Japanese restaurant in Ulsan Samsan: grill-your-own gyukatsu, Izawa

This time I want to introduce Izawa, located inside The Terrace Garden, as a local favorite in the Samsan neighborhood.

Inside The Terrace Garden — easy to find with kids?

Izawa, a Samsan restaurant favorite, sits inside The Terrace Garden, so parking was convenient!

Once you get off the elevator, arrows clearly point the way to the store, so it was no trouble finding it with the kids in tow.

There was also a separate sign in front of the shop with the business hours listed. Might be good to check the hours before you visit :)

Hygiene notice and a baby chair

Walking in, a notice caught my eye. It said the restaurant uses tableware sanitized in an ultrasonic dishwasher and a detergent made with one type of naturally-derived ingredient that meets Ministry of Health and Welfare standards 👍 Since it's a place we eat at with the kids, I paid extra attention to this kind of thing! Taste matters, but knowing the place is kept clean let us eat with peace of mind :)

And there was a baby chair ready for the kids too!

What we ordered through Kakao Order

One thing I found convenient on this visit was Kakao Order. After looking over the menu, ordering easily through Kakao Order made it much easier to keep an eye on the kids while placing an order!!

Through Kakao Order we ordered the signature A-set — gyukatsu, steak-don, and a drink — plus the whole mozzarella cheese pork cutlet that the kids love!!

Gyukatsu — the fun of grilling it yourself on a mini brazier

First we tried gyukatsu (breaded beef cutlet), the signature dish of Izawa, a Nam-gu, Ulsan restaurant favorite. Gyukatsu is grilled by yourself on a warm mini brazier, which made for a different kind of fun than regular pork cutlet.

As explained on the sign in the shop, grilling the meat on the mini brazier to your liking and eating it with wasabi and Izawa's fruit sauce brought out a soft, savory flavor 👍 You can grill the meat to whatever degree you like, and the kids especially found it fascinating and funny watching the meat go on the brazier 🤣

Grilling it ourselves made them eat even better!

Steak-don

Steak-don, rice topped with meat, was a filling, satisfying meal on its own.

The kids' pick: whole mozzarella cheese cutlet

And we ordered the whole mozzarella cheese pork cutlet, a favorite of our kids. My 6-year-old was so happy about how much the cheese stretched, hahahaha

My 3-year-old also ate it happily with rice 😝

Thanks to that, my husband and I got to enjoy the gyukatsu and steak-don while the kids ate the cheese pork cutlet — everyone got a meal to their own taste.

A Japanese-style photo zone in front of the shop

In front of the restaurant there's also a photo zone decorated in a Japanese style. We took some photos with the kids before and after eating, and it had a fun, different vibe, almost like being in Japan.

If you're visiting with kids, it's a great place to have a good meal and also grab some photos at the photo zone :)

To sum up

• Located inside The Terrace Garden, with convenient parking ✅
• A baby chair is provided ✅
• Easy ordering through Kakao Order ✅
• Most memorably, grilling gyukatsu yourself on the brazier made the meal one to remember

Worth a visit if you're craving gyukatsu or steak-don in Samsan, and if you're also looking for something the kids can enjoy, order the cheese cutlet alongside it. Another good meal with the kids this time :)