RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK Busan’s vegan Home Bistro feels like home wherever you’re from

Sang-gu and Sun-hee, the sibling co-owners of Home Bistro, pose at the restaurant in Busan, April 12. Courtesy of Chrispy

Home Bistro has been a cornerstone of Busan’s small but passionate vegan scene for almost seven years. Their menu features popular staples of internationally focused restaurants. Yet, it’s the unique twist they add to these common dishes and their emphasis on ambience that makes Home Bistro a special place to eat.

“We don’t think of our restaurant as having a serious philosophy,” explained Sun-hee, one half of the sister-brother team that runs Home Bistro. “We care about supporting the Earth, but we’re not trying to make a grand statement with our restaurant or anything.”

“We want to have a warm space where people feel comfortable to visit and experience vegan food naturally,” added her brother, Sang-gu. “A community-driven space with food, music and art. If we can also have a positive impact, though, that would be nice.”

There is a living room vibe to the interior of vegan restaurant Home Bistro in Busan. Courtesy of Jang Hee-young

Entering the restaurant, you’re immediately put at ease by the space’s rustic, natural charm. If their aim was to create a relaxing feeling — with lowlights, dark wood, throws and plants — then mission accomplished. The alluring ambience of Home Bistro draws from the cafe cultures of several different nations, as a blend of Spanish, Indian, Morrocan, Georgian and Korean styles are on display. The walls are decorated with a large amount of small artwork that makes the space seem engaging and relaxing.

“We actually made most of this art,” Sang-gu said. “In our spare time, we both like to be creative. Much of what we make ends up on the walls of our restaurant.”

This approach to homemade decorating adds to Home Bistro’s “living room” energy, but, as the duo explains, it goes even deeper.

“We did most of the fitting ourselves. We even built some of the furniture. We made that counter out of pieces of wood we found at the beach,” Sun-hee said, gesturing to the impressive bar at the center of the restaurant.

The core takeaway of any visit to Home Bistro, in case it wasn’t obvious yet, is comfort. Both the space and the menu are carefully designed to create a sense of coziness. Their ever-evolving menu offers a range of international comfort food with a vegan or nature focus, or occasionally a Korean-fusion twist.

Today, we ate four of their signature dishes. First, a sandwich on sourdough bread with basil-coriander pesto, apple, vegetables, tomato sauce, dill-cashew mayo and a side of roast potatoes and fried spinach with sesame seeds. This was followed by pasta in a Korean seaweed pesto sauce with a side of sourdough bread. Next, two large tacos filled with locally produced, plant-based meat, lentils, shiitake mushrooms, salsa, homemade soy sauce and cashew cream on top. Finally, we were treated to the restaurant’s most iconic dish, the kung fu boy — deep-fried battered oyster mushrooms in a sweet and sour sauce.

A sandwich at Home Bistro in Busan / Courtesy of Chrispy

What you notice most about the sandwich is the freshness. The delicious sourdough was purchased from J.Sourdough; a nearby order-only baker that specializes in vegan goods. The crunchiness of the bread mix with the apple and vegtables to make a really nice texture.

Vegan pasta at Home Bistro in Busan / Courtesy of Chrispy

Of all the things we ate, the pasta had the most interesting taste. Korean fusion food is common these days, but the unique blend of pesto and seaweed really makes this dish stand out. The seaweed flavor is strong without being overpowering, and the sourdough side makes this a hearty, substantial meal.

The tacos were probably the highlight of the meal, with Home Bistro’s approach to comfort food achieved best with their take on the Mexican classic. The mix of flavors in the taco really popped, and the salsa and cashew cream sauce complemented each other beyond expectations. It’s a rich, saucy, spicy flavor that we can’t recommend enough. They’re also really large, bucking a trend in Korea for teeny-tiny tacos.

Finally, we tried their kung fu boy, the dish they have become best known for. For vegans who are missing meat in their lives, you should definitely try this. It satisfies meat cravings without losing the flavor of mushrooms. It’s got a great texture with a nice mix of crispy and chewy. The Chinese-Korean sweet and sour sauce accompanying it is delicious.

The history of Home Bistro dates back to 2018 when the duo opened the restaurant in another location. At that time, they lived above the space, which is where the name came from. “We both turned vegan in 2018,” Sun-hee explained, “and around six months later, we decided to open a restaurant."

Sang-gu’s decision to turn vegan came after traveling. During his trip, he began reading the infamous Yuval Noah Harari book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind."

“I found the section on factory farming evocative. After that, I began thinking about how my diet was affecting living things. I was considering the different processes involved with food, and because of this, I became vegan,” he said.

“It was a little different for me,” Sun-hee said. “I was never a big meat lover anyway. I started watching some documentaries and talking to my friends and my partner about veganism, and I decided to make the change.”

Running a business together as siblings is its own challenge. How do the two deal with any disagreements? “Time,” Sang-gu said. “Disagreements need time and conversation. It’s not always easy, but we have learned a lot since starting the restaurant.”

“We don’t handle it very well," Sun-hee added, “but we are trying.”

The exterior of Home Bistro in Busan / Courtesy of Chrispy

As a country, Korea has a somewhat iffy relationship with veganism. Despite some movement in recent years and the sporadic trendiness of the vegan diet, the country's deep-rooted food culture still revolves heavily around meat and fish. This is especially true in a city like Busan, a coastal town with a vital fishing industry.

With that said, Sun-hee and Sang-gu are quick to point out the positives of Busan’s plant-based community. “Busan’s vegan scene is small but has lots of character. There are not many vegan businesses here, when compared to Seoul, but the ones that are here all have their own unique identity. We have some really awesome vegan restaurants, and Busan’s vegan baking scene is especially good,” Sun-hee said.

“While being vegan is important to us,” she said, “and these days, we are thinking about how our lives impact the universe, it’s also really fun. It’s fun making vegan food. And we hope people can have fun while they’re here.”

Home Bistro is more than just a restaurant, and Sang-gu and Sun-hee are excited to talk about the music and culture that happen there. “We often have musicians perform here,” Sang-gu said. “It’s something we’re planning to do more of in the future.”

“We also recently had a wedding party here, too,” Sun-hee added. “We want to think of our restaurant as a community space that people can enjoy for more than just food.”

Follow @homebistroandcafe on Instagram for more information.

Jamie Finn is chief editor of Platform Magazine. Jang Hee-young is a chef and teacher who specializes in Korean cuisine, Busan's food in particular.