Isu Station Japanese dinner with sofa seats, full house: Kosi

My friend and I were trying to figure out what to eat near Isu Station when, in the last days of summer, I suddenly craved cold udon !!!

🤍 Cold udon + tonkatsu = love 🤍

The place was called Kosi. Here's my review ✔️

Kosi Isu Branch: location and hours

• 🏠 300 Sadang-ro, 1F 126, 127, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• ✔️ 119m from Isu Station Exit 9 (Lines 4, 7)
• ⏰ Daily 11:20 - 21:00 (break time 15:20 - 17:00) (last order 14:50, 20:30)
• 🚙 Parking available (1 hour free in building basement lot)

Kosi is right there when you come out of Isu Station Exit 9. Exit 9 is currently under construction, so we came out Exit 8 and crossed the street instead. Isu Station seems to have great restaurants clustered everywhere you look, haha,, it's nice that way.

Showing up at 6:30pm without a reservation — was there a table?

Reservations are only possible for groups of 5 or more, so as a party of two we went without one. Kosi at around 6:30 was already completely full,, whoa. The place was packed with people. The rightmost photo was taken on our way out — besides the regular seating there were also sofa seats like this, which was great. Lucky enough to get a sofa seat !!!!! >_< (so comfy)

When I went to order, I noticed the screen was set to Japanese. Must be a genuine Japanese restaurant that real Japanese customers visit too. Took a shot with my heart racing a little.

The menu had a wide range — udon, tonkatsu, katsu hot pot and more. * Don't miss the Naver receipt review event, which gets you a free can of a drink !!! *

Toriten Bukkake Udon (₩11,000)

The dish that caught my eye first was this bukkake udon! Kosi's dough apparently goes through a first and second fermentation before being finished after 48 hours (new to me).

Smooth udon noodles topped with chopped scallions and seaweed flakes.

And on one side comes the toriten (fried chicken). Cold udon with fried chicken,, already exactly my style.

And a cute piece of fried tofu pouch plus the special soy-based sauce!

Mixed Tonkatsu (₩13,500)

Classic is best, so I also ordered tonkatsu. Wanting both cheese katsu and pork loin katsu but can't decide? Best menu item for that exact dilemma.

Each piece came out as one big chunk — the portion was genuinely huge !!!

Bukkake udon with sauce poured in — how did it taste?

And so the full spread was complete 🤍

Bukkake udon is eaten by pouring the accompanying sauce over the noodles and mixing it in. The sauce wasn't salty at all, so it was fine to pour all of it in. I liked being able to eat it nice and soupy, haha.

Insanely (?) chewy noodles and fried chicken soaked full of sauce,, why did I only just discover this now.

The chicken's fried coating was crispy yet soaked with the sauce so it went soft and salty… just delicious, and the udon was seriously chewy. The 48-hour aging really seems to be legit !!!! 🔥

A bite each of cheese katsu and pork loin katsu

For the tonkatsu, I went for cheese first. The cheese, meat and breading are almost a perfect 1:1:1 ratio, so no part of it is lacking. Personally I don't love it when the breading is too thin, and Kosi's katsu breading was just the right thickness and delicious 🤤

A bite of the regular katsu too, wow — overall, as you'd expect from a solid Japanese restaurant, they really know how to fry. The crispiness held up well even after time passed !!!

And here it is, the real star (?), the fried chicken. So good,, if I could only eat one menu item next time, I'd go with the bukkake udon ✌🏻✨

Why I'd recommend this as an Isu Station Japanese restaurant

I recommend Kosi to anyone looking for good food near Isu Station. The interior is clean and the food is great, so it seems like a nice spot for a date too, and I saw a lot of friends and families dining there! If you're after a good Japanese restaurant, I'd recommend this one, haha. Today's challenge, the bukkake udon — success~! 🤓