Seoul : Jogyesa 조계사

18th September 2012.
Seoul, South Korea
Jogyesa is one a major center of Zen Buddhism located in the historical Jongno District of Seoul. Known for its colourful display of lanterns during festivals, the temple dates back to the late 14th century.

The place was swarmed with pious Buddhists and tourists alike during our visit and another main attraction of the temple was its half a millennium old trees.

The courtyard has awnings.

Lanterns lined the ceiling of the main hall.

As well as the east entrance.

We head over to Balwoo Gongyang for some vegetarian cuisine after reading the good reviews from several Korean food blogs. It was a “buffet style” lunch consisting of 5 side dishes, 1 soup and rice for a price of 7000 KRW. The “Red Bean Soup” is actually a savoury, (slightly salty) porridge like dish.

I enjoyed the seaweed tofu as well as this particular shredded side dish a lot.

Overall, the meal was pretty light and decent but nothing impressive as compared to the kind of vegan food the folks at Real Food managed to whip out. Then again its buffet style food, so is probably not a fair representation of the food Balwoo Gongyang is known for.

발우공양
Balwoo Gongyang