Cheonan gyukatsu restaurant B set with cold soba added: Izawa

I had somewhere to be in Sinbu-dong over the weekend, so I figured I might as well eat lunch there too. While thinking about what to have, I suddenly found myself craving gyukatsu (grilled beef cutlet) — it had been a while. So I went back to Izawa in Sinbu-dong, a place I'd visited on and off before. It's been settled in Sinbu-dong for a long time, so anyone who frequents the area probably knows it well. Visiting again this time brought back a lot of old memories.

Where is Izawa in Cheonan Sinbu-dong, and what's on the menu?

Izawa Cheonan Sinbu-dong Branch is at 18-1 Meokgeori10-gil, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan, on the 2nd floor of the Yauri Yachae Gopchang building. Hours are Tue-Sun 11:30-21:00, closed Mondays, with Wi-Fi and parking available.

Izawa Sinbu-dong sits right on the main street, so it's easy to find, on the 2nd floor of the Yauri Yachae Gopchang building. It's been operating in the same spot for as long as I've been going, so it's probably a familiar restaurant to anyone who visits Sinbu-dong often.

When I first started going to Izawa, I remember gyukatsu and steak-don being the signature dishes, but visiting again this time, the menu had gotten quite a bit bigger. Beyond the gyukatsu set, there are now rice bowls, cutlet dishes, noodles and set menus too — more choices than before, it seemed.

That said, when I visited, there was a sign out front saying the pork cutlet menu wasn't being served due to a menu renewal. Since the menu can change depending on when you visit, if you're going specifically for pork cutlet, it's worth checking the current menu beforehand.

How long is the weekend wait at Izawa, and what is the dining room like?

Izawa Sinbu-dong still had a wait even a bit past the usual weekend lunch rush. We couldn't get seated right away either and had to wait a bit before going in.

I figured there'd be some crowd since it was the weekend, and being on the main street and long known for gyukatsu, it seems like plenty of people still come. Even so, the food came out faster than expected, so once we were seated we didn't wait long. I also saw a few solo diners — the gyukatsu set comes as a neat single-serving spread, which looked like a good setup for eating alone too.

What comes in the Izawa B set with two gyukatsu set meals?

What we ordered at Izawa was the B set, which includes two gyukatsu sets, plus we added cold soba. Each gyukatsu set comes with gyukatsu, rice, soup, diced radish kimchi and salad.

After going back and forth over the menu for a while, we ended up ordering the B set with two gyukatsu sets and adding cold soba.

With the gyukatsu sets and cold soba all out together, the table got pretty full.

Each gyukatsu set comes with rice, soup, diced radish kimchi and salad alongside the gyukatsu. There's no need to add anything extra — it's a complete meal on its own, which made it a good lunch. Gyukatsu alone might feel a little lacking, but with rice and salad included, it was more filling than I expected.

How to grill and eat gyukatsu at Izawa, and choosing doneness

Izawa's gyukatsu comes out roughly medium-rare and is grilled yourself on a small charcoal burner at the table. You cook it to your preferred doneness and eat it with wasabi, sauce, salad and rice.

The biggest feature of Izawa's gyukatsu is that you grill it yourself on a small tabletop burner. It doesn't come fully cooked from the start — it's served roughly medium-rare.

You place the meat on the burner and grill it to whatever doneness you like. Instead of loading a lot on at once, I grilled it piece by piece, just enough to eat right away.

Once it's cooked the way you like, there are several ways to eat it.

A little wasabi on top works well, and dipping it in sauce was tasty too. It also went well with the salad or piled on rice. Personally, my favorite combo was a piece of gyukatsu grilled just right with a bit of wasabi on top. Maybe because it had been a while, it tasted even better than I remembered, and grilling it myself made the meal fun enough that I ate slowly.

Izawa's cold soba: dipping-tray style and how it tastes

Izawa's cold soba isn't served with the noodles sitting in broth — it's pan-moba style, with the tsuyu (dipping sauce) served separately. I added it because gyukatsu alone felt a bit lacking, and the noodle portion was generous too.

You pour the tsuyu into a bowl and dip as much noodle as you like into it. Pairing the cold soba with the gyukatsu cleared the palate between bites of meat — I was glad we ordered it.

The noodle portion was bigger than expected, and with the gyukatsu sets plus cold soba added, it made a hearty meal for two.

Izawa's double set meal plus free rice and salad refills

Izawa offers rice and salad refills, so if you want more gyukatsu, the double set looks like a good option. This time we ordered two gyukatsu sets with cold soba added, but next time I think I'll try a slightly different combination.

If you're a big fan of gyukatsu, ordering the double set and pairing it with rice and salad seems like a better move than ordering a single set and adding extra meat. Next time I'm planning to try the double set with cold soba on the side.

Is Izawa in Cheonan Sinbu-dong worth going back to?

I've been going to Izawa Sinbu-dong since my college days, so this visit had a different kind of nostalgia compared to discovering a brand-new restaurant.

Back then I mostly remember eating gyukatsu and steak-don, so it was interesting to see how much the menu has expanded with rice bowls, noodles and set menus now. The gyukatsu, tasted again after so long, was still delicious, and the fun of grilling it to my own doneness hadn't changed either — a satisfying lunch overall.

Izawa Cheonan Sinbu-dong at a glance

• Menu: gyukatsu set, rice bowls, cutlet dishes, noodles, set menus and more
• Gyukatsu: served medium-rare, grilled to your preferred doneness on a tabletop burner
• Cold soba: pan-moba style, dipped in tsuyu
• Refills: rice and salad refills available
• Wait: still a line even past weekend lunch rush
• Note: pork cutlet menu was not running at the time of visit due to a menu renewal
• Recommended for: gyukatsu fans or anyone looking for a filling lunch in Sinbu-dong