A Flower Blossom On the Rice @ Seoul (2025)

Princess’ first trip to Seoul, and I brought her to one of my favourite restaurants found in Insadong. Great location as well, because we just finished walking around the area.

As you walk through Insadong Alley, which is crammed with teahouses and Korean eateries, you will find a low-rise Korean style house – a restaurant called ‘A Flower Blossom on the Rice’. Various flowers, vegetables, and herbs are carefully planted in small pots in front of the restaurant. 

A Flower Blossom On the Rice 꽃,밥에피다 is an organic fusion Korean restaurant that uses ingredients grown with eco-friendly farming methods. Over 95 percent of the restaurant’s dishes are made with pesticide-free, organic, and eco-friendly ingredients.

‘You are what you eat.’ Owner/Chef Song Jung-eun walks the talk with this farm-to-table restaurant where everything you eat is not produced at commercial volume. And if you like what you ate, you can buy the ingredients at their organic grocery store just a stone’s throw away in the Bukchon district.

The restaurant opened in late Dec 2015 and ran a deficit for about two and a half years, so around the fall of 2017, the owners were contemplating closing the place when the tyre manufacturer recognised them with a Bib Gourmand listing. That’s when everything turned around.

The items in the set menu are adjusted to reflect the seasonal changes as the seasonal ingredients come up. The main courses were generally the same as the last time I was there (Spring Special), this time it is mainly the summer ingredients with a change of their beef supplier.

입맛다심 Appetisers

I ordered a Weizen (left) from Mungyeong Ganadara Brewery, a Korean craft brewery founded by Kim Eok-Jong, while Princess ordered a Magpie IPA which is a classic American IPA with pine and citrus notes with a medium body. It was the last bits of Summer and we were proceeding to the beginning of Autumn and so there were alternation of the ingredients because of the seasonal change.

감자 스프 제철 Seasonal Potato Soup

Boiled with seasonal vegetables

The soup was made from organic potato and onions blended together for that creaminess that did not come from adding diary. Everything tasted light and yet delicious, no burden to the body.

Summer Salad

Seasonal Organic Vegetables and home made Special Dressing

The salad is a mix of pesticide free vegetables from Korea with Western herbs like arugula. Instead of cheese, tofu is crumbled and added for texture (and I thought it was cheese). This time it had fresh figs, which were sweet and delicious.

The dressing is made from organic pine nut, giving the nutty, creamy taste. It is thickened using tofu instead of heavy cream.

세 가지 얌전과 장김치 Three types of Jeon (Korean pancake) with Soy Sauce Kimchi

Mushroom, organic vegetables, organic flour, and soy sauce Kimchi

Next course, an assortment of Jeon 전 that is part of the Royal Cuisine as an appetiser. The waiter reminded us that the flowers are edible too.

Jeon 전 (in Hanja, 煎) is a fritter in Korean cuisine made by seasoning whole, sliced, or minced fish, meat, vegetables, etc., and coating them with wheat flour and egg wash before frying them in oil. Three types of vegetables were used for the jeons – enoki mushrooms, lotus root and radish. I really enjoyed the radish jeon with the dried seaweed that looked like fine hair called gamtae gim 감태김, gim referring to dried seaweed sheets. 

The kimchi, which looked like Noynya achar, is fermented in-house using organic soy sauce instead of the usual pepper flakes.

유기농 잣겨자소스 냉채 Organic Pine Nut Mustard Sauce Cold Dish

Organic spring vegetables, organic Tempeh, mustard, traditional Korean soy sauce, organic pine nut, and organic brown nice vinegar

Jicima is julienned and mixed together with blanched wood-ear fungus, beets, and green apple. The mix is dressed with a pine nut and yellow mustard sauce. Very refreshing with all the texture and flavours going in the naengchae 냉채.

I was surprised to find tempeh (Indonesia fermented soy bean) in the mix. Tempeh like natto is an acquired taste, but is a great natural source of probiotics.

고귀한 야생버섯 고추잡채 Noble Wild Mushroom Spicy Stir-fried Vegetables

Wild mushrooms, golden pine mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, domestic soybean milk, pesticide-free chilli peppers, chilli oil, prickly ash, and pesticide-free Korean wheat flower bread

This Sichuan-flavoured gochu–japchae 고추잡채 is made from pesticide-free wood-ear fungus, golden pine mushroom, shiitake mushroom, and tofu made from domestic soybean milk and sautéed with sancho powder and ginger pepper oil. Golden pine mushroom is a Korean variety and has great umami. Flower bun made with pesticide-free wheat flour is similar to the Dongbei mantou and goes perfectly with the spicy japchae.

메인 식사 Main Dish

The main course came in three parts – a bibimbap, a vegetable dish and a protein dish, with some pickles to go with the rice.

오직 풀로만 키운 한우 Organic Grass-Fed Korean Beef with Sprout Ginseng

Organic Grass Fed Beef, Korean Traditional Soy Sauce, organic vegetable, organic sprout ginseng

The portion for the beef has shrunk from 100g the last time to 80g this time. Organic Korean beef is precious as there are not very many in Korea that raise cattle that happily grazes in organic grass or eats organic feed. FulloMann Cattle Station (풀로만목장), a prominent Hanwoo beef farm located in Korea is known for its high-quality grass-fed beef. This grilled beef from Pulloman is aged for more than a week before grilling, resulting in a tender steak with meaty flavour and aroma. But the highlight was the sprout ginseng.

