Taereung Station tonkatsu with a 5pm opening rush: Dangke Donkatsu

After enjoying the Gongneung Beer Festival to the fullest, we headed to dinner at Dangke Donkatsu, a well-known tonkatsu spot near Hwarangdae Station!

Where is Dangke Donkatsu, and what are the hours?

Restaurant name: Dangke Donkatsu

• Location: B1, 18 Gongneung-ro 35-gil, Nowon-gu, Seoul (697m from Taereung Station Exit 4)
• Hours: 11:00–21:00 (last order 20:30)
• Break time: 16:00–17:00
• Closed on Mondays
• No parking available

What the exterior and interior are like

This Gongneung Station favorite sits on the first floor of its building. The exotic, izakaya-style exterior made it easy to spot. The weather was cool, so the walk over was pleasant~

You can join the Catch Table remote waitlist right in front of the store. We timed our arrival for the moment weekend break time ended and got in right away with no wait. You can walk in without waiting until 6pm. Every time I come to Dangke Donkatsu I order the rosu katsu (pork loin cutlet) — but it's sold in limited quantity, so check in front of the store before you go~

The interior is clean and pretty, so I'd recommend it for a blind date or a date night. Maybe because of the atmosphere, there were a lot of couples around~ They also had a baby chair, so it looked like a good spot for families too. If you like the vibe of a Japanese backstreet, you'll definitely be satisfied!

Each table had a little write-up about Dangke Donkatsu. Utensils come out together with the menu.

What we ordered at Dangke Donkatsu and what it cost

Here's the full menu of this Hwarangdae favorite. Once you're seated, you order via the kiosk inside. The set menu combos are worth recommending. Don't miss the service item you can get for a Naver review, either~

• Tokyo rosu katsu ₩22,000
• Cheese tonkatsu ₩14,000
• Whole lemon highball ₩8,000
• Signature fruit highball (strawberry) ₩8,000

Cheese tonkatsu, 14,000 won

The cheese katsu came out first! The full set comes with rice, soup, sauce, and side dishes. Getting such a neat, full spread put me in a good mood.

It was glistening with a beautiful sheen. The combination of crispy breading, juicy meat, and savory soft cheese was great. You can enjoy it with a variety of combos — lemon juice, mustard, hot mustard, brown sauce.

A lot of places skimp on the cheese in their cheese katsu these days, but Dangke Donkatsu's is the real deal. They didn't hold back on the cheese! That gooey, stretchy, savory cheese katsu was genuinely delicious.

Tokyo rosu katsu, 22,000 won

This is today's main dish, the rosu katsu. A slice of cheese katsu comes alongside it too. Doesn't it look amazing? It comes out on a hot plate so it stays warm to the last bite. I ordered mine not spicy, but apparently Dangke Donkatsu's signature is the spicy rosu katsu, so if you're a spice fan, give it a try!

It comes out sizzling with melting butter, so it looks great and the savory smell is incredible!

It's such a generous portion that the rice and soup are served separately.

The kick of Dangke Donkatsu's rosu katsu is the special brown sauce — a tangy-sweet sauce with onions sautéed in to keep their crunch while losing the bitterness, and it paired really well with the tender rosu katsu. I'm a pour-it-on-top person, so I poured it all over, but you can enjoy it however you like!

The garnish of salad, corn, and peppers was also a nice combination to eat alongside. Grilling it a bit more with the butter really brought out the flavor.

The rosu katsu is made from pork loin, giving it a chewy yet tender texture. The fat layer was just right too, adding richness and plenty of juiciness.

Whole lemon and strawberry fruit highballs, 8,000 won each

Exactly the kind of fruit highball you'd expect from a spot in this Gongneung 'itaewon-gil' style street! Very Instagrammable, eye-catching visuals. They look great and taste great too! We ordered the whole lemon highball and the strawberry highball. Now I'm curious about the melon highball too~

They don't skimp on the fruit, and they don't skimp on the fruit syrup or the alcohol either — it all comes together in a well-balanced, delicious highball. Apparently if you order it non-alcoholic, you get a tasty fruit ade instead. The lemon highball had a hint of ginger too, which was right up my alley. The strawberry highball wasn't that fake strawberry-candy flavor — it was made with liquor that actually tasted like real strawberries, refreshingly sweet and delicious.

To enjoy the signature fruit highball, you scoop some of the fruit onto the little plate that comes with it, mix an appropriate amount of fruit into the highball, and stir well. They kept adding more fruit as we drank.

Eating Dangke Donkatsu with all the different sauce combos never got old, and I ended up finishing it down to the very last bite! Honestly I'd had a lot of beer at the beer festival and was trying to hold back, but it was so good I completely failed at portion control...

Once we finished eating, they brought out a cup of plum tea, which is good for digestion. Such a perfect ending~ Thanks for the meal! I'd definitely come back.

If you're looking for a Japanese restaurant on this street with great food and a great atmosphere, I highly recommend Dangke Donkatsu~ It'll definitely make for a good memory❤️