Tonkatsu shop in Seocho: okonomi katsu and cold soba at Baek Sojeong

Today I'm taking you to Baek Sojeong (백소정), a great lunch spot near Nambu Bus Terminal! I bet some people have never been, but nobody has gone just once..? (That's how high the repeat-visit rate is.)

What is Baek Sojeong Nambu Bus Terminal like?

Baek Sojeong is a Japanese restaurant famous for tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet). The Nambu Bus Terminal branch also sells other dishes like ebiten (shrimp tempura), assorted katsu and okonomi katsu.

Waiting and seating at Baek Sojeong Nambu Bus Terminal

There was no wait the day I visited, but the restaurant was full of customers. It was a scorching, sunny day, and so many people were resting under the shade awning that I worried, "Is this the Baek Sojeong waiting line..?!" Luckily it wasn't, haha.

The restaurant is bigger than it looks from outside, with seating stretching far back. It felt fine for solo diners too, and there are 2-person tables, 4-person tables and more.

What are Baek Sojeong's 3 most popular dishes?

The popular picks are mazesoba (soba with mixed toppings and sauce) + tonkatsu, cold soba + tonkatsu, and Kiso curry + tonkatsu. Cold soba and tonkatsu together for under ₩15,000? That's exactly the kind of great-value food I'd recommend as a Nambu Bus Terminal lunch spot. Baek Sojeong = budget-friendly restaurant, totally agreed. And it tastes good too.

Summer soba menu and tablet ordering

It had been a while since my last visit, and the menu had grown. It's not just cold soba anymore: there's Kiso cold soba and zaru soba (soba served on a bamboo tray) too, so there are more choices for hot summer days~ From these I ordered the okonomi katsu and cold soba. You order simply by tablet, which is easy for the staff and easy for me, two birds with one stone!

The basic side dishes are mini kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) and danmuji (yellow pickled radish).

Other dishes at Baek Sojeong are good too, but I especially recommend the katsu. Tonkatsu!!! Maybe because they use Korean first-grade raw pork loin, it's really different from other places. Not those fake katsu shops that fry up frozen cutlets. For raw pork loin tonkatsu, Baek Sojeong is the best, I think :-)

What I ordered: okonomi katsu and cold soba + tonkatsu

• Okonomi katsu
• Cold soba + tonkatsu

Why I chose these two

Okonomi katsu is a ★rare★ item that most katsu places don't sell, and pairing it with cold soba on a hot summer day is just delicious, right? haha

Baek Sojeong cold soba + tonkatsu set: price and taste

Cold soba at Baek Sojeong is ₩9,900, and the cold soba + katsu set is ₩14,900. For just ₩5,000 more you get a hefty raw pork loin cutlet alongside. The quality honestly rivals ordering the cutlet on its own!

How to enjoy Baek Sojeong's cold soba, and the toppings

The guide says to add grated radish and wasabi to taste, and eat the fried tofu (yubu) together with the noodles for extra flavor. The cold soba is loaded with toppings, so it can't possibly be bad. Cucumber, carrot, red cabbage, fried tofu, scallion, seaweed flakes and radish gave crunchy, crisp and chewy textures all at once, which I loved!!

I channeled Culinary Class Wars and said, "The noodles' doneness and chewiness are very satisfying~" as a funny impression... which just shows how good it was, haha.

Pick up a big bunch of vegetables with the noodles and you're in paradise, haha.

At first it seemed so odd to me that cold soba had fried tofu in it.. but after trying it, the sweetness and nuttiness of the tofu seem to bring out even more of the soba's flavor.

The cold soba + tonkatsu set also comes with the salad, condensed-milk rice cake and tonkatsu sauce, just like ordering the cutlet alone, so it was a hearty meal^ ㅁ ^ 100 points!

What does Baek Sojeong's okonomi katsu (okonomi tonkatsu) taste like?

And the dish that made me decide to write this post today is… drumroll~ okonomi katsu. If anyone hasn't tried the okonomi tonkatsu at Baek Sojeong, please do.

Baek Sojeong's okonomi katsu has a more special taste than regular tonkatsu, with a variety of toppings on top. Putting bonito flakes and sauce on a cutlet to make it like okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake)... who came up with this idea first...? (Seriously, kudos.)

To prevent a blood sugar spike, I first munched through a bowl of cabbage salad with black sesame dressing, then enjoyed the okonomi tonkatsu. Of course it's meatier than the cutlet in the cold soba set, and nearly twice the size. Not that the ₩5,000 cutlet in the set was small at all.. this one is just huge, is what I'm saying.

Okonomi katsu with no skimping on bonito flakes and sauce

What I liked most at Baek Sojeong, a great lunch spot near Nambu Bus Terminal, was that they don't skimp on the bonito flakes and sauce on the okonomi katsu. The heart of okonomiyaki is nutty bonito flakes and seasoned sauce, and I thought, they really don't hold back on ingredients here!!

Why I recommend Baek Sojeong for a summer lunch near Nambu Bus Terminal

It's really hot these days, isn't it? When you crave something cool and brothy, cold naengmyeon (cold noodles) or Pyongyang naengmyeon are great, but cold soba full of fried tofu and vegetables, plus okonomi katsu that puts okonomiyaki to shame, will make mealtime really happy. If you're looking for a lunch spot near Nambu Bus Terminal, I confidently recommend Baek Sojeong~