Mipa Lee was born in Busan, South Korea, but lived a very international childhood, growing up in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, the UK, and the USA. After returning to Korea in 2006 with a degree in design, she began wrestling with the environmental impact of consuming animals, which eventually led to her personal conviction to live and eat more compassionately.

Upon adopting a plant-based lifestyle in 2009 and also struggling to settle into her new life in Korea, Mipa recognized a lack of resources for fellow English-speaking vegetarians and vegans. While working as a full-time editor for an English hakwon, she began spending her free time writing a blog for expats in Korea entitled ‘Alien’s Day Out’ which chronicled her life as a new vegan in Seoul, sharing restaurant reviews and resources for other vegans.

As the blog grew in readership and popularity, Mipa began experimenting more with vegan baking and cooking, sharing recipes on her blog, baking for and organizing fundraisers for animal shelters, and even launching an online shop where she was baking out of her tiny studio apartment and shipping vegan muffins, and cookies all over the country. She also began baking vegan cakes for several coffee shops as well as a gourmet supermarket, further proving that there was a growing demand for plant-based treats in Korea.

After several years of blogging and successfully operating the online business, the opportunity finally came to open up a small store-front in the back alleyways of Itaewon, named Plant.

Upon first opening its doors in July 2013, Plant was buoyed by the support of loyal blog readers and the Seoul veg community, foreigners and Koreans alike.

Over the next four years, business steadily grew to the point where the operation had well out-grown its tiny kitchen and dining room of twelve seats. Then in 2017, after patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity, the company was able to expand the restaurant to a much larger space which is now Plant Café & Kitchen.

Though the Alien’s Day Out blog is no longer online, Mipa now spends her time operating the shops with the help of her Plant team. Her unrelenting attention to detail and the desire to see every detail come to life is evident in every part of Plant, from menu concept and quality of food, to the customer experience and ambiance.

Mipa also maintains her dedication to spreading the goodness of plant-based food. It is her goal to demonstrate that vegan food is not just a health fad or a diet, but something to be incorporated into everyday life, for everybody. Dietary perfection, purity, and restriction are never the goal, but abundance, kindness, equality, and love.