After-work tonkatsu and curry udon near Samjeon Station: Pine Katsu

What is Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch like?

Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch (파인카츠 잠실본점) is a handmade tonkatsu restaurant near Samjeon Station, at 35 Baekjegobun-ro 21-gil, Unit 101, Songpa-gu, Seoul. It's known for its crispy handmade pork cutlets, and I stopped by after work, hungry, with the excuse that I'd eat first and work out afterward!😍

• Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00–21:00 (last order 20:40)
• Break time: 15:00–16:00
• Closed: every Sunday

Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch is a great place to eat alone near Samjeon Station!🍍 If you visit on a weekday between 4 and 5 pm, it's happy hour, and Pine Katsu and kimchi nabe (kimchi hot pot) are just ₩10,000. The pork seems to go through a dry-aging process before it's turned into katsu.

Is Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch good for solo dining?

The kitchen is open, so you can watch the food being made, and there were lots of seats inside. There was a mix of people dining in pairs and eating solo. (Next time I'm coming alone!)

Rice refill rules at Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch

• Set menus get one free refill
• Menus that don't include rice get no free refill
• Extra rice is ₩1,000

Menu and order: two tenderloin+cheese katsu sets for ₩32,000

I agonized over the menu and ended up ordering two sets: two tenderloin+cheese katsu sets came to ₩32,000 in total. If you use the staff call button, you can ask for extra side dishes or sauce, FYI🤗

Everything is domestically sourced (Korean)😄, which is reassuring!! It's hard to use all-domestic ingredients these days, but Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch does.

If you say you're happy, will happiness come to you?? May everyone go find their four-leaf clover luck😆

What comes in the tenderloin+cheese katsu set (₩16,000)?

The tenderloin+cheese katsu set at Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch comes with two pieces of crispy cheese tonkatsu and a tender tenderloin katsu. It also comes with soup and rice, so it's a hearty meal, plus mini pickled radish (kkakdugi) and a mountain chili pepper sauce, among other sides.

Free tenderloin katsu and curry udon after an order mix-up

The cheese katsu and tenderloin katsu arrived! Actually, what my friend originally ordered was loin+tenderloin katsu, but it was entered wrong, so loin and cheese katsu came out. To apologize, the staff gave us a tenderloin katsu for free instead (so touching). They also suddenly brought curry udon for us to try as a freebie, which got me all choked up😂.

We shared it between the two of us and it was insane..!! The Japanese curry is made by simmering onions for a long time, and it was sweet and salty, the kind of curry that makes you want more rice (a "rice thief"), so I ate it in a frenzy.

(It's a rich Japanese curry, so mixing the sauce into your rice is pure heaven. Highly, highly recommend.)

And the second freebie was a drink! They gave us Zero Coke too!!! 🥹🥹 Zero Coke is just right for a hot summer day, and the cold cola made it feel like digestion was going smoothly.

How does the tenderloin katsu at Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch taste?

Personally, the tenderloin katsu is the best thing at Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch, as expected😂 Maybe because it's a premium aged tonkatsu restaurant and the pork is aged for a long time, the tenderloin has no off smell at all and is so tender that it's totally this place's killer menu item😝 I dipped it in the regular sauce and in the curry sauce too..!! Both were so good I couldn't pick a winner.

The yuzu dressing salad that came with it was refreshing and went well with the fried katsu, but I didn't realize there was fruit (pineapple) served alongside, so I didn't notice it at the end and never ate it😱

Try dipping the cheese katsu in the curry

Dipping the cheese tonkatsu in the curry felt like eating katsu curry rice, so it was like eating two dishes at once. Everybody, please be sure to try the curry!!!

Do I recommend it as an after-work tonkatsu near Samjeon Station?

Cleared my plate to the very end again today~~ It felt like I finally had proper Japanese-style tonkatsu in a long time, with delicious tenderloin katsu and Japanese curry, so it was a satisfying day!!👏 Looking for a solo meal near Samjeon Station?? How about crispy, tasty tonkatsu at Pine Katsu Jamsil Main Branch, a Jamsil tonkatsu favorite?