I Never Seek Out Vegan Food — This Michelin-Listed Restaurant in Busan Changed That

I don’t go out of my way for vegan food — I just eat what tastes good. So when I sat down at ARP, a small vegan restaurant on Yeongdo Island in Busan, and realized the entire menu was 100% plant-based, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Three dishes later, I left reconsidering what vegetables can do on a plate.

Busan ARP Vegan Restaurant: Quick Facts & Essential Visitor Info

Detail	Info
Restaurant	ARP
Address	1F, 35 Taejong-ro 99beon-gil, Yeongdo-gu, Busan
Hours	Mon–Wed: 11:30 AM – 4:00 PM (Last order 3:00 PM)
Hours	Fri–Sun: 11:30 AM – 8:00 PM (Last order 7:00 PM, Break 4:00 – 5:00 PM)
Closed	Every Thursday
Reservations	CatchTable Global app (see booking guide below)
Getting There	Exit 8, Nampo Station (Busan Metro Line 1), then a 16-minute walk
Parking	No on-site parking — use Yangji Parking Lot (8 Taejong-ro 95beon-gil, Yeongdo-gu), a 5-minute walk from the restaurant
Extras	Pet-friendly, takeout available, corkage allowed (fee applies)
Michelin Status	Bib Gourmand

Prices in this article are converted at approximately $1 USD ≈ ₩1,400 and €1 EUR ≈ ₩1,575 (as of September 2026). Exchange rates may fluctuate.

ARP sits in Yeongdo-gu, a low-key island district connected to central Busan by bridge. The neighborhood hugs the edge of Bongnae Market, one of the city’s oldest traditional markets, and the restaurant itself stands directly across from the flagship location of a decades-old Busan fish cake brand. Yeongdo rarely shows up on standard tourist itineraries — the streets feel local, unhurried, and a world apart from the beachside crowds at Haeundae or Gwangalli.

The fish cake store right across the alley is worth visiting before or after your meal — they’ve been making handmade fish cakes at this original Yeongdo location since the 1950s, and the quality gap from the tourist-oriented branches is real.

Finding a fully vegan restaurant in Busan is still a genuine challenge for visitors. Most Korean dishes rely on anchovy-based broth, fermented shrimp paste, or fish sauce as foundational ingredients, and dedicated vegan options outside Seoul remain limited. ARP is currently the only 100% vegan restaurant in the city listed in the Michelin Guide — a Bib Gourmand pick, meaning the inspectors recognized it for quality cooking at a reasonable price point.

How to Book Through CatchTable

Most popular restaurants in South Korea use a reservation app called CatchTable, and ARP is no exception. Without a booking, you could easily face a wait of around an hour — the dining room is small, and the Michelin recognition has made it a destination. The good news for international visitors: you don’t need a Korean phone number to use it.

Download CatchTable Global from the App Store or Google Play, then sign up using your Google, Apple, or email account. The interface works like most standard reservation platforms — select your date, preferred time slot, and party size, then confirm. When the form asks for a phone number, you can choose your own country code and enter the number you actually use at home, so the restaurant can reach you if needed.

A few things worth knowing before you book: some high-demand restaurants on the platform require a deposit or full prepayment at the time of booking. CatchTable Global accepts most internationally issued cards, including Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, and UnionPay. Before finalizing your reservation, take a moment to review the cancellation policy and refund terms — they’re displayed on the booking confirmation page.

Stepping Inside ARP

The name ARP is short for “Around Plants,” a reference to what the owners describe as an ethical table for the planet and the untapped potential of plant-forward cooking. A small Michelin Bib Gourmand notice near the entrance confirms the recognition before you even step inside.

The dining room is compact — just a handful of tables — with a clean, understated interior that feels more like a carefully curated private kitchen than a commercial restaurant. Even on the weekday I visited, every table was occupied. If you’re planning a date night or a meal with a small group, the atmosphere fits well: quiet enough for real conversation, but with an easygoing energy that keeps things from feeling stiff.

A welcome tea arrived shortly after I sat down — chilled fig leaf tea. The staff mentioned this rotates with the seasons, so what you get will depend on when you visit.

