Vegan's Day

Zelen Bulgarian Restaurant

A few weeks ago, my friends and I were wandering around Itaewon looking for a good place to eat dinner and found ourselves at an upscale Bulgarian restaurant called 'Zelen'. The interior has a lovely rustic European feel to it, with vines covering the ceiling and colorful placemats. I wasn't aware of this at the time, but apparently, this restaurant is well-known as the place to get a taste of Bulgarian cuisine in Korea. And I'm sure its success and fame has nothing to do with the fact that the two Bulgarian brothers who run the restaurant are nothing short of handsome eye-candy...

But yyeeea... moving onto the food ... The menu was definitely pricier than what I'm used to, but we were hungry and curious as to what Bulgarian food is all about, so we decided to give it a go. They actually had a vegetarian section on their menu, which also included a few vegan options, so that was a good sign. Here's what my friends and I ordered:

Eggplant in peppery tomato sauce- this was reeeally yummy, especially the sauce! I could just lap that sauce right up...

Grilled veggies- good, but the onions were a bit raw for me...

And I ordered a salad with rustic garlic bread. This salad was so delicious, I can't really find words to describe it. It's definitely not your typical salad plate with leafy greens. These two scoops of salad were so unexpectedly flavorful, my taste buds were beyond impressed.

And to just make my day, I found a cute tomato bunny on my salad plate!

So I am officially a fan of Bulgarian food (the non-meat dishes, at least). Everything I tasted was mmm mm. I just wish that it was a bit less pricey, and with bigger portions... ;)