We found this place by accident (as with most of the other restaurants on my travels, lol) while we were finding a place to eat near City Hall station after our DMZ tour. We saw a signboard right beside Deoksugung/Doldam-gil, and it was advertising tonkatsu. We were quite hungry and very eager to find a place to hide from the cold, so we decided to head in.
Surprisingly, this restaurant is not on the 1st floor; you have to walk down a flight of stairs, making this place a little obscure even though it’s near a busy street.
There was no one else in the restaurant except for us even though it was lunch hour, which is a little sad? I’m not sure if if it’s because it’s so obscure that no one really realizes it’s there.
There were only two staff in the restaurant at that time: the owner (who was also the chef), and a waitress. We found out that the owner could actually speak and understand Chinese, and she even asked if we were from Taiwan because our Chinese was good 😂 she even offered to add more rice for us if we were hungry – so sweet!
Food-wise, I don’t have anything to complain. It’s pretty okay, decent tonkatsu. I quite liked the macaroni side dish and the soup (which is free-flow, together with the banchan/side dishes!) I do think the meat is slightly tough, although I can’t deny that it is rather crispy.
At 7000 won for tonkatsu (and 8000 won for one with curry), I do think it is pricey, but if you consider the price of normal dishes in Korean restaurants, this is already considered reasonable. If you factor in the free-flow kimchi, banchan, and water, you can better understand why food in Korea (particularly Seoul) is more expensive than back at home. I’m not getting free side dishes and water (not all restaurants) in Singapore, so 🤷🏻♀️
I would visit this restaurant again, maybe not so much for the food, but for the kind and friendly owner. Do look out for this place when you are near Deoksugung and Doldam-gil!
DIRECTIONS
Unfortunately, I don’t have the exact address to the place, so I’m using Naver Maps to roughly indicate:
It’s right next to the entrance of Deoksugung, you’ll see the signboard for sure! Do ignore the ‘Doldamgil’ you see on the map above though – that’s the name of a souvenir shop in Deoksugung, not the tonkatsu restaurant haha.
THEVYPEFFECT 