We all know the wonderful healing properties of ginseng, Chinese and Koreans have sworn by it for centuries. Ginseng sprouts have been recently cultivated as a medicinal vegetable in Korea due to their relatively short period of growth. Supposedly, they contain still have a high content of bioactive compounds, including ginsenosides and amino acids, compared to full grown ginsengs. It tasted like burdock with a slight ginseng aroma.

무항생제 돼지목살구이 Antibiotic-Free Grilled Pork Neck

Antibiotic-free pork neck from naturally-farmed, non-GMO-sourced livestock raised on barley, traditional soy sauce, lemon juice

Like the last visit, I ordered another main course to share. This time we tried the other main course on offer as a set. The grilled pork neck was seasoned with nothing else than organic soy sauce and lemon juice. Came with a side of sautéed vegetable that tasted like kangkong (water spinach).

눈개승마 나물밥 Nungaeseungma Wild Vegetable Rice

This is the rice dish that comes with the set. Nungaeseungma 눈개승마 is the Korean name for goatsbeard, a wild green vegetable harvested in mountainous regions like Taebaek, Korea. This pesticide-free Nungaeseungma came from Yanggu-gun, which was part of the front line for much of the Korean War, and now borders the DMZ.

It is known to have a meaty flavour and is often referred to as “Michael Jackson Wild Vegetable” because Michael Jackson, who visited Korea, enjoyed it so much that he often ate it during his visits. You mix up the wild vegetable together with the rice like a bibimbap. The texture is like Chinese dried muichoi 梅菜干 but without the saltiness, needed gochujang as the whole thing was rather bland and guilt-free as it is also without grease from the pork belly that we usually cook with muichoi 🤣.

멍게 비빔밥 Raw Sea Pineapple Bibimbap

The special bibimbap is meongge bibimbap 멍게 비빔밥 with raw sea pineapple seasoned with organic brown rice vinegar. I would say I am a fan of sea pineapple, but I couldn’t resist paying the extra to try it every time I see it in the menu. Perhaps I am trying to get accustomed to this acquired taste.

Meongge 멍게 (the yellow looking pieces) is also called ‘Sea Pineapple’ 바다의 파인애플 because of its hard body that resembled the tropical fruit. The raw version is quite acceptable in terms of taste, even though the gasoline taste lingers. These days they are farmed in Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province; more than 70 percent of meongge in Korea originate here.

Just like all bibimbap, you mix everything together before eating. I find the flavour a bit bland and asked for some of their special gochujang. And the pepper sauce was not spicy but packed a lot of flavours.

The main dish comes out with a side dish of vegan radish kimchi marinated with ripe persimmon and millet porridge, so it much more refreshing than the usual manufactured ones.

엉겅퀴 된장국 Thistle Doenjang Soup

Doenjang-jjigae 된장찌개 or soybean paste stew is a Korean traditional jjigae (stew-type dish) made from doenjang (soybean paste), and in this case, thistle.

죽순들깨찜 Steamed Bamboo Shoots

A summer delicacy in organic bamboo shoots seasoned with perilla seeds

Bamboo shoots are rich in potassium and vitamins B1 and B2, which help restore the tired body, lower the cholesterol and control blood pressure. Deulkkae 들깨 or Korean perilla is a nutty condiment that has that basil property and goes very well with the bamboo shoots.

세 가지 디저트와 음료 Three Desserts and Beverage

And to round out a fabulous meal was some Korean desserts (more like a petit fours), and a shot of beverage in the tradition of the cinnamon-date-pine nut drink (Sujeonggwa 수정과) that is traditionally served at the end of the meal.

Dessert

Yugwa and Bugak are both traditional Korean snacks (hangwa) with distinct ingredients and preparation methods. Yugwa 유과 is a sweet, fluffy, honey-coated rice pastry, while Bugak 부각 refers to a crispy, savoury, deep-fried dish made from various ingredients coated in glutinous rice paste. 

• Yugwa 유과 (Korean puffed rice snack) is made with organic rice and organic grain syrup;
• Saesongi Bugak 새송이부각 is made using Saesongi mushrooms (king oyster mushrooms) which have a meaty texture that holds up well to frying;
• Gim Bugak 김부각 is made with seaweed (Gim) sheets coated with glutinous rice paste, dried, and then fried into crispy chips. This is a very popular, savoury snack that you can buy in supermarkets and a great souvenir. 

Beverage – Organic Tangerine and Carrot Juice

100% squeezed Organic Tangerine Carrot Juice from Jeju Island

I was quite disappointed that they took the appetiser (bugak) from the previous time and turned it to a “dessert”. The portion of beef has become smaller and something seemed “off-beat” this time round. The food remained delicious, and very light on the body after eating it.

Nevertheless, the Summer course menu was still very generous and filling although the beef set has raised quite significantly in price (From $85 to $110.) They retained their Bib Gourmand because they continue to offer value-for-money lunches. It is popular among locals and tourists alike, so it’s advisable to make a reservation ahead of time. Highly recommended and leave at least 1.5 hour to enjoy the meal properly.

A Flower Blossom On the Rice 꽃,밥에피다
3-6 Insadong 16-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul 서울특별시 종로구 인사동16길 3-6
Tel : +82-2-732-0276 (Reservations)

Visited Aug 2025

Michelin Seoul Guide Bib Gourmand 2018-2025, Green Star 2021-2025