Gangdong tonkatsu with shrimp cold soba and oil-sauce tenderloin: Riae

On a day still warm enough in the afternoon to crave something cool, I went for lunch at Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch near Olympic Park. Riae is a tonkatsu place I'd often visited before.

Where Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch is, and is there parking?

Riae is close to Olympic Park, so it's a good spot for a meal after visiting the park. Parking was available too, which made it convenient to visit by car.

When I visited, customers kept coming in, so it was hard to get a full shot of the whole restaurant. The owner was personally looking after the place, and both the owner and staff were kind, which made the whole meal a pleasant one.

What I ordered that day was the cold soba tenderloin set, the cold soba sirloin set, and the tenderloin cutlet.

Riae's cold soba (naeng-momil) comes with shrimp

What caught my eye first was the cold soba (buckwheat noodles). The plating was neat, but what stood out most was the shrimp in it. This was my first time having shrimp paired with cold soba like this. The shrimp, soft to bite into between mouthfuls of noodles, was a real treat.

Honestly, at first I thought the tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) was the main event and the cold soba was just a side. But every couple of bites of tonkatsu, my chopsticks kept drifting back to the cold soba. The cold, refreshing broth reset my palate each time, so the whole meal, from the first bite to the last, stayed enjoyable.

Thick but tender: the tenderloin tonkatsu

The tenderloin tonkatsu won me over from the cross-section alone. The meat looked thick enough to feel heavy on the first bite, but it turned out differently than expected. It was so tender I didn't need to chew hard, and after the crispy coating came straight to moist tenderloin. No gamey meat smell at all.

This is exactly why I like Riae's tonkatsu. Even while eating tonkatsu, there's no heavy sense of "I'm eating fried meat." I saw quite a few customers with kids in the restaurant, and I thought the tenderloin was soft enough that it would work well for children too.

Salt, wasabi, oil sauce or ponzu: how each dip changes the cutlet

At Riae you can eat the tonkatsu with several different dips. I started with salt first. It brought out the tenderloin's clean, savory flavor best.

A little wasabi added a sharp kick and cleaned up the palate.

But what stuck with me most that day was the oil sauce. At first I honestly thought, "Dipping fried tonkatsu in oil again?" But once I tried it, it was surprising. Rather than adding greasiness, it deepened the savory flavor of the tenderloin. If salt shows off the meat's own clean flavor, the oil made that savoriness a bit richer.

With ponzu sauce it tasted fresh and bright, and with wasabi it became clean again. One bite with salt, one with wasabi, another with oil — the same tonkatsu, but the flavor impression shifted slightly with each method, so it never got boring until the very last piece.

The curry they gave us to try was good both for dipping the tonkatsu and for spooning over rice.

Tenderloin or sirloin at Riae: what's the difference?

Trying the sirloin, its character was clearly different from the tenderloin. Where the tenderloin melts softly in the mouth, the sirloin had a savory flavor that got more distinct the more you chewed, making you think, "Ah, I'm eating meat." The flavor really came alive when the fat layer on top was chewed along with it. So rather than picking one over the other, it was fun to alternate between a bite of tenderloin and a bite of sirloin.

And whenever things started feeling a bit heavy, a sip of the cold soba broth reset my palate again. Soft tenderloin → savory sirloin → refreshing cold soba. Personally, that was my favorite combination of the day.

Why Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch is still a favorite tonkatsu spot

Riae is a tonkatsu place I'd already visited often. So this time, rather than simply thinking "this is delicious," I ate while thinking about why I liked this place's tonkatsu in the first place. In the end, what I liked wasn't for any grand reason.

Thick but not heavy tenderloin, sirloin that gets more savory the more you chew, and cold soba in between to reset the palate. Especially the tenderloin dipped in oil sauce alongside the cold soba stuck with me again this time. If you're ever craving a hearty tonkatsu lunch near Olympic Park, this is a place worth remembering.