Hana Tonkatsu Namcheon: Deep fried pork cutlets in Busan
This is likely to be one of my last restaurant reviews from my Korea trip in Fall 2023 (Finally… I am done 🥹… but not actually because I still need to write my Busan recap and Paradise recap + video). I am looking forward to finish writing about my Korea trip so I can focus on more Vancouver-based reviews!
As we started our last day in Busan, we felt like we have made really good progress on all the foods we wanted to try in Korea. But one thing we hadn’t tried yet was tonkatsu – deep fried cutlets!
We saw this restaurant once or twice as we were walking around near our Airbnb and the haircut place. It seemed pretty popular so we decided to check them out for lunch. Their English name is Hana Tonkatsu Namcheon (하나돈까스 남천점) and they are close to the Gwangalli Beach area in Busan.
This is how our dining experience went as 2 foreigners who cannot speak Korean.
The vibe
Hana Tonkatsu Namcheon is a pretty big and spacious restaurant. We had no reservations but we also arrived at 12pm (they open around 11:30am) so we were able to get seated right away.
They lead us through the open area where there were a lot of booth tables and larger group tables, and took us into a private room for some reason 😅! The room was spacious and the table was really big for 2 people.
Food and drinks review
Here is what we ordered between 2 adults. Prices are converted 1000:1 KRW to CAD and rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity.
Pork tenderloin cutlet + Buckwheat noodles set ($14)
They have a lot of different set menus and individual dishes to order from, but we decided to share a soba set with a pork tenderloin cutlet for around $14 CAD. We didn’t want to start off our day too heavy on the deep-fried stuff. You could also change the pork tenderloin to just regular pork cutlet or fish cutlet for the same price.
The set came very quickly and we were pretty happy with the portion sizes.
The pork tenderloin cutlet came with 6 large pieces. They were battered and fried really well – similar quality to Saku’s and it wasn’t greasy – just a great crunch and savoury flavour. They also have a pile of shredded cabbage (classic side dish for tonkatsu).
They provide a little bowl with sesame seeds for you to mash up and mix with your tonkatsu sauce.
The soba/buckwheat noodles were actually a huge portion also since it comes with 3 portions! I liked that it was refreshing in a cold broth. It wasn’t too overwhelming and a nice balance to the deep-fried cutlet.
Potato croquette ($3)
We also added a side order of the potato croquettes – 2 pieces for $3. You can also get a curry one for the same price of bump it up to 4 pieces for $6.
I can never pass up on a croquette! Again, it was fried well and had soft and warm potato goodness inside, paired well with the mayo sauce.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
We had a fast and tasty lunch at Hana Tonkatsu Namcheon. It was also pretty affordable (at least compared to Vancouver prices). The main reason I am not giving this place 4 stars is because compared to all the restaurant choices in the area, I feel like this place is slightly above average, but there are still better tonkatsu places out there.
But if I compare this tonkatsu restaurant to Vancouver options, I would definitely give it 4 stars because the quality definitely beats the price!
Service was excellent even though it was very obvious we were foreigners and didn’t speak any Korean. Servers were very friendly and even though we were kind of isolated in a private dining room, they were very responsive and made sure we had everything we needed. I find service in Korea in general has just been amazing and certainly much more deserving of an 18% tip than servers in Vancouver 🙄.
If you are looking for a foreigner-friendly and fast/affordable tonkatsu spot, I recommend you to check this place out!
Sincerely, Loewe