. The group size was not too big so Chef Yie was able to give everyone great individual attention. The food market was crazy, even compared to Japanese markets we had visited earlier. If you‘re looking for vegetarian or vegan options, it can be a bit overwhelming in Korea, but the chef-guide knows his stuff and we ate great authentic Korean meals. The biggest selling point would be the Korean rice donuts that came as desert. While there was a long line of people waiting to get their donuts, the chef‘s connections allowed us to get ours right away.

Wonderful tour of the market with a lot of tasty food! Pace yourself! Yie was really great with the kids and navigating our whole group through.

Fantastic tour walking around the market. Learned a bunch of information. The food was delicious. Great conversation. Highly recommend.

My husband and I really loved this food tour. He is a meat eater but we both had a great time trying all the foods and chatting with Chef Yie. We were given great information and insight into Korean food and it was such a lovely experience where it’s so tricky in Korea to know what’s vege/vegan to be lead around and shown what we could have and get to try some authentic Korean foods!

Chef Yie knows all the stalls at Gwangjang market and led us to a delicious vegetarian feast! Highly recommended.

This was so amazing! Chef Jie was such a great host and showed us all these awesome places we never would have found on our own and taught us so much about Korean food and culture. Highlight of our trip - highly recommend!

This tour with Chef Yie was great! He was very knowledgable about the ingredients of each dish in the market and has clearly done a lot of research to put this tour together. We ate a wide variety of delicious food and had a lot of fun!

Wonderful market tour with stories about the vendors. Also includes a tour of the adjacent fabric market. Perfect for vegetarian and vegan diets because the guide knows which vendors make foods without meat or fish sauce. Two members of our family do not eat meat so this was a great way to experience traditional Korean food.

I can’t recommend this tour enough - Chef Yie was super responsive and was able to take my gluten-free request under consideration and I was able to have a full tour! Navigating Korean food while being gluten free is difficult and now I know which foods are safe for me to eat! Chef Yie was really fun and incredibly knowledgeable about the food and the market - it was worth every penny and I will be recommending him to any of my friends who visit South Korea and will definitely come back for round two if I’m in Seoul again!

Our guide was well spoken and knowledgeable and we had a fun tour of the markets with lovely vegetarian food! He gave us local Korean recommendations as well which was very helpful. Recommended.

Chef Yie was so kind and accommodating to us, we had a lovely time with him. Each dish on the tour complimented the other, and hearing Yie’s description of the foods and their relevance in Korean culture made this such a memorable experience for us. Come hungry!

It is not the easiest task to find vegetarian/vegan restaurants in Seoul, so this tour was such a welcome opportunity. Chef Yie was an attentive, knowledgeable tour guide about many aspects of the market as well as introducing us to delicious food and drink. A wonderful and memorable tour, especially for vegetarian/vegans.

Navigating local Korean food as a vegetarian non-Korean speaker is tough! Never fear, Chef Yie will come to the rescue. We experienced many different Korean flavours, all top quality, and learned more about Korean culture. We left with (very) full bellies and some tips for our Korean vegetation adventure. Thanks Chef Yie, we would have missed out on the true Korean food experience without you.

Chef Yie was great, so informative and easy to chat to. We tried several vegan dishes including yummy desserts which we really enjoyed and only sorry we coudn't eat them all but we were so full. The Soju was good too. Wouldn't hesitate in recommending him. A really good start to our holiday.

Vegetarian food can be hard to find in Seoul and, so, Chef Yie was a gem! The tour took us to the stalls with some of the best vegetarian food we had is Seoul! Come hungry because there was so much food!

We booked this tour for our family trip to Seoul and to say that it was one of the best memories we’ve ever made would be an understatement. 4 of the 5 of us are fully vegetarian, which can be very difficult when traveling in Korea. We wanted to be able to find options that made us feel like we weren’t missing out. Not only was the market everything we’d hoped for with amazing food everywhere - but our guide, Chef Yie was absolutely what made it so special! He is so knowledgeable and fun to be around. We laughed a ton, learned a lot about each other and he helped to give us so much insight into Korean culture. Every vendor we went to was so kind and welcoming and we know that is because Chef Yie has created great report, and given so much thought to each and every stop on this food tour. By the end, he felt like part of the family and he was so sweet to offer us any help or advice to us while we were in town. Whether you’re strictly vegetarian or vegan yourself- this tour is 100% worth booking for the amazing food and the even more amazing company. We only hope that on our next trip to Seoul, we can visit with Chef Yie again in whatever capacity. Also a massive congratulations and cheers to him and his gorgeous finance. We wish them a lifetime of happiness and thank Chef Yie for the incredible experience.

This Food Tour was incredible. I highly recommend it. It is very hard to be vegetarian in Korea. Chef Yie is also vegetarian and helped us navigate being vegetarian in Korea. He was extremely informative and knowledgeable. His English is excellent and he is multilingual. I would highly recommend this store. It was very easy to communicate with him and organize this tour for my wife and I. everything is 100% vegan and the chef clearly knows his way around the market. For anyone looking to explore vegetarian food in Korea I highly recommend this store. You also gave some follow-up advice for how to navigate the rest of our trip. I recommend Reaching out to him on WhatsApp , and he is very responsive