Oh, I'm so excited cuz today, I'm blogging about a fantastic vegan buffet my family went to for my mom's birthday dinner! (This one's for all my veg-head homies in Cheonan. You're gonna love this.)
"Well-being Vegetarian Buffet"
The buffet is called 뜰안채' or 'Ddeul Ahn Chae', and for a mere 10,000 won, you can stuff your face on an entirely vegan meal of incredibly fresh, healthy, vibrant food. The dishes are primarily Korean, familiar, simple, and comforting. I think this place might even be better than the Achasan Loving Hut buffet! OooOo~ yes, bold statement there. Don't get me wrong, I looove the Achasan buffet, but I gotta say, its connection to her Supreme Blondness Highness kinda creeps me out. Also, while the Achasan buffet does have a ton of different dishes to pick from, they rely pretty heavily on soy/wheat meat dishes (as do all the Loving Hut restaurants). That's fine, but I tend to prefer more fresh, unprocessed foods.
I found the menu here to be less wheat/soy meat-focused. I also noticed that they include plenty of fresh, colorful veggies such as red and yellow bell peppers which are really expensive in Korea!
Anyway, so without further ado, here are a bunch of photos of the impressive buffet spread. There are too many dishes to even attempt to name them all for you. :)
This buffet didn't have any vegan baked desserts like Achasan Loving Hut buffet, but that was fine with me ( I'm not such a fan of their baked goods anyway). Instead, they had some healthier options: sweet pumpkin topped with sweet red beans (really yum), ddeok, apple slices, and crunchy puffed rice bars. They also had slices of bread with jam and a bowl of mixed seeds and nuts. There was also a section of three different rice porridges that I didn't capture (pumpkin, black sesame seed porridge, etc).
Plate #1. Too much deliciousness going on here. The soup on the side there was awesome, but verrry spicy from the hot peppers. I almost coughed out a lung when I took a big gulp and it went down the wrong tube. :P
Guksu (Korean savory noodles)
Plate #2 with accompanying bowl of miyuk guk (seaweed soup).
Miyuk guk. I'm not sure whether those white chunks were meant to be 'pork' or chickin', but I swear, they looked and tasted like strips of real meat. O.o
Close up shot: sweetened lotus root, a crispy spring roll, and a dried fig!
Silken tofu with soysauce dressing.
Plate #3.
The "dessert" plate.
By the end, I was completely stuffed to the brim! All the food was at the right temperature (not cold or crusty), and everything tasted awesome. It wasn't innovative, fancy gourmet food, but I appreciated the fact that they didn't fall into the trap of trying to make weird fusion dishes as so many Korean buffets do. I just love this place! The owners are very friendly, kind, and helpful, and the food is humble and simply good. I know without a doubt that I will be dragging my parents to this joint whenever I'm in Cheonan.
Ddeul Ahn Chae Vegetarian Buffet / 뜰안채채식뷔페
Address: 충남 천안시 동남구 안서동 141
Tel: 041-567-5879
Lunch service: 12-3pm
Dinner service: 6-9pm
Closed every 3rd Sunday of the month
Since this is Cheonan we're talking about, I would suggest taking a cab and showing the driver the address. But if you're bus-savvy, catch Bus #24 (you can catch it accross the street from the new Shinsaegae Department Store (the old Yawoori building), and get off at the 안서대림2차A (An Suh Dae Rim 2-A) stop, after the 'Hoseo University' stop. The restaurant will be directly across the street from the bus stop.
2011.3.17 | 지도 크게 보기 © NHN Corp.