Baby-friendly udon restaurant in Dongjak, Seoul: Kosi Isu Branch

Why we chose Kosi Isu Branch for a weekend dinner with our baby

We were trying to figure out where to go on the weekend when our baby caught a cold and we ended up taking her to the doctor in the evening. Looking for restaurants near the hospital, we settled on Kosi Isu Branch since it offers 1-hour free parking!

Honestly, when you're going out with a baby, the easiest choice is somewhere that serves udon and tonkatsu.

Where Kosi Isu Branch is and where to park

For reference, Kosi Isu Branch is located in the ground-floor retail complex of Isu Jai apartments, so you can get 1 hour of free parking at Isu Jai's basement level 2. We visited on a weekend evening and there were plenty of parking spots, with wide parking lines too, so it was very comfortable.

There's an Emart Everyday on the basement level, and as soon as you take the elevator up, Kosi Isu Branch comes into view. Even the exterior alone gives off a really clean impression.

What's on the menu at Kosi Isu Branch

Udon is basically the core of the place, so there's a fairly wide range of both cold and hot udon dishes.

They also have tonkatsu and donburi dishes — the donburi options include karaage-don, gyudon, and katsu-don. For sides, there's sweet potato cheese croquette, fried shrimp, tempura, and fried chicken (karaage).

Does Kosi Isu Branch have baby chairs and baby dishware?

There were 2 baby chairs ready inside Kosi Isu Branch. The staff were quite kind and quick — as soon as we arrived, they saw the baby and asked whether we'd like to use a baby chair.

When you visit with a baby, the first thing you check is always the baby chair and baby dishware. The staff kindly confirmed we had a baby and set everything up for us. Their service got things off to a great start from the very beginning, and the baby dishware was spotlessly clean too.

Inside Kosi Isu Branch: seating and kiosk ordering

Inside, there were a bit more than 10 tables. The place itself was quite clean and comfortable. Even though it was late, customers kept steadily coming in.

Some customers were dining alone, others were couples, but ordering and payment are all done through the kiosk. Maybe because we came right at dinner time, there were way more people than before. Solo diners, families, friends — all sorts of customers were there.

Draft beer: 300cc for 3,000 won

Since the weather was nice, we tried a 300cc draft beer too. Being real draft beer, we drank it right as it arrived, and both the coldness and the crisp refreshing feel were perfect. It's only ₩3,000, so I'd definitely recommend it, haha.

How does the mazesoba udon taste?

Mazesoba udon! Even just looking at it, it's pretty impressive.

It's built on a mazesoba base with udon noodles inside. Since Kosi makes its own noodles in-house, the udon is quite chewy, and that chewy texture paired really well with the maze sauce. It wasn't spicy, so it went down easily. That kyogai powder on top helped keep the dish rich and thick, which was a great choice.

Buckwheat soba and its tsuyu dipping sauce

Buckwheat soba, my recent obsession.

The buckwheat soba itself was pretty standard, but the tzuyu dipping sauce was cold and pleasantly salty — really delicious.

It's the style where you add radish, green onion, and mustard all together, and I enjoyed the sharp kick of the mustard while eating the cold soba noodles. If we'd ordered udon again it might have felt repetitive, but I think we picked a nicely varied combination.

Half-and-half tonkatsu (cheese + pork loin), the dish our baby ate most

We ordered the half-and-half tonkatsu for the baby to eat.

The half-and-half tonkatsu comes with cheese tonkatsu plus pork loin tonkatsu. The pork loin tonkatsu was quite thick, and once we cut it up for the baby, she ate it happily. Tonkatsu really does seem like the best food to eat with a baby.

The pork loin tonkatsu was thick too, and since the baby was hungry, she wolfed it down quickly and ate a lot.

Would we go back to Kosi Isu Branch with a baby?

After finishing, what stuck with me most was the udon noodles. We were really satisfied with the bukkake udon we ordered before, and even though this mazesoba udon uses the same noodles, it was still really delicious — my wife and I had a very satisfying meal. If you're looking for a Sadang restaurant or an Isu Station tonkatsu restaurant, I can't help but strongly recommend Kosi.