Katsu Kitchen in Jeonpo, Busan: comparing fillet, loin and cheese

※ Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch ※ 27-6 Dongseong-ro 25beon-gil, Busanjin-gu, Busan

• ⏰ Hours: Daily 11:30 - 21:00
• 🕐 Last order: 20:30
• 🚗 Parking: Not available

When you want lunch in Jeonpo-dong, Busan, there are so many good restaurants around that it's hard to pick one. Especially near the Jeonpo café street, you'll spot not just pasta places and cafés but plenty of Japanese restaurants perfect for a clean, satisfying meal — tonkatsu, sushi, ramen, you name it.

Today I visited Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch, known as a premium Japanese katsu specialist in Jeonpo-dong. Let me walk you through my honest review, the vibe of the place, and the menu, one by one :)

🏠 Finding Katsu Kitchen down a Jeonpo-dong alley

Jeonpo-dong is the kind of neighborhood where every alley has some good-looking restaurant or café tucked away, so it's fun just wandering and discovering new spots. Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch was also sitting deep inside one of those alleys.

Even from the outside, it had a clean, polished feel — the kind of place that catches your eye if you're looking for a good lunch spot in Jeonpo. Since it's a katsu specialist, I think it's worth a visit for anyone who loves tonkatsu.

🪑 A clean, tidy interior

Stepping inside, the whole place felt neatly arranged. You'd expect a tonkatsu restaurant to feel a bit casual, but Katsu Kitchen had a calmer, cleaner atmosphere that made it easy to focus on the meal.

It also seemed like a good option for lunch with a friend or a date in Jeonpo-dong when you want something clean and simple. And since the menu revolves around katsu, choosing what to order wasn't complicated at all.

📋 The Katsu Kitchen menu board

I sat down and looked over the menu first. Katsu Kitchen offers a variety of katsu dishes, and since I wanted to try several kinds at once, I ended up ordering both Katsu Mix 3 and Katsu Mix 4.

If you want to compare loin, fillet, and cheese instead of sticking to just one menu item, the mix sets seem like a great choice. TMI: the owner apparently really loves fillet, haha.

🥬 Green onion kimchi made by the owner's mother

One thing that quietly delighted me while eating katsu was the pa-kimchi (green onion kimchi) side dish. Apparently it's made by the owner's mother — crunchy green onions with well-seasoned flavor made it a great pairing with the katsu.

When you're eating tonkatsu for a while, the richness of the fried coating tends to build up, and a bite of pa-kimchi cleans up your palate right away. That little homemade touch made it feel like something out of a home kitchen, and it really stuck with me :)

One more thing that caught my eye: hair ties. If you have long hair, eating can get annoying sometimes, and having hair ties available at the table felt like a thoughtful little detail. Small touches like that make the meal a bit more comfortable :)

🧂 Enjoying katsu your way, with different condiments

At Katsu Kitchen, you don't have to eat the katsu just one way — there were several condiments to mix and match. Dipping in the sauce that comes with the dish was good, but a light dab of wasabi on top worked really well too. Wasabi in particular kept the meat's flavor while cleaning up the palate, which personally I really liked.

Pink salt was also available, great for tasting the katsu's natural flavor on its own. The taste changed noticeably between sauce and pink salt, so it was fun alternating bite by bite. On top of that, there was myeongi namul (wild garlic leaves) to pair with the katsu — eating the crispy fried cutlet together with the wild garlic leaves made for yet another combination.

🥢 What I ordered

• Katsu Mix 3: fillet + cheese
• Katsu Mix 4: loin + fillet + cheese

This time I ordered two mix menus. Katsu Mix 3 lets you taste fillet and cheese together, and Katsu Mix 4 adds loin on top of that, so you get to compare all three kinds at once. If you want to try multiple cuts, Katsu Mix 4 looked like a solid choice too.

🍽️ Katsu Mix 3 | Fillet + Cheese

I started with Katsu Mix 3. The table was set with katsu, rice, and clear soup, all together, which made for a clean and satisfying meal. The tonkatsu's outer coating was nicely crisp, and the meat inside was moist.

The fillet in particular seemed like a great fit for anyone who prefers lean, tender meat over fattier cuts. Biting in, you first hit that crisp coating, then the tender texture of the meat follows right after.

🧀 How I ate the cheese katsu

The cheese katsu grabbed my attention just by looking at it. Cheese inside the fried coating added a savory richness when eaten with the meat. Dipping it in plain sauce was good, but personally I also loved pairing it with a bit of wasabi. The savory, soft flavor of the cheese combined with the sharp kick of wasabi cut through the richness nicely.

🥩 Katsu Mix 4 | Loin + Fillet + Cheese

Next up was Katsu Mix 4, letting me try loin, fillet, and cheese all at once. Being able to compare three types of katsu side by side was what I liked most about it. Especially on a first visit, it's hard to know which cut suits your taste, so having several kinds arrive together makes it easier to figure out your preference.

🥩 Loin katsu: lean yet savory

The loin had a bit more of that distinct meaty richness compared to the fillet. Eating it side by side with the tender fillet really highlighted the difference between the two cuts. If you prefer lean, tender katsu, go for the fillet; if you like the richer flavor and firmer bite of the meat itself, the loin is the way to go — it really comes down to personal taste.

💡 Why I was curious about Katsu Kitchen

Katsu Kitchen has apparently appeared on SBS's 'Gosuyeoljeon' (a Korean TV show featuring skilled restaurant owners). You could feel that expertise in the restaurant itself. Katsu Kitchen describes its process as trimming carefully selected cuts of meat using its own aging know-how, then finishing the katsu with textured, specially made breadcrumbs and clean oil. That's probably why the crisp texture of the coating and the tenderness of the meat both came through so well.

Rather than just eating a single plate of tonkatsu, this felt like a place where mixing and matching different cuts and condiments was part of the fun.

Today I visited Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch in Jeonpo-dong, Busan. Eating it in person, the combination of crisp coating and tender meat worked really well, and fillet, loin, and cheese each had their own distinct charm. If you're deciding on lunch in Jeonpo-dong, tonkatsu is a pretty safe pick since it's rarely a dish people dislike.

If you're looking for a good tonkatsu restaurant in Busan, or a clean Japanese lunch spot in Jeonpo-dong, give Katsu Kitchen Premium Jeonpo Main Branch a try :) If you're like me and want to taste several kinds at once, I'd recommend the Katsu Mix 4 (loin + fillet + cheese). Thanks for the meal today!