Seocho udon restaurant with shrimp and kabocha tempura: Kosi Gyodae

I'd been looking for somewhere near Gyodae Station where I could get proper sanuki udon and tonkatsu together, and that's how I ended up at Kosi Gyodae Branch! It's been featured on SBS's <Master in the House> and is known as one of actor Kim Seung-soo's favorite spots, so I'd been curious for a while. Since I didn't want to give up either udon or tonkatsu, I ordered the set combo this time — tenbukkake udon with tonkatsu on the side.

Kosi Gyodae hours and break time

• Hours: Daily 11:00–20:50
• Break time: 15:00–17:00

How far is Kosi Gyodae from Gyodae Station, and is there parking?

Kosi Gyodae Branch is within easy walking distance of Gyodae Station, so accessibility was solid. It's also close to the Seoul Central District Court, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and Seoul National University of Education, so it looked like a popular lunch or dinner spot for office workers in the area.

Even from outside, the place had that clean, Japanese-style udon shop atmosphere, and since it's known as a place people line up for, I'd recommend visiting with some time to spare during peak meal hours.

If you're driving, there's free parking for 1 car on weekdays and about 2 on weekends right in front of the restaurant. If those spots are full, Hanseong parking lot about a 3-minute walk away is also an option. Worth noting: orders over ₩20,000 get 30 minutes of free parking per table.

Inside Kosi Gyodae: the room and the seats

Walking in, the seating was more spacious than I expected. The hall holds around 38 seats, and besides the regular tables there are seats set up for solo dining, which seemed like a good option for anyone looking for a solo meal spot near Gyodae Station.

The clean, tidy atmosphere made it feel comfortable for a casual meal with friends, but also fine for a lunch with coworkers, a date, or a family meal.

The menu: adding a tonkatsu set to your udon

Kosi's menu is broadly built around sanuki udon and tonkatsu. There were plenty of cold options like bukkake udon, tenbukkake udon (tempura bukkake udon), and toritenbukkake udon (chicken tempura bukkake udon), along with warm choices like kake udon and ebiten udon (shrimp tempura udon).

There's a good tonkatsu lineup too — fresh pork loin katsu, cheese tonkatsu, half-and-half katsu, and an assorted katsu platter — so the menu actually makes you stop and think about what to order.

What stood out was that you can add tonkatsu as a set to the udon menu, which is perfect if you want both udon and tonkatsu. After going back and forth, I ended up picking the option that let me have both :)

How does the tenbukkake udon and tonkatsu set taste?

What I ordered was the tenbukkake udon set with tonkatsu added. The tenbukkake udon looked delicious right from the start — springy sanuki noodles topped with crispy fried shrimp and kabocha (sweet pumpkin) tempura, meant to be mixed with cold tsuyu (dipping sauce).

Apparently Kosi has good reason to be confident about its noodles — they use fresh sanuki-style noodles made the traditional way, kneaded from salt, water, and flour, then aged through two fermentation stages over about 48 hours.

Eating it, the noodles were noticeably thicker and springier than regular udon, with a real bounce when you chewed. I understood then why the Japanese use the word 'koshi' to describe noodles with that kind of elasticity.

The bukkake tsuyu wasn't overly salty or sharp — it had a deep savory flavor that paired well with the noodles. The broth is made from anchovies and kelp from the South Sea, seasoned with soy sauce imported from Japan, so even a simple bukkake udon felt like a solid, well-built combination of noodles and sauce.

The tempura on top was great too. The shrimp tempura was crispy outside and plump inside, and the kabocha was sweet, making it perfect to eat alongside the noodles. Eating it crispy at first, then again once it had soaked up a bit of the tsuyu, gave two completely different experiences.

The tonkatsu that came with it exceeded expectations too. They use domestic fresh pork loin, hand-pounded daily and fried fresh to order — the breading was crispy without being too thick, and the meat inside was moist and tender. Udon alone might have felt a little light, but adding the tonkatsu made the whole meal really satisfying.

Is Kosi Gyodae worth a visit?

Personally, I loved the combination of a chewy, cold bukkake udon bite followed by crispy tonkatsu. It's clear this place is good at both noodles and fried food — neither one feels like a mere side dish to the other.

If you want to enjoy chewy sanuki udon and crispy tonkatsu together near Gyodae Station, Kosi Gyodae Branch is worth a visit. Especially if, like me, you find it hard to choose between udon and tonkatsu, I'd recommend the tenbukkake udon tonkatsu set combo :)