Tonkatsu restaurant with solo bar seats in Gangdong: Riae Premium

Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch

• 📍 469-4 Seongnae-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul
• ⏰ Daily 11:00–20:00
• 🅿️ Parking available in front of the restaurant

First visit to Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch, a Gangdong tonkatsu spot

I finally made it to 'Riae Premium Olympic Park Branch,' a place I'd been meaning to visit for a good meal and some healing time!

I went right after slipping past the lunch peak. The inside was genuinely clean and quiet — perfect for eating alone, but also great for a casual date with a friend.

I stood there agonizing over the menu for a while. That day I wanted something light and cool but absolutely couldn't give up the crunch of tonkatsu, so after much deliberation I ordered the cold soba tenderloin set plus the king tiger shrimp fry I'd been eyeing as a side!

Can you eat alone? Solo bar seats with tablets and baby high chairs

Along one wall runs a long row of solo bar seats each equipped with a tablet — perfect for eating alone — while window tables comfortably seat 2 to 4. There's even a good supply of baby high chairs on one side, making this a great spot for solo diners as well as families with young kids‼️

If you book through Naver Reservation, you can get in without waiting even during lunch hours!

It's a kiosk system where you order and pay at the same time.

First to arrive: zero-sugar cola and a cup of ice. Pour the cold cola over ice, take a sip, and you're ready for the feast!

What comes on the cold soba tenderloin set tray

The cold soba tenderloin set. The moment the tray landed, it looked so neat and complete as a solo meal — totally my type.

Along with the standard tonkatsu sauce, fresh grated wasabi comes as a given, and they even give you a fragrant truffle-scented oil — dab a little salt on the tenderloin cutlet, drop on some oil, and you've got a combo that rivals a fancy Japanese restaurant. The cabbage salad in between bites was great for refreshing the palate‼️

How much cold soba do you actually get?

Honestly, don't picture the small side-dish bowl that usually comes with a set. This is main-dish sized, full stop. There's even a slice of orange placed on top 🧡 Isn't the whole thing just gorgeous and colorful?

Maybe because of the touch of orange, the finish was really refreshing and clean. The noodles were chewy and springy too~~

The tenderloin cutlet and potato croquette included in the set

The star of the show: the tenderloin cutlet. If you were worried the quality might dip a bit because it's part of a set, that couldn't be more wrong haha. I immediately understood what people mean when they say the breading is 'alive.' The tenderloin inside had been properly aged, so it was incredibly moist and tender. Crispy outside, juicy inside — exactly that.

A small, round, flattened potato croquette. One bite fills your mouth with the sweet, fluffy flavor of mashed potato — perfect as a little treat between bites of tonkatsu!!

My favorite combo: Maldon salt plus a dab of wasabi. I used to be strictly a tonkatsu-sauce person, but after coming to Riae I've tried a bunch of different sauces!!

King tiger shrimp fry, the surprise star of the meal

The king tiger shrimp fry. Honestly, the real hidden star of the day was this dish. The moment it arrived, a savory oil aroma spread through the air, and its size was on a different level haha.

True to the name 'king tiger shrimp,' the shrimp is genuinely huge and thick. The outside is coated generously in a snowflake-like crispy batter, fried clean with no trace of stale-oil smell, so even the batter itself bursts with savory flavor ⭐️

Dip it generously into the housemade tartar sauce they give you plenty of, and it's pure bliss... The finely chopped pickles and onion in the sauce mean there's never a moment of greasiness. Even the crispy head end was so savory I finished every last bit 😝

Inside, the springy shrimp meat pops with every bite. The shrimp's density is so high that the texture is almost lobster-level — chewy and sweet.

Worth a meal before a walk or show at Olympic Park?

Cool, clean cold soba to wake up the appetite, tender aged tenderloin cutlet to fill up on protein, and finishing with the crispy, springy king tiger shrimp — as a full meal, it was honestly a perfect course. If you're heading for a walk around Olympic Park, or coming for a concert or performance and need a hearty, delicious place to eat, I genuinely recommend 'Riae Premium.' Next time I'm bringing more friends and we're clearing out the cheese katsu and the premium sirloin too!