Samsan, Ulsan pork cutlet and gyukatsu: three dishes for two, Izawa

Today I want to introduce a restaurant I found while looking for gyukatsu and rice bowls with a friend! It's Izawa Ulsan The Terrace Garden branch!

Where is Izawa Ulsan The Terrace Garden branch, and what are its hours?

• Location 📍 231 Samsan-ro, Nam-gu, Ulsan, South Korea
• Hours ⏰ 11:00–21:00 (last order 20:25)
• Parking 🅿️ Available in the Terrace Garden building (see photo below)

How much free parking does the Terrace Garden building give?

You can park in the Terrace Garden building, and the amount depends on how much you spend — the maximum free parking was 2 hours 30 minutes! After the free period, it's ₩500 per 10 minutes. See the photo above for the exact parking fees!

There was also a seating area out front like this. My friend saw it and went, "Wait, do people eat out here too?" haha.

Inside Izawa: seating and eating alone

Once we went inside, it felt cozier than I expected! It had that comfortable, homey feel while also giving off a Japanese vibe here and there 🇯🇵 There were quite a lot of tables, and it looked totally fine for solo dining too!

Dontoro don (fatty pork bowl)! The pork jowl bowl looked good too, but I'll try that next time.

How to grill and eat the gyukatsu at Izawa

The restaurant even has a guide on how to enjoy gyukatsu!

• Place the gyukatsu on the mini brazier's grill plate once it's preheated
• Flip it front and back to your desired doneness without burning it
• Once it's well cooked, add a little fresh wasabi on top
• It's said to taste best dipped in Izawa's special sauce!

We started with the gyukatsu I was most looking forward to 🤍 Crispy outside, soft inside — really good, and I loved that we could grill it on the brazier to whatever doneness we wanted! Dipped in Izawa's special sauce, the meat and sauce paired really well.

The special loin katsu, Izawa's pork cutlet

The special loin katsu (tonkatsu) looked delicious too, so we ordered it. The gyukatsu was soft and tasty, but having tonkatsu on the table too meant each dish had its own different charm, which I liked.

The gyukatsu is soft and delicious of course, but grilling steak on the brazier yourself and eating it that way was great too.

What is the best way to eat the steak-don?

This is a rice bowl topped with steak cooked medium-rare. You could put the steak back on the brazier and cook it a bit more to your liking, which was great 🔥 The rice was tossed with a sweet seasoning, and adding a little steak and wasabi on top of that made a pretty great combination! Personally, the steak + rice + wasabi combo was the tastiest way to eat the rice bowl, haha.

There were only two of us, but we both eat a lot, so we ordered three dishes, haha!!

Hahaha, we can really eat, right? We cleaned every plate, it was that good.

Why two people should order several dishes at Izawa

Rather than ordering just one dish, I think it's better to order several like we did and share, so everyone gets to try different things! The overall atmosphere is cozy and comfortable, so it worked well for eating with a friend, and it also looked like a place solo diners could visit without feeling awkward. Parking is available in the building too, so there's less to worry about when looking for somewhere to eat in Samsan! If you're in Samsan craving gyukatsu or a rice bowl, this place is worth a visit 😊 Next time I go, I'm definitely trying the pork jowl bowl, haha.