It can be difficult to find western-style salads in Seoul. While you can find salads at various bakeries they are a little sweet and tend to be on the bland side. So when Mana told me about a restaurant that was healthy and had mainly salads I jumped at the chance to go.
New Origin has several locations in Seoul but we decided to go to their Gwanghwamun location. Because we went on the weekend it was mostly empty and quiet so we had our choice of where we wanted to sit.
The cafe is very earthy and has various herbs stored on the shelves as part of the decor. It is sleek and modern, but it has an organic feel. It’s fairly spacious and there is a lot of room to walk around without feeling like you would bump into anyone.
We both ordered the California Sunshine D because it sounded delicious. It has lemon tea, lemon, orange, and pineapple juice, and muscovado sugar. It tasted fresh! You could taste the juices of each fruit and it wasn’t too sweet. None of the flavors competed with each other it felt very refreshing to drink.
Mana ordered the chicken salad and I was amazed when I saw the bowl. It was huge and they did not skimp on the ingredients. The chicken breast was actually moist, which is hard to do with chicken breast and the tomatoes were not soggy and falling apart. All of the lettuce were leafy cuts and the ricotta cheese was not sweet. I think that was my favorite part of her salad because ricotta is not easy to find in Korea, especially if it’s not sweet. This salad was well balanced and you could taste the freshness of each ingredient.
I ordered the bacon avocado toast with hummus because I cannot resist hummus. They put a thick layer of hummus on the toast and topped it with sauteed peppers and onions that added a sweet layer between the saltiness of the hummus and the freshness of the avocado. All of this topped with maple bacon and I felt as though I was in heaven. It is one piece of bread but there is so much on top it is incredibly filling. I also had a small salad on the side that was literally one of the best salads I have ever eaten. The lettuce was fresh and green and I could taste the fresh basil they put on the tomatoes. The candied walnuts were actually good, and I hate walnuts, and they added a nice contrast with the salad.
We loved eating at New Origin and definitely recommend coming here if you want to eat a healthy meal or just have a great salad. All of their ingredients are organic, fresh, and ethically sourced. This is a meal you won’t feel guilty about in any way.
Link to our video → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pInu4F8lbd8
Manda's Wanderland 
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