Mother-daughter tonkatsu lunch in Seongnae-dong, Seoul: Riae Premium

Today I went with my mom to Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch, a Japanese-style tonkatsu spot near the north gate 2 of Olympic Park in Seongnae-dong~

How long is the wait at Riae Premium at 1pm on a weekend?

On weekends there are a lot of people visiting Olympic Park or JYP, so I deliberately went at 1pm to avoid the crowds, but I was surprised there was still a wait. Still, since we had a reservation, they set aside a table for us.

Tablet ordering: how it differs from the menu board at the door

You order through the tablet at your table. There was a menu board near the entrance so I checked that one out first, but the menu was a bit different?! The board had cheese katsu, but it wasn't on the tablet! Maybe they used to have it but removed it to focus on other menu items. I came for the fillet mignon (tenderloin) hire-katsu anyway so it didn't matter to me haha.

They say it's gotten cooler these days but it's still really hot during the day. My mom ordered the cold soba roseu set. I added the Tokyo Spice Curry as a side!

Seating and the open kitchen at Riae Premium

Inside there were 2-top and 4-top tables plus a solo bar table. Having the bar table means solo diners can visit without feeling awkward too.

The kitchen was an open kitchen, which made me trust the place more. Cleanliness and hygiene matter so much at restaurants.

Our cold soba roseu-katsu, hire-katsu, and curry all arrived.

Fillet mignon hire-katsu and its five sauces

This is the fillet mignon hire-katsu I ordered. Since it's tenderloin, it's incredibly, incredibly soft >< There were so many different dipping sauces too. Salt, wasabi, olive oil, tonkatsu sauce, lemon soy sauce, and more. I liked wasabi with tonkatsu sauce best, and the lemon soy sauce was also good.

The cold soba roseu set comes with 5 loin cutlets

This is the cold soba set my mom ordered. Just looking at cold soba makes you feel cooler somehow. The set comes with 5 pieces of roseu-katsu haha! I'll have to steal some later.

It's topped with cucumber, carrot, radish sprouts, green onion, and seaweed, plus grated radish on top. That grated radish is absolutely essential.

My mom dodging my chopsticks so smoothly cracked me up hahahahaha. The portion of soba noodles was really generous. Lunch got a bit late so my mom said she was hungry — good thing there was plenty.

It felt fuller with carrot, which other places rarely add to their soba. The colors were nice too haha — looking good makes it taste even better, right?

Had a bite of the cool soba, now let's try the hire-katsu.

Hire (tenderloin) vs roseu (loin): what is the difference?

Loin is tender too, but hire-katsu boasts truly extreme softness. When I eat Japanese-style tonkatsu, I think I choose hire-katsu 9 times out of 10. Chewy loin versus soft tenderloin is a matter of preference, but... I think I still prefer hire (tenderloin).

The standout feature of hire-katsu is that the center of the meat is slightly pink! This doesn't mean it's undercooked haha. It's some cooking method that results in this, and this slightly pink tenderloin cutlet turns out incredibly tender when you eat it. Any famous, delicious tonkatsu place does it this way.

I took a bite and it was truly tender, moist, and the juices just burst out... and the outside was such a crispy coating too, ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ so delicious.

It pairs so well with tonkatsu sauce too!!

Stealing some of my mom's loin cutlet. It looked pretty appetizing too, hmph.

The loin had more of a chewy bite. I shared my hire-katsu with my mom while stealing her loin-katsu, but she said the loin was tastier.

What the side of Tokyo Spice Curry tastes like

Tokyo Spice Curry! I really love that it's described as 'spice.'

I tried it with rice, and just like the name suggests, it was an incredibly rich curry with a slightly spicy kick. The spice aroma was pretty strong, but it wasn't off-putting at all — it was so delicious. Such a bold curry flavor! It seemed to have garlic chips in it too, giving it a pungent spiciness that really suits Korean palates! There was also a lot of meat in it. Japanese curry sometimes has everything blended in so there's nothing to chew on, but Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch put in plenty of meat, so there was good texture too.

Dipping the tonkatsu in it too haha~ Yep, it pairs so well! When we make curry at home, it's the unspoken rule to eat just curry and rice on the first day, then fry up tonkatsu for katsu curry on the second day.

That was my review of Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch, a great restaurant in Seongnae-dong where I had a delicious meal after a weekend outing to Olympic Park :)