Half-and-half katsu set with a solo beer at Kosi Gyodae, a Seocho Japanese restaurant

I went for lunch at Kosi Gyodae Branch (코시 교대점), a Gyodae Station favorite known for hand-pulled udon and handmade tonkatsu (pork cutlet). It was so good I scraped my plate clean..!! I'm around Gyodae Station fairly often, and with a menu this varied and prices this reasonable, I honestly want to work my way through the whole thing : )

Parking and menu prices

For parking, there's free space in front of the restaurant for 1 car on weekdays and 2 on weekends. On top of that, if you spend ₩20,000 or more, they cover 30 minutes per table at Hanseong Parking Lot (한성주차장), a 3-minute walk away. Good to know if you're driving to the Gyodae Station area!

The menu is made up of hot udon, cold udon, tonkatsu, donburi (rice bowls) plus set meals, and best of all, prices start at ₩9,000, so lunch near Gyodae Station doesn't hurt the wallet! Their signature Sanuki bukkake udon (thick udon with concentrated sauce) is ₩9,000 too : )

A warm interior that's easy for solo dining

Inside, it's furnished with wooden sofa tables. Add the soft lighting and the whole place feels warm and relaxed :)

The window side is pretty too, and the tables are roomy, so eating was comfortable. There's a separate solo-dining zone as well, so coming alone is no big deal! I sat in the solo zone at first, but a staff member moved me to a sofa table, which made the meal even more comfortable : )

Half-and-half katsu set and a bottle of Kirin

Ordering and paying is easy through the table-order tablet. I'm not usually someone who seeks out tonkatsu, but I'd heard so much about how good Kosi's is that I ordered the half-and-half katsu as a set meal. If you upgrade a tonkatsu dish to a set, it comes with kake udon (udon in hot broth). And tonkatsu really calls for beer, doesn't it..♥ So I ordered a cold bottle of Kirin too : )

On the table there's tonkatsu sauce, salad dressing, sesame seeds and shichimi (Japanese seven-spice). The self-serve corner is thoroughly stocked with everything you'd need, from sauces and seasonings to side plates, aprons, wet wipes, danmuji (pickled radish) and kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) : )

After a short wait, the Kirin came out first. Tonkatsu and beer, again..♥

It was my first time drinking a beer alone at a restaurant, but the atmosphere was so relaxed that I had a glass without feeling awkward at all : )

While I was happily sipping away, the half-and-half katsu set finally arrived!

It's pork katsu plus cheese katsu. Chilled (never frozen) pork is fried in milk and moist breadcrumbs, so the coating is crispy and the inside is really moist and tender : )

It had been a while since I'd had cheese katsu — juicy meat with stretchy, nutty cheese, and with a beer alongside it was pure bliss.. haha

The katsu itself is seasoned just right, so it's tasty even plain. You can dress it up however you like with salt, tonkatsu sauce, wasabi and so on,

but personally, tonkatsu sauce plus ground sesame was my favorite combination!

The warm kake udon that came with the set

The kake udon that came with the set. It's a warm udon with a broth of kelp, anchovies, saba-bushi (dried mackerel flakes) and more, simmered the traditional Sanuki way and seasoned with their house soy sauce.

Among hand-pulled udon I usually go for zaru udon (cold udon with dipping sauce) or cold udon, so I had no idea warm udon could be this good..!!

The broth is really clean and light, and there's plenty of tempura crumbs in it for a toasty flavor. Best of all, the noodles are wonderfully chewy, and they go great with the tonkatsu : )

Before the katsu, I drenched the salad in dressing and dug in, yum~ Midway I wanted more kkakdugi, so I went to the self-serve bar and grabbed another plate. And I polished off every last piece of katsu, not a crumb left haha

A filling lunch near Gyodae Station

All in all, Kosi Gyodae Branch left me satisfied — the food is good and the prices don't sting. You get hand-pulled udon and handmade tonkatsu in one place, and ordering the set adds udon on the side, so it's great for a hearty lunch. Kosi's tonkatsu and udon tasted even better with a cold beer. If you're looking for a good-value lunch spot or a tonkatsu place near Gyodae Station in Seocho, I recommend Kosi Gyodae Branch ♥