Tonkatsu with two Asahi beers on a date night near Amsa Station: Tonka

Today I visited Tonka, a place that's become quietly famous as a tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) spot in Gangdong. (My boyfriend actually goes here on his own sometimes!) I love tonkatsu, so I was pretty excited to finally get the chance to visit.

Tonka near Amsa Station: address, hours and closing days

• Location: 78 Sangam-ro 5-gil, 1F 102, Gangdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: 11:00 - 20:30
• Break time: 15:00 - 17:00
• Last order: 14:30, 20:00
• Closed: every Monday
• Parking: not provided, use nearby lots

How long is the wait at Tonka at 7pm on a weekday?

Tonka has a classy-looking storefront with a small waiting area out front! When we visited around 7pm on a weekday, we waited about 10 minutes.

You can check the opening hours on the glass window in front of the store! But since Tonka can close early once ingredients run out, I'd recommend calling ahead before you visit 🌟

Eight bar seats facing Tonka's open kitchen

Every seat at Tonka is at a bar table. It's an open kitchen, so you can clearly see the owner cooking — it made it really easy to see how clean the cooking process was. The whole space can seat about 8 people max, a small spot the owner runs solo. Maybe that's why the food and service felt so satisfying 👍🏻 There's tonkatsu sauce and salad dressing on the table that you can add freely.

Tonka's menu: which cutlets sell out by evening

You order through the QR code on the table!!

📢 Tonka's menu

When I visited, the limited-quantity items were already sold out. So it was tonkatsu by default!! Which is fine, since you should try the signature dish first anyway. If you want to try the limited special loin katsu or sasami katsu, I'd recommend aiming for lunch service rather than dinner. I'll have to go back for lunch just to try those two. 🤨 The menu is nicely simple — just katsu dishes and drinks!

Asahi bottled beer — how do you say no to that? haha

After ordering, I looked around the store and noticed a note on the wall explaining why the inside of the tonkatsu looks reddish.

The reddish color inside the tonkatsu doesn't mean it's undercooked.

As a tonkatsu lover I already don't worry about that, but it was nice to see the reassuring note anyway.

What comes with Tonka's signature tonkatsu set

Finally, our tonkatsu arrived! The plating was so neat — beautifully sliced, with a piece laid down in the center like a little performance (I think that's the owner checking the doneness). The 'tonkatsu' set comes with loin katsu, tenderloin katsu, cabbage, rice, soup, perilla leaf side dish, mustard, and wasabi salt.

The visuals are insane 🙏🏻

The doneness of the meat is perfect. Even in photos you can tell the breading looks crispy.

Pairing the tonkatsu with two bottles of Asahi beer

I couldn't resist the moment I saw the tonkatsu. The only beer here is Asahi bottled beer! What more do you need to say about Asahi~~ Plus a cute Sapporo bottle opener!

Beer topped up, sauce topped up, dressing topped up. The perfect spread, ready to go.

Loin vs tenderloin: how each cutlet tasted

I bit into the loin and the juiciness and flavor were insane — so tender too. It balanced perfectly with the crispy breading.

I also tried the tenderloin, and you could really feel the grain of the meat still intact. Delicious.!!! Personally, I think eating it with just the salt is the best way to taste the meat's natural flavor.

With tonkatsu that's over half fat, you get greasy fast, but Tonka's cutlets felt like they had exactly the right meat-to-fat ratio. There wasn't even a moment to feel greasy.

The perilla leaf side dish that stole the meal

Still, for anyone who might feel it's greasy 👏 — I think it's perilla leaf, and even though I wasn't feeling greasy at all, I finished it because it was so good. It felt unusual for a tonkatsu place to serve a side dish other than diced radish kimchi or pickled radish, but it went really well 🫶🏻

It was so good we ordered another bottle!

Food fight complete. The portions were generous too, nothing to skip. As someone who eats a lot, I still donated one piece to my boyfriend. Personally, the soup was really delicious — the kind you can just gulp down.

Is Tonka in Gangdong worth a dinner visit?

Tonka, a tonkatsu restaurant in Gangdong, is a place where you can taste the best of Japanese-style tonkatsu through premium ingredients, special aging, and frying technique. Clean interior, friendly service, and above all delicious tonkatsu — it was a satisfying visit in every way!!! If you're looking for a good restaurant in Gangdong or near Amsa Station, I recommend visiting Tonka to experience true crispy-outside, juicy-inside tonkatsu 🫶🏻