Ordering works through a QR code printed on a small card at each table. Scanning it pulls up the full menu on your phone — there are no paper menus. The digital menu is in Korean, but between the food photos on screen and the staff’s help, ordering was straightforward enough.

The Menu at a Glance

ARP’s kitchen builds every dish around seasonal produce. Ingredients that usually play a supporting role in Korean home cooking — wild mountain ferns, baby cabbage, acorns, dried radish greens — step into the spotlight here as pasta sauces, main courses, and burger patties.

Main Dishes

Dish	Description	Price
Bracken Fern Pasta (Signature)	Oil-based pasta with wild fern pesto, lotus root chips, and chive	₩19,000 (~$13.55 / ~€12.05)
Wild Herb Pasta	Wild-herb pesto, sliced king oyster mushroom, fried capers, garlic flakes	₩19,000 (~$13.55 / ~€12.05)
ARP Vegan Burger	Charcoal bun, plant-based patty, house-made vegan cheddar, onion chutney	₩17,000 (~$12.15 / ~€10.80)
Roasted Cauliflower & Tempeh Fries (New)	Cauliflower in peri-peri sauce with fermented soybean cake fries	₩21,000 (~$15.00 / ~€13.35)
ARP Poke Bowl	Grilled eggplant, seasonal pickles, kelp-infused brown rice	₩22,000 (~$15.70 / ~€13.95)
Acorn Risotto & Herbal Broth (New)	Nutty acorn risotto with a traditional Korean medicinal herb soup	₩24,000 (~$17.15 / ~€15.25)

Appetizers & Sides

Dish	Price
Grilled Baby Cabbage & Mushroom Crumble — Whole-roasted cabbage on potato sauce with vegan cheese	₩12,000 (~$8.55 / ~€7.60)
Korean Melon Soy Greek Salad — Seasonal melon with soy-based Greek yogurt	₩12,000 (~$8.55 / ~€7.60)
Pani Puri & Chipotle Hummus — Crispy shells filled with fresh fruit salad and smoky hummus	₩13,000 (~$9.30 / ~€8.25)

Desserts range from ₩9,000 to ₩11,000 (~$6.45–$7.85 / ~€5.70–€7.00) and include options like pineapple basil gelato, seasonal fruit cake, and banana cacao stone — a layered dessert built around banana cream and roasted cacao. Sparkling ades and seasonal teas sit at ₩8,000 each (~$5.70 / ~€5.10).

One drink worth mentioning is the seasonal fermented rice drink, a non-alcoholic beverage made from a traditional Korean grain-based fermentation starter blended with plant-based ingredients. If you’ve come across sweet rice punch in Korean pop culture — a milky, lightly sweet drink often served as a digestif — the concept is similar, though ARP’s version leans more toward fresh herbs and citrus. When I visited, two flavors were available: lemon at ₩9,000 (~$6.45 / ~€5.70) and basil at ₩10,000 (~$7.15 / ~€6.35).

Set Menu — The Best Value

If choosing from the full menu feels like a lot, ARP offers all-day set menus that package an appetizer, main course, drink, and dessert at a bundled discount:

Set	What You Get	Price
For 1	1 appetizer + 1 main + 1 drink + 1 dessert	₩45,000 (~$32.15 / ~€28.55)
For 2 (Recommended)	1 appetizer + 2 mains + 2 drinks + 1 dessert	₩70,000 (~$50.00 / ~€44.45)

The solo set saves you roughly ₩3,000 (~$2.15 / ~€1.90) off ordering the same items individually, and the couple’s set saves about ₩9,000 (~$6.45 / ~€5.70). Note that the acorn risotto and herbal broth is excluded from set menu selections. Appetizer options include the Korean melon salad, grilled baby cabbage, or pani puri. Mains let you pick from the bracken fern pasta, wild herb pasta, vegan burger, or poke bowl. Drinks are a sparkling ade or seasonal tea, and dessert choices are gelato, strawberry mousse cake, or banana cacao stone.

What I Ordered

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a menu built entirely around vegetables and plant-based ingredients. I ended up going with three dishes to test the range — one appetizer and two mains.

