Pangyo Station lunch spot sharing four Japanese sets: Godai Kitchen

Where is Godai Kitchen near Pangyo Station?

While looking for somewhere to have lunch in Pangyo, I ended up at Godai Kitchen this time. Godai Kitchen is a Japanese lunch special restaurant located in the basement of Samhwan Hi-Pex Building A, 240 Pangyoyeok-ro.

Pangyo is full of office workers passing through, so when picking a restaurant at lunchtime you end up thinking about the menu, the price, and how much time you have to eat.

Why order all four Godai Kitchen dishes at once?

Instead of sticking to one dish, I decided to order several and share them. This time I ordered four: kimchi cheese katsu nabe, shrimp chicken tendon, katsu with cold soba, and pork belly butadon. They were different enough in style that it seemed like a good setup for a group with different tastes.

Kimchi cheese katsu nabe: a warm, spicy lunch

The first thing that caught my eye at Godai Kitchen was the kimchi cheese katsu nabe (kimchi hot pot with pork cutlet).

It's a different experience from eating a plain crispy pork cutlet — here the katsu sits in a kimchi broth, which suited a craving for something warm at lunch. The tangy, spicy flavor of the kimchi naturally soaked into the broth and cut through any greasiness, and the melted cheese added a softer note on top. Katsu and cheese alone could get heavy, but the kimchi kept it from feeling too much.

It went especially well with rice. Dipping the katsu into the broth added a moist texture, and with the cheese melted in, spooning it up bite by bite was fun. If you like the pork cutlet and kimchi combination, this is an easy dish to enjoy.

Shrimp chicken tendon: two fried toppings in one bowl

The second dish was shrimp chicken tendon (tempura rice bowl). Tendon bowls come loaded with different kinds of tempura, so it already looks generous. Being able to enjoy shrimp and chicken together was a plus. The tempura was well-seasoned with the rice, and alternating between shrimp and chicken meant it didn't get repetitive the way a single type of fried topping might. If you like crispy fried food with rice, this is a solid lunch choice.

Katsu with cold soba: something hot and something cold

Of the four dishes, the one that felt a bit different was the katsu with cold soba set. It comes as pork cutlet paired with cold soba (buckwheat noodles), so you get warm katsu and cool soba at once. When the weather gets a little hot, eating only hot food for lunch can feel like a lot, and having the cold soba alongside made the meal easier to get through.

Switching between the crispy katsu and the cold, clean-tasting soba worked well together. Katsu alone can feel heavy, but the cold soba cleared the palate in between, making it easy to finish. It felt like a good combination for when you want something filling for lunch but not overly heavy.

Pork belly butadon: a filling bowl of rice and meat

Last, I ordered the pork belly butadon (pork rice bowl) as well. Out of everything ordered that day, this was probably the easiest to eat comfortably with rice and meat. Butadon is a rice bowl topped with pork, so it's a familiar and filling lunch choice.

The savory pork belly and its seasoning blended well with the rice, so a whole bowl was satisfying without needing many side dishes. If you like meat, this kind of rice bowl is worth considering. Ordering all four dishes at once meant I could try a little of each, and it was nice that each one had a quite different character.

How do the four Godai Kitchen dishes differ?

The kimchi cheese katsu nabe was warm and a bit spicy, the shrimp chicken tendon was all about crispy fried toppings, the katsu with cold soba combined pork cutlet with a refreshing cold noodle, and the pork belly butadon was a filling meat-and-rice dish. So if you're visiting with a group, ordering different dishes to share rather than everyone picking the same thing seems like a good idea. Especially at lunchtime, when you often want to eat quickly but still eat something good, having a range of menu options felt like an advantage.

Is Godai Kitchen good for a work lunch in Pangyo?

If you have a lunch appointment in Pangyo or are looking for somewhere to eat with coworkers, Godai Kitchen is worth a look. With katsu, tendon, soba, and rice bowls all on offer, it was easy to find something for people with different tastes. On this visit, trying all four dishes meant each one brought its own appeal, so the meal didn't feel one-note. If your usual Pangyo lunch spots are starting to feel repetitive, a restaurant with this kind of variety might be worth checking out.

Overall, this lunch left me feeling well fed. If you're stuck deciding what to eat for lunch in Pangyo, it's worth taking a look at Godai Kitchen's range of lunch dishes. Especially if you're going with a group, I'd recommend everyone picking a different dish and sharing. Above all, being able to try and compare all four dishes myself this time was a great experience.

• When you're craving a warm soup dish – kimchi cheese katsu nabe
• When you want fried food with rice – shrimp chicken tendon
• When you also want something refreshing – katsu with cold soba
• For a filling meat rice bowl – pork belly butadon

If you're weighing different Japanese-style lunch options in Pangyo, this is a place worth visiting at least once. Trying all four dishes myself, it was great for sharing with the people I went with, and more than enough to make for a filling lunch. For that reason, Godai Kitchen seems like a solid candidate when searching for a good Pangyo lunch spot.