Jeonpo, Busan tonkatsu: Mix Katsu 2 and 3 with mustard | Katsu Kitchen

Busan Jeonpo restaurant Katsu Kitchen ★。＼｜／。★ Anything tastes good fried!! ★。／｜＼。★ You've heard that before, right? They even say that fried shoes would taste good, but

please don't eat fried shoes, eat fried meat that's insanely good instead haha 🫶🏻 Here's my review of a delicious lunch at Katsu Kitchen in Jeonpo, a great tonkatsu (pork cutlet) place in Busan. Let's go!!

Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch: location and hours

Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch is at 27-6 Dongseong-ro 25beon-gil, Busanjin-gu, Busan, and is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. (last order 8:30 p.m.). There's no parking of its own, so you'll need a nearby public lot. There are no high chairs, and the space is mostly counter (dacchi) seating.

Katsu Kitchen in Jeonpo is hidden in a narrow alley, but if you follow the map you'll find it fine!

It's only about a 3-minute walk from Exit 4 of Jeonpo Station, so I recommend it if you're looking for a good restaurant in Jeonpo, Busan!!

Apparently Katsu Kitchen has a few branches in Busan, but the Jeonpo main branch is the one the owner runs personally...! That's why it's not just Katsu Kitchen but Katsu Kitchen ✨️𝙿𝚁𝙴𝙼𝙸𝚄𝙼✨️ haha. Premium?! I figured the quality had to be a cut above, so I was excited!!

Waiting at Katsu Kitchen Jeonpo: when should you go?

Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch has a wait even on weekdays, so I deliberately went right at opening. On the day I visited, a line started forming around 12:20 p.m., so if you're planning a visit, I'd recommend booking through Catch Table or just doing an opening-time run.

Inside, the counter seats wrap around the kitchen and a row of window seats, all neatly set up! Some people were dining solo, and others had come with family or friends! The mood is cozy and calm, so it felt like a comfortable place to come for a meal 😚

Ordering Mix Katsu 2 and 3, and the table setup

At Katsu Kitchen we ordered Mix Katsu 2 and 3, which let you try several katsu at once. Once we sat down, it was time to study the menu~!! Everything looked good and I couldn't decide, and then I spotted the mix katsu, where you can try a bit of everything, so we ordered numbers 2 and 3!

Hehe,, I want my crispy tonkatsu already,, A staff member also brought water, but it wasn't plain water, it was something like barley tea!! I was hot from walking over, so it was cool and nice ⁽˙ᵕ˙⁾

There was also a guide on how to enjoy the food, so I read it!! If there's something like this, I always try to follow it, and it said to try it with sesame oil...?

Oh,, and sure enough, there really is sesame oil haha. I'd never seen sesame oil sprinkled on a pork cutlet and I was so curious what it would taste like...! I'm definitely trying this,, (งᐛ)ว 💛

While I was looking over the sauces, the staff brought Himalayan pink salt, wasabi, Katsu Kitchen's special sauce made with chopped myeongi namul (wild garlic leaves) and mustard that you can top the cutlet with, plus pickled rakkyo (Japanese pickled scallions) and pickled chili peppers! Those are exactly the ones from the how-to-eat guide haha.

Beef radish soup at a tonkatsu place?

Katsu Kitchen serves rice sprinkled with furikake (seasoning flakes) along with beef and radish soup (sogogi mu-guk) instead of miso soup. The soup is a bit unusual...? You usually get miso soup, but beef and radish soup?! A beef soup at a tonkatsu place was a first for me, so I was a little puzzled,, ( ⚆.⚆)

But it's tasty, so I stopped caring haha 👍 They said the sauces, rice and soup can all be refilled, and the soup was better than I expected, so while the katsu was frying I wanted to dunk my rice in the broth,,

Mix Katsu 3: tenderloin katsu and cheese katsu

Mix Katsu 3 comes with hire katsu (fried pork tenderloin) and cheese katsu, which is mozzarella wrapped in thinly sliced loin and fried. After a bit of waiting, our food arrived!! This is Mix Katsu 3, which I picked, and it looks so appetizing,, ( ˶ ᷇ 𖥦 ᷆ ˵ )‬💗

Everything is cooked to order, so it takes about 15 minutes to come out...! The look of it makes the wait worth it ✨️ The coating looks crispy, yet you can sense the juiciness of the meat... ⋆｡ °✩⋆ ˚｡ ⋆ Is this what 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒌𝒂𝒕𝒔𝒖 is,,,? ⋆ ｡˚ ⋆✩° ｡⋆

And Mix Katsu 2 is the one with loin katsu (fried pork loin) and cheese katsu! My younger sibling picked it, and since I plan to steal some, I'll introduce it ahead of time hehehe,, (ง `▽´)╯🍴

