Korean chef of Asia's only Michelin-star vegan restaurant cooks for all, including his mum
Of the more than 3,700 restaurants Michelin has awarded stars, only six are listed on its website as exclusively vegan – and only one of those is in Asia.
The success of Légume, which got its first star in the
Michelin Guide Seoul and Busan 2025 , is remarkable given how uncommon and often misunderstood veganism is in South Korea.
Sung Si-woo opened his restaurant in Seoul in 2023 after deciding to bet on his unconventional idea of a
vegan fine-dining establishment.
Few believed it would work – even Sung had doubts.
The interior of Légume, in Seoul, where guests can watch chefs prepare dishes in the restaurant's open kitchen. Photo: east_people
'When I opened Légume, I invested more money than I'd ever earned in my life, so a lot of people tried to talk me out of it,' the chef-owner says at a cafe in Sinsa-dong, the trendy neighbourhood where his restaurant is located.
'They'd say things like, 'Is Korea really ready for this? Do we even have enough vegans here?' But I just felt strongly that I should pursue what I wanted while I was still young.'
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