Songdo donkatsu restaurant with new summer cold soba: Ogong Donkatsu

Where is Ogong Donkatsu in Songdo?

Ogong Donkatsu (오공돈까스) is a pork cutlet place on the 1st floor of Building B, 27 Songdomirae-ro 11beon-gil, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. Donkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) is Korea's soul food, and you have to eat it regularly, right? My cooldown was up, so I came for some. This time it's Ogong Donkatsu. The name reminds me of Son Ogong (the Monkey King), so I was curious what it would taste like. The location is right here, on the 1st floor.

This is what the outside of Ogong Donkatsu looks like. Look for a place like this.

How is the sauce at Ogong Donkatsu made?

Ogong Donkatsu says it doesn't use the roux (a mix of flour and butter) that goes into typical Western-style gyeongyangsik sauces. Instead, its signature sauce is made by simmering vegetables and fruit for a long time. They say they make it as if it were for their own family, and somehow that made me trust them. It made me a little more excited, you know?

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What are the menu and prices at Ogong Donkatsu?

You can order contactless at a kiosk called PayHere. Under noodles there's a new cold soba (chilled buckwheat noodles). It seems to be a summer seasonal item, and I can't resist cold soba. At ₩8,500 it's a fair price, and looks quite reasonable.

Here's a look at the main dishes. The Ogong Donkatsu is ₩12,000, and the double portion is ₩14,000. If you really love cutlets, the double portion looks like the better value. Just ₩2,000 more gets you a bigger serving. The cheese cutlet is around ₩14,000, and there are plenty of other cutlets below that. The wide variety of cutlets to choose from seems to be a strong point of Ogong Donkatsu.

The Ogong Set (Ogong jeongsik) might be the best-value choice. For ₩14,000 you get a pork cutlet, a fish cutlet, and even a hamburg steak... The garlic tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) as a side is quietly tempting too. Everything looked so delicious that it was hard to choose. I wanted one of everything, but the stomach has its limits ㅠㅠ

Inside Ogong Donkatsu

The inside has a high ceiling, so it feels open and cool. It seems like it will shine even more in summer.

How does the signature Ogong Donkatsu taste?

The sauce on the signature Ogong Donkatsu was delicious. It's so sweet-sour you can really feel grated apple in it, a taste everyone from kids to grandparents would like. The cutlet was crispy, and the pork had a good texture.

The soup that came with it was good too. Simple but with real depth. Another plus is that it's quite generous with the ingredients.

Cucumber pickles, radish pickles, and even kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi): all of the cutlet's best friends are here.

What about the new summer cold soba?

The cold soba at Ogong Donkatsu looks neat, topped with radish sprouts and shredded seaweed. In summer it's a look you can hardly resist. One sip of the broth and it tastes like the secret weapon for beating this summer's heat.

It even comes with wasabi and grated radish?! Sprinkle in the radish, stir in the wasabi, and only then is the flavor complete.

And so the cutlet table was complete. Even as I write this, I can recall the taste and my mouth is watering. Like Pavlov's dog, it's a flavor that calls you back... ugh, I'm thinking about it again. Thinking of it this late at night is a foul ㅠㅠ

I also keep thinking of a bowl of that cold soba broth. The hotter it gets, the more you think of this bowl. Down it in one go and the midsummer heat just vanishes, like magic.

What if you eat the cutlet and cold soba together?

A bite of Ogong Donkatsu, a slurp of cold soba, a slurp of cold soba, a bite of cutlet. It's a dream combination that goes down endlessly.

Look at thiiis. Thick meat, pale white flesh, full of juice.

The tomato is the highlight. Where does this kind of thoughtfulness come from?

The macaroni salad at Ogong Donkatsu is mild and offers another kind of charm. It looks minor, but the combination itself is great. I'll probably go back to Ogong Donkatsu soon.