Tenderloin katsu: plain, then salt, then wasabi

The tenderloin katsu at Katsu Kitchen was so juicy and tender that a little juice ran out of the rosy pink meat. Let's start with the tenderloin!!! When I picked up the pink meat with my chopsticks, the juice that seeped out was amazing,,🥹 For the first bite I added nothing, just the tenderloin katsu, and the moment I bit in I was surprised at how tender the meat was...! Wow,, this is really good,, ( ⸍ɞ̴̶̷ ·̫ ɞ̴̶̷⸌ )

Next I'll dip it in salt! The salt does more than make it salty, it really brought out the meat's natural savory flavor! It's the most basic seasoning, but I kept reaching for it,,🫶🏻

And then wasabi, which wipes out the greasiness of fried food!! Its pleasant sharpness cleans up the mouth and makes you grab the next piece of katsu right away🤤

Cheese katsu with sauce + mustard

For the cheese katsu at Katsu Kitchen, the best match was a little mustard on top of the tonkatsu sauce, rather than salt or wasabi. Next up is the cheese katsu~!! Once the soft tenderloin has warmed up your stomach, you have to eat it quickly before the cheese hardens!! The cheese stretching out with a stretchy pull looks so appetizing,,

Because of the cheese's richness and mildness, I thought something punchier than the clean feel of salt or wasabi would suit it, so I put a little sauce and mustard on top!

Just as I thought, a perfect match,,ദി ᷇ᵕ ᷆ )♡ I'd only ever put wasabi on tonkatsu until now, but mustard goes really well too ㅠㅠㅠ The sharp kick of the mustard together with the sweet tonkatsu sauce is chewy-good (amazing),,

Mix Katsu 2 loin katsu: is the fat greasy?

The loin katsu in Mix Katsu 2 has firmer meat than the tenderloin, and the layer of fat at the back was actually a savory highlight. Next up is the loin katsu, the loin cut! I swapped a piece of tenderloin with my sibling haha. When I picked it up with chopsticks, the meat felt firmer than the tenderloin!

The meat of the loin was really mild, so I added a little accent with the spicy sauce. I was worried it would be very hot, but it wasn't very spicy to me!! 🌶🩶🩶🩶🩶 (1/5) That's about the level of spice,,~

The loin katsu has a layer of fat attached at the back, and I was a bit worried: fat on top of fried food,, wouldn't it be greasy...? But when I actually ate it, the savory, rich flavor was so good!!! It's kind of like the cheese crust on a pizza(?) The kind of taste that makes you want to hurry up and get to the edge piece...🫶🏻

Cabbage salad with yuzu dressing

The cabbage salad at Katsu Kitchen comes with a choice of black sesame or yuzu dressing, and I chose yuzu. When your lips are shiny with grease from eating so much fried food, it's time to refresh your mouth with the cabbage salad!! I agonized over black sesame or yuzu, and my choice was yuzu haha 🍋 The crunchy cabbage with the light yuzu dressing was a very good choice!

With the cabbage restoring my stamina, it's on to round two~!! I think this visit to Katsu Kitchen got me hooked on mustard,, Cheese tonkatsu with sauce + mustard is seriously amazing, so please just try it once...🙏

Another thing I noticed while eating: the coating on Katsu Kitchen's katsu is thin overall, so you can taste the filling inside, like the meat or cheese, better, which I liked haha

Sesame oil on tonkatsu: how many drops?

As Katsu Kitchen's guide says, you should sprinkle just one drop of sesame oil. When I used four drops, the sesame oil flavor overpowered the meat.

Oh right!! I almost forgot Σ(； ･`д･´)ꜝꜝ Near the end of the meal I remembered the sesame oil...!! I was really curious about this one 🤔

I tried it with high hopes...!! The nutty fragrance of the sesame oil was nice, but sprinkle just one drop, as the guide says‼️ I figured it would be tasty and used about four drops, and the sesame oil flavor took over the meat haha. Add just one drop for a savory aroma without losing the essence of the katsu,, (꜆ ˙ᗜ˙ )꜆ Conclusion: listen to the owner!!!

I was wiping my mouth with a tissue after finishing when a staff member brought dessert too! Wow,, I'd planned to go to a café after the meal, so getting dessert unexpectedly was lovely!! I enjoyed the vanilla ice cream, a perfect palate cleanser~!!🍦

Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch: overall verdict

Jeonpo-dong is full of all kinds of restaurants and cafés, so there's plenty of choice, but the downside is that it's hard to find a truly good place🥲

But Katsu Kitchen Premium has good food quality and a comfortable atmosphere, so I had a really satisfying lunch

By the time we finished and were leaving, the place was full and a line had formed outside, so I think it really deserves to be called a top restaurant in Jeonpo!!

Personally, the loin and cheese were good too, but the tenderloin was really juicy and tender, and I loved it!! I was so satisfied that next time I want to come back and eat just the tenderloin katsu on its own👍 If you're looking for a good tonkatsu place, I recommend Katsu Kitchen Premium as a Japanese-style tonkatsu specialist in Jeonpo, Busan!