Songjeong, Busan pork cutlet stop after Lotte Outlet: Deli Donkatsu

Where is Deli Donkatsu, and is there really a wait at 3pm?

Deli Donkatsu is a pork cutlet and spaghetti restaurant in front of Songjeong Humansia Complex 2, near Songjeong Station. Since we were nearby after visiting the Lotte Outlet East Busan, we stopped in : ) It's a red brick building, so it stood out even from a distance.

We got there around 3pm, and I was surprised there was a wait haha. How good must this cutlet be if there's a line even at this hour? It really built up my expectations hahaha.

Deli Donkatsu hours, closed days, parking

• Address: 146 Songjeong-jungang-ro 9beon-gil, Haeundae-gu, Busan
• Hours: 11:00–20:00
• Break time: 16:00–17:00
• Closed 2nd and 4th Fridays of every month
• Parking available in front of the restaurant or nearby (not enforced)

Is the wait longer with a party of three?

Deli Donkatsu has a lot of 2-tops, so those open up quickly, but 4-tops are limited, so the wait runs a bit longer for bigger groups. There's a long park right next door, so we parked on the roadside and waited comfortably.

Since there were three of us, we waited a bit — but there's a playground right in the park in front, so we passed the time there and got seated pretty quickly.

What's the seating like inside Deli Donkatsu?

Inside, Deli Donkatsu has bar seats for solo diners, 2-tops, and 4-tops, so it works comfortably whether you're on a date, out with friends, or with family : )

Deli Donkatsu menu and prices

You order at Deli Donkatsu through a table-order tablet, and you can pay right there too, which made things easy. The menu was pretty simple.

• Classic pork cutlet set ₩9,500
• Cheese cutlet ₩12,500
• Assorted cutlets (beef, fish, pork) ₩15,000
• Sizzling cheese Napolitan spaghetti ₩10,000
• Sizzling cream kimchi fried rice ₩9,500

When I visited, the kimchi fried rice was sold out, which was a bummer. I'll have to try it next time haha.

The basic spread: old-school soup and freshly baked rolls

Once you order at Deli Donkatsu, soup, morning rolls, strawberry jam, kimchi, and pickled radish come out right away. The morning rolls were so freshly baked they were almost too hot to hold, crisp and delicious~~! And the soup was total old-school soup hahaha — soft and properly sweet!

The rolls came out one per person. They're great with strawberry jam, but the staff recommended making them into a burger with cutlet, macaroni salad, and cabbage : )

You can add pepper to the soup to taste! : ) The bowl was so cute too haha. I was starving, but sipping the soup made my stomach feel a lot more settled.

What we ordered: classic pork cutlet set ₩9,500, cheese cutlet ₩12,500, and sizzling cheese Napolitan spaghetti ₩10,000.

Deli Donkatsu's cheese cutlet — how much cheese is really in there?

Deli Donkatsu's cheese cutlet (₩12,500) is stuffed inside with mozzarella cheese. They really pushed us to try the cheese cutlet!! And it turned out to be the perfect cheese cutlet haha.

Once at another place I saw cheese just draped on top of a cutlet and thought, is this really a 'cheese cutlet'? But Deli Donkatsu's cheese cutlet has the cheese packed inside, so you get that full stretchy mozzarella pull.

As we kept cutting into it, more and more cheese kept coming out haha. Such a huge amount, wow. They really loaded it generously~~!

Can you see how much cheese that is haha? The stretchy pull and the cheese flavor were fully there. But honestly the main reason Deli Donkatsu was so good was the meat — the cutlet sauce was poured on generously, so it ate soft and smooth. No off smell from the meat at all, and the texture was really good.

Is the sizzling cheese Napolitan spaghetti good as a side?

Deli Donkatsu's sizzling cheese Napolitan spaghetti (₩10,000) is a popular best-seller, but honestly the portion is huge for something you'd just order as a side. Spaghetti~~~ haha. Well-cooked noodles with various vegetables and Vienna sausages, plenty of sauce, and a generous scattering of mozzarella cheese on top.

We mixed it all together, and the cheese wove in between the noodles, making it richer and creamier while still staying soft. The generous Vienna sausages, well soaked in sauce, were also great — softer than the usual sausages, which made them even tastier.

The ₩9,500 classic pork cutlet: how big, how good?

Today's star, Deli Donkatsu's classic pork cutlet set (₩9,500), comes with one cutlet bigger than your palm! The double portion adds another half on top of that : )

Like the cheese cutlet, it comes with macaroni salad, cabbage salad, and rice : ) Served on a round plate, it looked generous just from the sight of it.

I'm usually a dip-the-sauce-separately type rather than a pour-it-all-over type with cutlets, but with this old-school cutlet, pouring the sauce over felt much more fitting. As I ate further in, the sauce soaked into the meat under the crust, making it even juicier and the meat quality even softer : )

Trying the morning roll as a cutlet burger

For the roll, I skipped the strawberry jam and made a burger instead! Freshly baked, crisp and warm roll, a bit of cabbage salad and macaroni salad, then the cutlet on top — and it was amazing. There was a reason the owner recommended it!

Deli Donkatsu is an old-school pork cutlet spot where you can really taste the traditional cutlet flavor — tender, with no off smell, the kind of place anyone, any age, would enjoy : ) At a great-value ₩9,500, it was filling and generous. I'd recommend Deli Donkatsu, a must-visit in Songjeong, Busan ^^