The quest for salad has become much easier in Seoul in recent years thanks to many healthy spots popping up around the city, including salad franchise shops.
It is quite difficult to imagine salad as something mouthwatering or super appetizing. But salads can be nutritious, affordable and delicious if you find the right one. There are many creative ways to enjoy salads; you won't get bored of eating the same basic green salad while on a diet. Here are some shops where you eat a wide variety of vegetables in a fun and easy way.
It Salad (Kim Da-sol/The Korea Herald)
It Salad's Energizer salad (Kim Da-sol/The Korea Herald)
It Salad
Located in Yongsan, Sinsa, Seongsu and Yeouido, It Salad sells chopped salads with balanced and harmonious flavors -- salty, sweet, sour and bitter tastes of veggies and other ingredients.
One of the best-selling salads here is Energizer, a salad that includes all the nutrition needed for the day with ingredients like romaine, spinach, kale, celery, chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, black olives, sous vide chicken, red couscous and nacho along with homemade truffle basil pesto dressing.
The kick in this salad is the crushed nacho chips that add crunchiness to the soft texture of the chopped salad, along with the eye-pleasing red couscous ball that tops the salad. The portion is quite large for the average person.
Prices range from 13,900 won to 14,900 won for a chopped salad. The creative and intuitive salad names -- skin revitalizing greens, body profile, stress release – make it easier to decide your order.
Prepper's Pork and garlic leaf salad bowl (Kim Da-sol/The Korea Herald)
Preppers (Preppers)
Prepper's Pork and garlic leaf salad bowl (Preppers)
Preppers
Challenging the belief that salad always needs to be enjoyed with dressing or fresh, crunchy greens, Preppers’ signature salad bowl comes without a dressing and the salad is kept simple – multi-grain rice, sous vide pork, a few paprika sticks, a handful of green leaves and pickled green leaf.
Called "myeonginamul" in Korean, the soy sauce and vinegar pickled green leaf that has a faint smell of garlic, is surprisingly great with tender sous vide pork and multi-grain rice. Eaten together with the green leaves and paprika sticks, the day’s nutritional requirement can be met while enjoying the savory taste of what may be the most Korean way of enjoying a salad.
There are 20 Preppers stores across Seoul including in Gwanghwamun, Sadang and near Konkuk University. The Pork and garlic leaf bowl costs 9,900 won and the prices of other items with just salad, pasta, curry rice or a broth on the side range from 5,900 won to 16,900 won.
Sun the Bud's salmon soba maki roll (Sun the Bud)
Sun the Bud
It’s difficult to call Sun the Bud, located in Cheongdam-dong and Sogong-dong, a salad shop because the place offers a variety of healthy, vegan options.
Salmon soba maki roll is an iconic item at Sun the Bud, standing out among a variety items including rice bowls, protein plates, clean noodles, soups and salads as well as healthy sandwiches and snacks.
Salmon soba maki roll is a very filling meal that combines buckwheat noodle’s mild taste, a sweet egg roll, fresh salmon, and the crunchiness of sliced cucumber and pickled radish.
It also goes well with Sun the Bud’s tteokbokki, which uses brown rice cake and potato cake in place of the white rice cake that is typically used. The change means less carbs and fewer calories. It can also be enjoyed with a variety of healthy add-ons, such as chicken breast balls or fish cake.
Prices range from 12,000 won to 25,000 won.
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