Incheon Nonhyeon Japanese restaurant, weekend open-run cheese katsu

Visit review, September 2026

I went out for lunch with my husband over the weekend! He was craving tonkatsu, and I was more in the mood for ramen or salmon. We couldn't agree on where to go since we wanted different things — but then we found a place that could satisfy both of us: the famous Incheon Nonhyeon restaurant, Hongdae Gureume.

The menu is varied enough that it works well whether you're eating alone, on a date, or with a group. We timed our visit for weekend opening, and just after noon customers started pouring in and a wait began to form. Yet another reminder that for popular spots, getting there right at opening is the way to go 👀✨ Let me give you the honest, satisfying review, quickly. Here we go~!

What kind of place is Hongdae Gureume Incheon Nonhyeon Branch?

• A Japanese restaurant serving ramen, tonkatsu, sushi, and more
• Good for solo dining, dates, or group gatherings
• Opening-rush recommended! A wait forms after noon
• Join the review event for a free drink, takoyaki, or salmon sushi

Location, hours and parking at Hongdae Gureume

📍Location: 17 Nongogae-ro 123beon-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon, South Korea, 2F, 202, iFlex Building (2-minute walk from Exit 3 of Incheon Nonhyeon Station)

⏰Hours: Daily 11:30–21:30

🚗Parking: Free for 2 hours in the building's underground parking lot

Inside Hongdae Gureume and how the waitlist works

The moment we walked into Hongdae Gureume, the strongly Japanese-style interior caught my eye, and Japanese music was playing too, so the local vibe was in full effect. The tables have generous spacing overall, and there are 4-person tables plus a bar counter, so it's a comfortable atmosphere whether you're on a date, out with friends, or dining solo.

For the wait, you just write your name and party size on the list posted by the door! It's been a while since I've seen this analog method, and honestly it made me a little happy haha. Note that even if there are open tables, they may still ask you to sign the waitlist if orders are backed up.

Aprons, hair ties and phone stands at every table

Every table had thoughtful little amenities set out! Aprons, hair ties, even phone stands — all there to make your meal more comfortable.

The phone stand in particular seemed handy for anyone who likes watching videos while eating!👀✨️ (My husband was the one who told me to photograph it, and then propped his own phone up on it — a little too cute❤️)

Next to it was a 'lucky message' draw, so we tried pulling one too, and it was a small, fun touch. I'm a big softie for these little sentimental notes,,🥹🤍

Oh, and the restroom is located inside the building and doesn't require a passcode. Just grab some tissue from the stand by the restaurant's door before you go.

The wall by the counter had a huge number of customer coupons pinned up, and watching customers keep streaming in until a wait formed around noon really convinced me — this is a genuinely popular Incheon Nonhyeon restaurant!👀✨

With the Japanese vibe and the comfortable atmosphere, it's a solid choice for an Incheon date restaurant too!

Hongdae Gureume menu, prices and ingredient origins

Hongdae Gureume serves a wide range of Japanese dishes — ramen, kaisen-don, spoon sushi bowls, regular sushi, tonkatsu sets, and rice bowl sets! Click the photos to see the full menu 👀✨️

They also have well-put-together solo and 2-person sets~!

There's also a Q&A about Hongdae Gureume worth checking out~!

And here's the country-of-origin information~!👀✨️

What we ordered: Snow Double Cheese Katsu and Sake-don

Here's what we ordered.

• Snow Double Cheese Katsu (set) — ₩13,900
• Sake-don (set) — ₩16,000
• Cola (review event)

My husband, who wanted tonkatsu, went straight for the cheese katsu without hesitation! I went back and forth between salmon and ramen, but that day I was really craving salmon, so I picked the sake-don. Even though we arrived right at weekend opening, other customers were already mid-meal, so it took a while for our food to come out — but browsing the little props and reading the lucky messages made the time fly by!

Snow Double Cheese Katsu set, 13,900 won

First up, my husband's Snow Double Cheese Katsu!

The cheese katsu comes as a set with rice, salad, salt, wasabi, two kinds of sauce, pickled radish, and miso soup!

It's piled high with cheese, lightly torched on top, and it looked savory and delicious just by looking at it!

Up close, the visual is honestly insane...!!👀✨️ It was my husband's order, but I'm stealing a bite 😋✨️

It's loaded with cheese but not greasy at all — there's a subtle smoky char flavor that made it different from a typical cheese katsu, in a really distinctive way. The meat had no off smell and was clean and delicious overall!

My husband is normally sensitive to greasy food, but he said it stayed non-greasy and delicious all the way through. I think even people who love cheese katsu but can't eat much of it because of the grease would be fine with this one!

Sake-don (salmon rice bowl) set, 16,000 won

And here's my order, the sake-don!

Sake-don is a Japanese-style salmon rice bowl, and it came topped with thick slices of salmon, which won me over on looks alone 🧡

The sake-don also comes as a set, served with sweet pumpkin salad, pickles, salad, karaage, wasabi soy sauce, miso soup, and even candied sweet potato — a pretty generous spread.

The salad had a yogurt dressing drizzled on it, sweet and tangy, nice to pick at every so often,

and the karaage was crispy outside, juicy inside, with tender chicken — really good.

The soup was miso-based, savory without being salty, and clean-tasting overall!

The salmon was so soft and tender it practically melts in your mouth. With salmon, you sometimes get a piece or two with a fishy taste, but the salmon at Hongdae Gureume had none of that at all. The characteristic savory, rich salmon flavor was still very much there 🤤

Best of all, it paired beautifully with the rice. The vinegared sushi rice inside the bowl was well-seasoned, sweet and tangy, and eating it with the salmon and a bit of wasabi was pure bliss 😋❤️

We ate every last bite, then finished off with the sweet candied sweet potato!

What do you get from the Hongdae Gureume review event?

Hongdae Gureume also runs a Naver photo review event. Write a review and you'll get one of the three items below!

• 2pc salmon sushi
• 4pc Osaka-style takoyaki
• 1 drink

You can participate once per Naver ID, you can join multiple times with different items, and up to 3 participations are allowed per table, apparently!✨️ We joined and got a cola~! Fully stuffed today too 🙌🙌

Verdict: what to order at Hongdae Gureume Incheon Nonhyeon

Hongdae Gureume, the Incheon Nonhyeon favorite, is a great spot when you want to pick and choose from a wide range of Japanese dishes to suit your mood! The cheese katsu had that added smoky char that kept it from being greasy, in a nicely distinctive way, and the sake-don's combination of salmon and sweet-tangy vinegared rice was great, with a generous set spread that left us satisfied. I'd recommend both the cheese katsu and the sake-don ✨️

And the staff were genuinely so kind that it kept us in a good mood the whole meal! 100% would come back — this time we had the cheese katsu and sake-don, so next time I'm going for the ramen~!

I'd recommend this to anyone wanting a date at a Japanese restaurant with a strong local vibe, anyone looking for a gathering spot for a wedding invitation meetup, or anyone hunting for a solo-dining spot in Incheon Nonhyeon! If you want to properly enjoy a wide range of Japanese dishes, definitely pay a visit to Hongdae Gureume, an Incheon Nonhyeon favorite~!