Truffle katsu set at a Chuncheon tonkatsu spot: Jeongseong Katsu

Here's my review of Jeongseong Katsu, a well-known spot in Toegye-dong, Chuncheon. There are two Jeongseong Katsu locations in Chuncheon, and since I was craving crispy tonkatsu that day, I went to the closer Toegye branch.

Where is Jeongseong Katsu Chuncheon Toegye Branch, and is there parking?

There was no dedicated parking lot for this Toegye-dong favorite, so I parked nearby for a bit and headed straight in.

• 10-8 Toegye-ro 93beon-gil, 1st floor, units 101 and 102, Chuncheon, Gangwon, South Korea
• Hours: 09:00-21:00

Menu and what the restaurant looks like inside

The menu was pretty varied — starting with tonkatsu, but also noodles and rice bowls, plus individual dishes and the popular set meals, so there was a wide range to choose from, which I liked.

Going further inside, there were solo seats, good for eating alone, as well as standard 4-person tables, great for groups or family meals. Maybe because it's such a popular dish among men, there were quite a few solo male diners, plus some grown-ups with kids too.

Each table had a kiosk, so you could order and pay right there. We ordered the truffle mixed katsu set and the pork jowl set.

What comes with the truffle mixed katsu set

The truffle mixed set arrived — doesn't it look crispy just from the photo? It came with loin, fillet, and cheese katsu, plus curry to go with the rice, a refreshing salad, kimchi pickles, and wasabi and salt for dipping.

The cheese stretched beautifully and there was a generous amount of it, which made for great crispy bites — the frying itself was so tasty you honestly didn't need to dip it in sauce.

Fillet katsu with salt, loin katsu with curry

I tried the fillet with salt — the salty seasoning made the fillet katsu taste even cleaner and more delicious. The round shape was also pretty cute.

No dryness at all — the inside was soft, and there wasn't a hint of gamey pork smell. This seems like a tonkatsu kids would love.

The loin was also great dipped in the curry sauce. Personally, the curry itself was so good that

it was perfect for mixing into rice too. If you just add extra curry and eat it with rice, I think kids would love that on its own. If your portion isn't enough, getting extra curry to mix with rice would hit the spot.

I also had a sip of the light broth, and it was so good I feel like their udon would be tasty too.

Pork jowl set: a whole jowl fried in one piece

Next came the pork jowl katsu, which was served with a lemon, so I squeezed the fresh lemon over it first.

It looked like the pork jowl was fried whole, and the savory fat combined with the meat gave it a really great texture. Dipping it in the curry made the flavor even better.

They also served a cabbage salad topped with a spicy sauce, which cut through the richness of the pork jowl nicely — the crunchy shredded cabbage paired really well with it.

With a little clean wasabi on top, it was also good for a lighter, more refreshing bite.

Free shrimp tempura from the review event

Writing a review also got us shrimp tempura as an event bonus — freshly fried and crispy, it looked incredibly delicious.

And it really was. The shrimp meat inside was plump, and thanks to frying it crispy all the way to the tail, I enjoyed every bit down to the tail. Personally, I'd recommend dipping it in the sauce.

Jeongseong Katsu, a Toegye-dong favorite in Chuncheon — maybe because everything is fried with real care, every single dish was genuinely delicious. Join the review event and you get shrimp tempura on the house too, making this a really great-value tonkatsu spot in Chuncheon.