Tonkatsu with sea bream fry at Pangyo Station: Bizzle Donkatsu

Went to Bizzle Donkatsu (예술작품을 빚다 비즐돈카츠), a place rumored to be one of the best tonkatsu spots near Pangyo.

Bizzle Donkatsu's location and hours

Bizzle Donkatsu 1F, Unit 126, S Building, H Square, 231 Pangyo-yeok-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Hours Weekdays 10:30 - 21:00 Weekends 10:30 - 20:30

A Pangyo tonkatsu favorite, Bizzle. There are lots of good tonkatsu places around, but I'd heard many times that Bizzle Donkatsu is one of the best. It's located in Pangyo's H Square — right as you enter the S building.

A clean interior, good for dining solo

The interior is exactly what you'd want from a tidy tonkatsu place. Good for eating alone, and a reliable go-to when you can't decide what to have for dinner. A clean, delicious Japanese-style tonkatsu specialist.

It was a bit past dinner time when I visited, but there were still plenty of people eating. I heard a wait is essentially guaranteed at lunch, and if you want to book through Naver, you need to specify your menu in advance.

When you're stuck on what to feed the kids, nothing beats tonkatsu~

Bizzle Donkatsu's menu, a Pangyo tonkatsu favorite

Reading the shop's description, you can tell the owner takes serious pride in their tonkatsu! They have every kind — loin, tenderloin, cheese, and fish katsu.

There's also a new hitsumabushi menu! And tori katsu (chicken katsu).

The limited-time shima aji fry (fried horse mackerel).

For when tonkatsu alone isn't quite enough, there's cold soba, kongguksu (chilled soy milk noodles), udon, and kimchi nabe. Noodles pair really well with tonkatsu, don't they~

So many set menu options

Bizzle Donkatsu especially shines with its variety of set menus — it's fun to pick and choose. Loin + tenderloin, tenderloin + cheese, and so on; the tonkatsu itself can be split half and half, plus there are sets where you can add noodles as a side.

The pinking phenomenon you usually see at good Japanese-style tonkatsu places. Back in my old days of being obsessed with tonkatsu, I learned that the balance of that reddish cross-section really matters.

What we ordered — tenderloin katsu and shima aji fry

We ordered the tenderloin katsu (₩14,500) and the shima aji fry (₩21,000). Just looking at it, it looked so delicious.... The set comes with a main plus salad, rice, soup, and side dishes!

Even without ordering a full set menu, it was nice to get such a tidy, complete spread. The tenderloin came out thick, in 8 pieces.

The hire katsu set had a huge portion

The hire katsu set came with a massive portion! Each piece of tonkatsu was so thick on its own that it felt like a bigger serving than at other tonkatsu places.

This hire katsu felt like it was cooked with a focus on tenderness. Even if slightly underdone, there was no dryness to be found... Even accounting for the pinking phenomenon, it seemed a bit less cooked than at other places compared side by side! Which meant it was incredibly soft.

How does the limited-time shima aji fry taste?

My friend ordered the shima aji fry. The horse mackerel was fried thin and crispy — thin enough that you couldn't even feel any bones. If you love fish, you might like this one more than the tonkatsu. Even though it was fried, the flavor of the fish itself really came through.

I stole a piece and tried it — it had a really strong fish flavor, like a proper fish katsu. I think it would've gone even better with tartar sauce haha. Rather than a soft, thick fish fillet feel, it was more like a well-dried, chewy, thin fried fish.

Worth recommending for lunch in Pangyo?

Crispy, delicious tonkatsu with a great overall spread — that's Bizzle Donkatsu. After this visit, I get why it's so popular for lunch among the office workers nearby. A solid, reliable tonkatsu place to go when you can't decide what to eat for lunch. My Pangyo lunch recommendation: Bizzle Donkatsu~