Iksan katsu restaurant with icy soba and cheese swap: Wonkwang Katsu

A day in Iksan that turned into a genuinely good day, because I found what might be my favorite tonkatsu ever.

I've been going around the region hunting for good tonkatsu restaurants, and Wonkwang Katsu Iksan Wonkwang University branch turned out to be a real find — great katsu, and buckwheat soba that pairs with it perfectly.

Where is Wonkwang Katsu in Iksan, and where do you park?

It's not right by Iksan Station, but it's only about a 10-minute drive, so it's not a burden to get to — and a short drive for good katsu is nothing.

It sits in central Iksan, so it's a convenient stop on an Iksan trip along with Iksan Agape Garden, the Iksan Prison movie set, the Mireuksa Temple Site stone pagoda, and Iksan Dinosaur Museum Gosrock.

A certificate of recognition sitting by the entrance already told me this was a local favorite before I even walked in.

• 🏡 Address: 93 Iksandaero 54-gil, 1st floor, Iksan-si, Jeonbuk, South Korea
• ⏰ Hours: 10:30–20:00 / break time 15:00–16:30 / last order 19:40 / closed every Saturday
• 🚗 Free parking available — the Wonkwang University Culture & Sports Center east gate lot, 3 minutes away, is free 24 hours year-round
• - Bukil Elementary's open free lot, 1 minute away (available after 5pm on weekdays; 24 hours on holidays, weekends, and school breaks)
• - Parking also possible in the white-lined space right in front of the store

Pork loin aged 360 hours with Seodong yam

Operating since 2006, Wonkwang Katsu ages its meat with Iksan's local specialty Seodong saengma (yam), whose mucin content is said to help protein absorption, making the katsu tender and easier on the stomach afterward.

This was actually my first time learning about Iksan's local yam specialty — at a katsu restaurant, of all places.

Ordering is easy — just use the tablet at your table.

Pay with cash or bank transfer and get free soda, and leave a Naver photo review for a free fried shrimp.

The free self-bar that feels like a hotel breakfast

One menu item per person!

So many perks — free self-bar, free rice, free americano. Off to the free self-bar we go~~

And the self-bar was massive.

This part had the expected side dishes — pickled radish, pickles, diced radish kimchi, cabbage salad.

But from here on, Wonkwang Katsu's self-bar starts feeling like a hotel breakfast.

There was soup and sliced bread, so it already felt generous before the main dish even arrived.

The katsu menu comes with a dinner roll and strawberry jam, and if you want more bread, you can grab sliced bread from the self-bar.

With a toaster and strawberry jam right there, it's basically unlimited bread refills.

Ma cream Western-style katsu: thick but tender pork loin

Our order arrived — the mar cream Western-style katsu, and the low-sugar buckwheat cold soba + aged pork loin half-katsu (swapped to cheese katsu).

Wonkwang Katsu's signature mar cream Western-style katsu comes on a big plate with rice, a dinner roll, and cabbage salad.

Aged for 360 hours with Seodong saengma, it's a tender, steak-thick pork loin cutlet paired with mar cream sauce.

The mar cream drizzled over the tonkatsu sauce is an unusual touch — I tried it first and it didn't have any of the thick, starchy texture you'd expect from yam. It's more of a cream, so it's an easy, likeable flavor for anyone.

It has a rosé-sauce kind of feel, and it's smooth.

Wonkwang Katsu also has a plain pork loin katsu and a cheese katsu on the menu, but I went with the Western-style katsu in mar cream sauce — and the cutlet was seriously thick.

Despite the thickness, it was tender enough for kids or elderly family members to eat easily. They reportedly use only pork loin from Gimje Doldam, Korea's No. 1 domestic pork brand — good meat as the base, plus you could really taste the effect of the Seodong saengma aging in how moist the meat was.

Low-sugar buckwheat cold soba with the katsu swapped to cheese katsu

If you want both buckwheat soba and katsu, the low-sugar buckwheat cold soba + katsu set is the move.

The katsu default is the aged pork loin half-katsu, but you can pay extra to swap it for cheese katsu.

The icy broth made this feel cooling just to look at on a hot day.

Not the store-bought kind of buckwheat noodle — these were fresh buckwheat noodles, less bitter and with a springy bite. I really liked the noodles.

Unless you're at a dedicated makguksu (buckwheat noodle) place, it's genuinely hard to find satisfying noodles at a katsu or Japanese restaurant — but Wonkwang Katsu passed the test!

The cheese katsu that came with the soba looked amazing, with mozzarella cheese oozing out between the meat.

But the biggest draw of this cheese katsu wasn't just the cheese — it was the breading.

It had the flavor of a well-baked bread, with none of the greasiness you'd expect from fried food.

The event corner by the door on the way out

On the way out after the meal, there's an event corner — friend the store on KakaoTalk and spin the wheel for a no-lose random gift and a free iced americano, which was a nice way to wrap up the meal.

It's a great Iksan restaurant to visit for a family dinner with kids, too.

Thick yet tender Western-style katsu packed with flavor, fresh buckwheat noodle soba, and a cheese katsu with genuinely great breading — everything we ordered at Wonkwang Katsu Iksan Wonkwang University branch was delicious.

If you're on an Iksan trip or hunting for good tonkatsu, this is a must-visit.