Loving Hut near Itaweon

Although I am not strict with my dietary habits when it comes to vegetarianism, I love to eat veggie whenever I can. I heard about a grand opening of a vegan restaurant called Loving Hut opening near Itaewon. I had gone a few months back to the Loving Hut location in Sinchon with Sam and Erika and liked it a lot. Although it was a little tricky to find, we eventually made it with some perseverance.
What it is: Loving Hut is an international chain of restaurant offering vegan cuisine, and has over 40 locations in South Korea.

Getting there: We went to Itaewon station, took exit 2 and got pretty lost. It is about a 20 minute walk from Itaewon, and I've since heard that a closer station to exit from would be Hannam. This map should help. It's past Soonchunyang Hospital, across from Kookmin bank on the 2nd floor.

The food: The menu has various western (burgers, hot dogs) and Korean options. However, we came opening weekend, so many of the menu items were not available. We ordered the spaghetti, a vegan cutlet, and japchae dapbap. To drink, we ordered the soy pumpkin latte and the green tea latte. Everything was delicious. The spaghetti was a little too salty, but the mushrooms really created a meaty, hearty consistency that I've never tasted with a vegetarian dish. The vegan cutlet was good, but if you're looking for something that replicates meat, this isn't it. The japchae dapbap (stir-fried sweet potato noodles and veggies, over rice) was amazing. It was nice to have something Korean (or Korean-Chinese fusion) with all of the flavor and none of the meat. It was better than any japchae with meat we have ever tried. My pumpkin latte had a subtle flavor, and it was made with actual pumpkin (yum!).

Half-eaten cutlet. Would have taken more pictures but we were starving!

The cost: Main dishes cost about 7,000 won. Lattes cost 3,500 won. Hamburgers and hot dogs were about 3,500 won, but judging from my Sinchon experience, feel like just a snack.

Service: When we first arrived, I was surprised to see the place filled with Korean women (the Sinchon location was predominantly patronized by foreign customers while we were there). We sat down and were greeted with fresh oranges and bean rice cakes to welcome us to the grand opening. We ordered our meal and waited about 20 minutes for the spaghetti to come out. We shared that and waited even longer for the cutlet. Soon, we asked about our lattes and japchae and it seemed they totally forgot. I think this location definitely needs to work out some kinks with the speed of service and communication (they brought one of our dishes to another table-- twice), but the food was good enough for me to come back regardless.

They also had many vegan take home goodies. We bought the mandu (dumplings) that were expensive (9,800 won) and tasted okay. I will just try to make my own next time.