Gam Lo Dang, Buddhist Temple Food

I think we can all agree that the day after Thanksgiving is a day of rest, that is in terms of cooking.  So, instead of a recipe I thought I’d post about an interesting restaurant I went to a few days ago.  The restaurant, Gam Lo Dang, 감로당, specializes in sachal, 사찰, food, which is Buddhist temple food.  Buddhist monks are vegetarians and use all natural and sometimes unusual ingredients.  Seasoning is usually done minimally and the flavors are more subtle than strong.  I enjoyed trying traditional Korean dishes from a Buddhist monk’s palette.  It’s interesting to recognize the heart of a dish but taste it with different flavors.

Rice Porridge and Non-Spicy Kimchi naturally died a lotus pink.

Grilled mushrooms, lotus root, and hemp served on a plate of pine needles.

Fried tofu served with a non-spicy red sauce.

Glutenous rice pancakes with a stir fried bean sprouts, zucchini, mushrooms, and red peppers.

Perilla leaf, lotus root, and peanut salad.

Assorted savory pancakes with hamchal, 함찰, soy sauce.

Codonopsis lanceolata or deoduk, 더덕, asian pear salad with mustard sauce.

Pickles, goguchang, 고추장, Korean spicy chili sauce, mountain vegetables, and kimchi for bibimbap!

Bibimbap, 비빔밥, made with five multigrain rice.  It is served with a cabbage soup that failed to be photographed.

For dessert, shikhae, 식혜, a sweet Korean rice punch.

Acacia susubukumi, 수수부꾸미, pan fried sorghum flour rice cake and candied ginger.

Gam Lo Dang
Hwa Dong 87-1
Jongrogu, Seoul, Korea