Sinsa Station pork cutlet with unlimited self bar: Ikki Roll Katsu

Pork cutlet is one of my partner's soul foods, so we end up eating it pretty often. This time we went to a famous pork cutlet spot in Gangnam, near Sinsa Station!

How to find Ikki Roll Katsu on Garosu-gil, and where to park

Ikki Roll Katsu Garosu-gil Main Branch is in the basement of Seongmi Building on Garosu-gil. You can park in front of or beside the building, and they take a ₩3,000 parking fee upfront. There's a menu board right at the entrance so it's easy to find.

There are two restaurants in the basement — Ikki Roll Katsu and Miltteok Factory — so it can be a little confusing at first.

Once you go downstairs, straight ahead is Ikki Roll Katsu, and left is Miltteok Factory. The view past the door doesn't even look like a basement.

The lighting is pretty and stylish, and the mix of wood tones and white gives it a clean but comfortable feel. There's a big table on one side, plus a meeting room. The owner greeted us kindly and immediately explained how to use the self bar.

What's on the unlimited self bar: broccoli cream soup and black rice

At the self bar, broccoli cream soup, black rice, soup, radish salad and pickled radish are all set out for you to take as much as you want. First up at the self bar are the utensils and the shredded radish and pickled radish.

Next to that are the broccoli cream soup, black rice and soup. Being able to eat as much as you want at the self bar is so nice. Soup goes with pork cutlet, right~ so I scooped soup first.

Usually it's diced radish kimchi, but here it's radish salad instead. I love radish salad so I was happy to see it. And the pickled radish isn't sliced — it's a whole piece.

You turn a handle to mix the soup, which makes it taste even better.

There's also a whole pot of black rice, thinking of your health.

I brought back soup, broth, radish salad and pickled radish. The broccoli soup is so good. My partner couldn't resist and went back for seconds. I wanted seconds too, but held back to save room for the pork cutlet. It's the kind of taste that stays with you even after you get home.

What we ordered at Ikki Roll Katsu Garosu-gil

We ordered Ikki Roll Katsu's best-selling signature dish, the sweet potato cheese pork cutlet, along with regular pork cutlet, ricotta salad and spicy noodles with vegetables. All the other pork cutlets looked good too. I noticed other tables ordering a lot of the spicy cheese roll cutlet — next time I'll try that one.

They're also running a Naver receipt review and Google review event, where you can get takoyaki or a drink. Even the water is rooibos tea, which is a nice touch.

Ikki ricotta salad, 7,500 won

The ricotta salad arrived. At ₩7,500, the portion and quality are excellent. It's loaded with fresh vegetables and ricotta. Makes you want a glass of wine.

Sweet potato cheese pork cutlet vs plain pork cutlet

Right after the ricotta salad, the sweet potato cheese pork cutlet and regular pork cutlet came out too. I was surprised by how huge the plates were — the owner must be generous. The cabbage salad was piled high, and the cutlet portions were huge too.

It looked so pretty I kept taking photos.

The sweet potato mousse is made in-house, so it's extra soft and sweet, with a bright yellow color that's really pretty. Corn and bell peppers on top add even more color.

Even the regular pork cutlet has bell peppers and vegetables mixed into the sauce, giving it both color and texture.

My blood sugar matters, so I started with the vegetables. Piling ricotta cheese onto a cracker with the vegetables was so tasty.

The natural mozzarella cheese stretches endlessly. The cutlet is cut into easy bites, so you just eat it together with the sweet potato mousse. The combo of sweet potato mousse and pork cutlet is honestly insane — soft, savory, and everything goes off in your mouth.

Spicy chewy noodles piled with vegetables

Right when things were starting to feel a bit rich, the spicy noodles with vegetables arrived. Genuinely loaded with vegetables. Affordable price, huge portion. The owner deserves good things, honestly ♡

They also give you a cute little container of extra sauce in case you want more spice. They cut the vegetables into easy pieces first, then mix everything together neatly.

Eating it spicy-and-tangy with the vegetables, it's crunchy, chewy and delicious. Put a piece of cutlet on top and the richness disappears completely. Eating the cutlet, noodles and radish salad together, I never got tired of it till the very end. If you're heading to Garosu-gil near Sinsa Station, definitely try Ikki Roll Katsu.

Ikki Roll Katsu Garosu-gil Main Branch: address, parking and hours

• Ikki Roll Katsu Garosu-gil Main Branch / 64 Gangnam-daero152-gil B1, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Basement of Seongmi Building, go straight after coming down the stairs (left leads to Miltteok Factory)
• Parking in front of or beside the building, ₩3,000 prepaid
• Self bar: broccoli cream soup, black rice, soup, radish salad, whole pickled radish