HanGawi A Vegetarian Shrine

One of the restaurants we tried during my recent trip to NYC was HanGawi in K-Town. This is the first vegetarian Korean restaurant that I've been to. I usually think of Korean BBQ and drool when anyone mentions going out for Korean food so I was a little disappointed to hear, on our way to lunch, that it was a vegetarian restaurant. I was deliciously surprised to find everything we tried also drool worthy good. My favorite dishes was the fragrant bamboo rice, which takes awhile to cook so order it early. I was also delighted by the ambiance. HanGawi's space is very balanced and "zen-like." The only thing that was a bit off is that we had to take our shoes off when we entered the restaurant. I didn't have a problem with this until I had to go to the restroom. I walked down to the restroom barefoot and right outside the door the only option was to wear a communal slipper. The thought of how many other people wore the slippers before me put a bad taste in my mouth.