Everyone tried to dissuade Sung Si-woo from opening a vegan restaurant in Seoul. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2023 when the food and beverage scene remained uncertain. Légume was also his first venture as an owner-chef after a decade at Two-MICHELIN-Star Soigné, where he had worked hard to become head chef. Finally, most popular restaurants in South Korea heavily feature meat.
Sung, however, pushed on with his plans, determined to run a 100% plant-based restaurant for three years and then start over if things did not work out. The 35-year-old did not expect his young establishment to garner a cult following, let alone earn a MICHELIN Star in 2025.
From roots to recognition
Légume is one of just 10 vegan establishments worldwide to hold a MICHELIN Star. It is, more notably, the very first in Asia to earn the distinction, as the others are concentrated in the United States and Western Europe.
“Almost everyone I knew wanted me to think twice about my vegan venture. But I had this confidence that it could work if I did it,” Sung says, noting that Seoul’s plant-based options are mostly limited to Korean Buddhist temple food or casual eateries run by vegans who are not always trained chefs.
The chef is not vegan himself, but has always had a deep fondness for vegetables, partly due to his mother’s allergy to meat. “It was always difficult for my family to find a place to eat out besides seafood restaurants,” says Sung, adding how his mother, who is also sensitive to dairy, was never able to dine at Soigné during the 10 years he made butter-heavy dishes there. He wanted to create menus that would exclude no one, and so his restaurant had to be vegan.
“I knew I could bring something new to the plant-based food scene in Seoul,” he says. “Besides, I had a skill set that I wouldn’t lose even if I went bankrupt. I could always go back to French cuisine.”
The first year after opening its doors in the trendy Sinsa-dong area was “extremely tough,” reminisces Sung. But soon after, word began to spread about Légume, particularly among foreign vegan visitors who were referred by their hotels. It also became increasingly popular among local gourmands looking for healthier alternatives.
“One time there was a group of men around my father’s age who came to dine, and each of them had different health issues that made eating meat or flour a problem. It was interesting because older Korean men are not our restaurant’s usual demographic,” says the chef.
“I felt like I was contributing to the progress of the local gastronomic scene with more diverse offerings.”
But Légume is not frequented just for dietary reasons. In online reviews, some guests were unaware of the vegan menu, while others specifically chose the restaurant for a novel culinary experience.
“One time there was a couple who came to dine, and the boyfriend asked, ‘they’re not serving beef?’. The girlfriend said that she hadn’t told him in advance about the menu being vegan, so that he’d have no prejudice about the food. It made me very happy when he said how much he really enjoyed it,” says the chef.
“I believe people can have a great time at our restaurant if they let go of their preconceptions about vegan cuisine.” In fact, Sung did not initially highlight Légume being plant-based, as the concept of veganism is still new in Korea.
The architecture of flavor
Working with plant-based ingredients poses a constant challenge because it is not as easy to deliver the umami taste compared to meat. So Sung brings unexpected twists to familiar vegetables or introduces exotic ingredients into the mix.
“I take two approaches. The first is giving common local ingredients like onions and carrots, which are available year-round in Korea, a creative treatment according to the season. The second is using exotic ingredients that many diners may not be familiar with,” he says, mentioning jicama, a crunchy root vegetable from Mexico, as an example of the latter.
He also concentrates on adding interesting textures, such as mixing a combination of steamed and fried quinoa, over-ripening and/or fermenting fruits and vegetables at varying degrees and using different kinds of nut oils for that extra creaminess.
As a result, the dishes at Légume are rich and colorful in terms of both flavor and texture. Sung’s signature dishes include gnocchi topped with seasonal ingredients such as gosari (young stem of fernbrake or fiddlehead) and a generous slice of oyster mushroom steak with a caramelized, smoky finish.
These days, Sung is very vocal about its vegan identity.
He has taken part in special events that decidedly showcase plant-based cuisine, such as running a farm-to-table pop-up on a Jeju Island farm. It was cohosted with Neomeun Bom (a.k.a. Last Spring Jeju), a regional zero-waste restaurant; Y’east, one of Seoul’s MICHELIN One-Star restaurants; and Hyo House, a Seoul-based sparkling tea brand that is carried by many fine-dining restaurants.
To enhance the taste of its imaginative dishes, Légume offers pairings with wine or tea, including several house-made concoctions. The restaurant does not have an in-house sommelier; Sung instead receives help from Soigné, which is conveniently located just across the hall in the same building.
“Earning a MICHELIN Star is one of the greatest honors as a chef, and my life has really changed,” he says, referring to Légume earning the distinction less than two years after opening. “We became known as ‘the restaurant that won a Star without using any meat.’ It’s honestly a lot of pressure. Before we were simply known as a place to go for good plant dishes, but now there is a lot to live up to in terms of offering a unique fine-dining experience.”
Sung didn’t initially realize Légume was the first Asian vegan restaurant to earn a MICHELIN Star. “I was really surprised when this Hong Kong hotel I collaborated with for a gala event told me this,” he says.
The year 2025 has been a lucky one for the chef. Just a week after the MICHELIN selection was announced in late February, he saw the publication of his vegan cookbook The Vegan Pantry, amid widespread media and industry attention.
“The timing was uncanny. It’s a cookbook designed for non-professionals, for easy meals that everyone can make at home,” he says. “But many professional chefs and industry insiders bought it because of the MICHELIN Star, so it has reached more readers than anticipated.”
Future plans for Sung include opening a casual vegan restaurant.
“For the time being I’ll be fully concentrating on Légume, but I do hope to bring more diversity to the local vegan scene. I would like people like my mother or the average office worker to have more daily dining options, so I would love to run a casual vegan restaurant someday,” he says.
“Vegan cuisine in Korea still has a long way to go, and I’m happy to be part of the journey.”
