Gwangju donkatsu restaurant for a neighborhood meetup: Filling

Filling Donkatsu Yongbong Branch

Filling Donkatsu (필링돈까스) is my favorite donkatsu place! I happened to have a get-together with my neighbors, and when I asked, "Shall we meet at Filling Donkatsu?" they showered me with praise for having a good sense in picking places, haha (a true Gwangju gem 👍). It tastes the same no matter when I visit, and it's a nationally recognized donkatsu spot, so it was the perfect place for this gathering ♥

Where to park at Filling Donkatsu Yongbong Branch

You can park easily in the paid lot right next to Filling Donkatsu, so everyone arrived without any parking worries. When you pay, tell the staff your license plate number and they'll register 1 hour 30 minutes of free parking.

Go up the stairs to the 2nd floor...

And ta-da, a cute character greets you, plus there's the Onnuri gift voucher sign and a CESCO Members mark stuck right there, so the hygiene felt trustworthy too.

Waiting and seating: Tabling sign-up and table seats only

If there's a wait, sign up on the Tabling machine at the entrance. There was no wait when I visited, so we got in right away.

This is the waiting area, and you can wait comfortably with water and Wi-Fi available. With a place like this, I could wait an hour!

The whole restaurant has table seating, and you can sit wherever you like.

Aprons are near the entrance and baby chairs are near the kitchen.

Filling Donkatsu's philosophy, worth a read before ordering

• First, only +1 grade loin and tenderloin from pigs slaughtered the same day
• Second, aged over 200 hours at near-freezing temperature, so the meat is thick yet tender
• Third, the donkatsu sauce is made with onions sautéed for over 1 hour 30 minutes, in an effort to make a sauce that's good for you

With this much care and effort, of course it deserves its place on the Daedonyeojido (pork cutlet map), right? Totally agree 🐷

Free sides: salad, soup, kkakdugi and pickles

Salad, soup, kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) and pickles come as standard. The soup is nutty and so good, and the other sides go perfectly with donkatsu, so eating them together is a great combo.

Best deal for a group of 4: the ₩69,900 Four Together Set

There were so many tasty dishes that choosing was a real struggle, until...

I spotted the Four Together Set! Onion donkatsu + 200-hour tenderloin katsu + mushroom cream pasta + shrimp pilaf + 2 drinks. Ordered separately it's ₩77,800, but 👉 the set price is ₩69,900, a whole ₩7,900 cheaper.

There's also the Hearty Donkatsu Set, where you can enjoy popular cutlets in a big spread: onion donkatsu + 200-hour tenderloin katsu + king cheese donkatsu + whole cheese donkatsu + 2 drinks. Ordered separately it's ₩79,500 👉 set price ₩70,900.

There are plenty of other great-value sets too, so if you're going with 4 or more people, I'd definitely recommend ordering a set!

Mushroom cream pasta

The moment I took a bite, something like a nutty perilla aroma rose up, and it turned out to be the mushroom aroma! That subtle scent is totally my taste, and the pasta is rich and thick yet still moist.

Handmade onion donkatsu (200-hour)

So this is the onion sauce they spend 1.5 hours making..! It isn't an artificial sweetness but the natural sweetness of the onion itself, with deep flavor too. The meat is thick, so chewing a big mouthful has a great texture, and it wasn't greasy at all. Really delicious!!

Shrimp pilaf

I'd honestly never tried the pilaf at Filling Donkatsu before, but it has become a regular order for every future visit, hahaha. Fluffy grains of rice + that nutty white sauce on top = I couldn't put my spoon down.

200-hour tenderloin katsu with 9 sauce combinations

The moment we saw it, everyone cried "Wow~!" Mixing the sauces like painting with watercolors is so much fun. You can choose from a whole 9 combinations.

Normally at donkatsu places I skip tenderloin because it's dry and mostly order loin, but maybe because Filling Donkatsu's tenderloin is aged 200 hours, it's on a different level of tender. When you bite in, it just melts away ♪(´▽｀)

The counter note unchanged for 4 years

After a tasty meal, off to pay~

B-u-t, one line caught my eye: "If there was a problem with your food, we will pay for it with the card inside the box instead." They've kept it up for a whole 4 years, and apparently not a single customer has ever asked for a refund. And after tasting the donkatsu, I totally get why no one has..haha

Bringing your dog? Reserve by phone first

I could feel the owner's pride and sincerity about the food. If you're looking for a dinner spot in Yongbong-dong, Gwangju, I'm happy to recommend it with confidence! It's already my who-knows-how-manieth go-back place, and I plan to keep visiting.

If you reserve by phone in advance, you can also dine with your dog at the sofa seats, so those who want a relaxed meal with their pup, give it a visit~