Solo gyukatsu lunch with curry add-on at Izawa, a Yeouido restaurant

Why I chose Izawa Yeouido Direct Store for gyukatsu at Yeouido Station

I was trying to figure out what to eat for lunch in Yeouido when I suddenly craved gyukatsu (breaded pork or beef cutlet), so I headed to Izawa Yeouido.

What I liked right away was the location. It's right in front of Yeouido Station, so it's easy to set up a lunch appointment, and pretty accessible as a weekday lunch spot for office workers.

Window seats over Yeouido: can you eat alone at Izawa?

The interior overall has fairly low lighting, giving it a calm Japanese-restaurant mood :) But the window side had a completely different vibe — through the floor-to-ceiling glass you could see Yeouido's buildings and trees laid out, and the view was better than I expected?

There are seats facing the window specifically, which seems great for anyone looking for solo dining in Yeouido. I actually saw other people eating alone, so it felt like a no-pressure place to walk into by yourself.

What's on the menu at Izawa Yeouido

The menu centers on gyukatsu but offers a range of Japanese dishes :) There's also an optional curry add-on!

The mini grill that arrives before the gyukatsu

I ordered the gyukatsu set with a curry add-on that day. First they bring a small grill plate to the table — this is where you grill each piece of gyukatsu yourself, to whatever doneness you like.

The gyukatsu came out sooner than I expected. It arrived with rice, miso soup, cabbage salad, kimchi, and several sauces, making for a pretty solid meal setup.

Izawa's gyukatsu: crisp from the first look

The first thing that caught my eye the moment I saw the gyukatsu was that crisply fried exterior!

Picking up a piece, the inside was still reddish, meaning you grill it bit by bit to your preferred doneness.

The grill's heat is fairly strong, so the meat cooks quickly once you put it on. I gave it a light grill on both sides and then tried it!!

Ah, this is proper crispy-outside-tender-inside. The breading was crunchy and the meat inside was soft and juicy — the texture contrast was really good.

The surprise of the meal: Izawa's curry

I added the curry that day just because I felt like trying a bit of everything, and it turned out to be a great call haha. In fact, the curry stuck in my memory just as much as the gyukatsu itself.

Mixing the curry into the rice was delicious, and eating it alongside a piece of gyukatsu worked really well too. I ended up scraping the bowl clean, and if you visit, I'd strongly recommend adding the curry.

The cabbage salad, eaten in between bites, also cut through the richness nicely and was satisfying overall. The portion looked modest at first, but it turned out to be more filling than I expected as I kept eating. Since this happened to be right before I started a diet, I ate especially thoroughly that day haha.

As I kept eating, I noticed the portion was surprisingly generous and thick, so it filled me up pretty well haha. Ah, looking at these photos is making me hungry again 😋

Izawa gyukatsu lunch in one line

Great accessibility right in front of Yeouido Station, and a no-pressure atmosphere for solo dining! Most of all, there's real fun in grilling crispy gyukatsu yourself on a hot grill, and adding the curry bumps satisfaction up a notch.

If you're looking for a gyukatsu restaurant near Yeouido Station, I'd recommend Izawa Yeouido 🤎

Izawa Yeouido Direct Store: hours, address and details

• Address: 204-ho, 42 Yeouinaru-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00
• Break time: 15:00–17:00
• Last order: 20:30

※ Hours and break times may change, so please check the store info again before visiting.