Cycle 16 – Item 65
11 (Tue) March 2025
Post 5,544
“Don-Gga-Seu”
3.0
-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
solo
Mangchi Tonkatsu is a Japanese-Korean restaurant. Specializes in tonkatsu, Korean style. While a Naver search returns several restaurants of the same name, and photos show similar platings, the different signage fonts and slightly different menu offerings suggest that they’re unrelated to each other.
In desperate need of a draft beer, I was on my way to Chin Chin when I saw that Mangchi also offered draft beer. Which is somewhat surprising, as the restaurant appears to be frequented primarily by families (mostly moms) with young children – not at all a drinking joint. I also needed to eat dinner, but Chin Chin doesn’t really offer much that would constitute a meal, so I gave Mangchi a shot.
As previously described on GMTD, tonkatsu in Korea comes in 1 of 2 forms. The original, old school Korean way involves thin cutlets, small bread crumbs (see for example 2.261 Wang Tonkatsu) – how it was almost exclusively until around the mid-aughts. Starting in the new millennium, Korea began to see more authentic Japanese tonkatsu with thick cutlets, big (panko) bread crumbs (see for example 15.073 Tomahawk Tonkatsu) – now about half of the market. An indicator of a restaurant’s style is how the dish is spelled on the menu: either “don-gga-seu (돈까스)” (Korean)” or “ton-ka-cheu” (톤카츠) (or some variation thereon) (Japanese).
Not bad. While the cutlet was thin, the overall amount of pork comprised quite a generous portion – can’t imagine that most kids could finish it. The breading was crispy. The sauce was well-balanced. With a tiny scoop of rice and a big refill of ggakdugi, I was totally full and satisfied by the end.
Good enough to warrant a secondary takeout order for IZ at home.
(See all RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)
(See all GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)