Grilled Baby Cabbage with Mushroom Crumble — ₩12,000 (~$8.55 / ~€7.60)

This came out first: a whole baby cabbage, roasted until lightly charred on the edges, resting on a pool of creamy potato sauce and blanketed with house-made vegan cheese. The staff handed me scissors — a standard move in Korean dining, where many dishes arrive in portions meant to be cut at the table — and suggested dipping each piece generously in the sauce.

The cabbage kept a satisfying crunch despite the roasting, and the salty, savory combination of the potato sauce and cheese actually pushed the vegetable’s natural sweetness forward. It’s a straightforward dish in concept, but the balance surprised me.

The mushroom crumble arrived on a separate plate, and I initially assumed it was an unrelated side dish. It turns out the two are served as one set.

Cracking one open revealed a tightly packed filling of finely minced mushrooms and aromatics tucked inside a crispy outer shell. Dipped in the same potato sauce, it brought a deep, savory richness that rounded out the lighter cabbage nicely.

Bracken Fern Pasta — ₩19,000 (~$13.55 / ~€12.05)

This is ARP’s signature — the dish the Michelin Guide specifically highlighted. Bracken fern is a wild mountain vegetable widely used in Korean home cooking, most commonly as a seasoned side dish or a topping for mixed rice bowls. Seeing it as the base of an oil pasta was a first for me.

The fern has a chewy, slightly fibrous texture — rougher than your typical pasta topping — with a subtle earthiness that, depending on preparation, can feel surprisingly close to shredded meat. In this dish, the oil base kept things clean and light, while a mild kick of spice prevented it from tipping into blandness. Fried enoki mushroom scattered on top added a crispy, snappy contrast with every forkful.

Of the three plates I tried, this was the clear favorite. I can understand why the inspectors singled it out.

Roasted Cauliflower with Tempeh Fries — ₩21,000 (~$15.00 / ~€13.35)

This was the newest addition to the menu and the most visually striking dish of the three. The cauliflower arrived roasted under a vivid orange peri-peri sauce — tangy, mildly spicy, and a touch sweet — the kind of flavor that keeps you reaching for the next piece before you’ve finished the one in your hand.

It came with slices of dark-colored bread that worked as edible scoops. The toppings scattered across the cauliflower had a chewy, slightly gummy texture — possibly dried persimmon strips — that our whole table spent the meal trying to identify. Even after the server’s explanation, no one was entirely sure, which honestly made it more fun.

The tempeh — firm blocks made from fermented soybeans, a protein-rich staple in plant-based cooking — sat on the side with a nutty, lightly yeasty flavor. Dense and satisfying, they felt like the kind of thing you’d want alongside a glass of wine. ARP does offer corkage if you bring your own bottle, though a service fee applies.

Good to Know Before You Visit

Walk-ins: Possible, but you’ll likely wait about an hour on weekdays and longer on weekends. Booking through CatchTable is the safer route.

For families: A few dishes carry some spice. Ask the staff about heat levels before ordering if you’re dining with young children.

Wine: Corkage is available if you bring your own — ask about the current fee when you arrive.

Parking: There’s no lot at the restaurant. Yangji Parking Lot, about a five-minute walk south at 8 Taejong-ro 95beon-gil, is the closest option.

On foot: From Nampo Station Exit 8, it’s a flat, easy 16-minute walk that cuts through the Bongnae Market area — a good route for getting a feel for the neighborhood before you eat.

Worth the Walk to Yeongdo

I first ended up at ARP as a lunch stop during a sound-based walking tour of Yeongdo — a guided experience where you explore the island through recorded audio narratives rather than standard sightseeing. It was an unusual way to discover a neighborhood, and the meal turned out to be one of the highlights of that entire day.

If you’re curious about experiencing Yeongdo beyond the usual tourist circuit, the sound tour offers a genuinely different perspective on the island’s stories and hidden corners.

Whether you follow a plant-based diet or simply enjoy a meal that catches you off guard, ARP is the kind of vegan restaurant in Busan that quietly resets expectations. There’s no preachiness, no heavy-handed substitution game trying to fake meat — just seasonal vegetables treated with the same care and technique you’d find at any Michelin-recognized kitchen. With mains starting under $15 per person at a Bib Gourmand restaurant, it’s a table worth reserving.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Visiting ARP Vegan Restaurant in Busan