101st Namsan Donkatsu Main Branch: Weekend Review

Hello! This is my independently paid weekend review of 101st Namsan Donkatsu Namsan Main Branch, which I visited with friends while spending time on Namsan. There are quite a few donkatsu restaurants around Namsan, so we had a hard time choosing. I would not say this is an absolute must-visit or an exceptional hidden gem, but it was a solid, decent meal.

As the name suggests, it is on Namsan. There are many donkatsu restaurants along the way up to the cable car, and this is one of them. 📍 Hours 10:30–22:00 Last order: 21:00 📍 Parking Parking is available, with a parking area at the restaurant. Since I was visiting Namsan Tower anyway, I parked at the parking area by the Namsan Tower Cable Car and walked downhill for about five minutes.

Donkatsu Noodle Maep-tteok Two mixed cutlet sets Spicy donkatsu Namsan jjolmyeon

The four of us ordered one main dish each like this, then added one jjolmyeon because we also wanted noodles. The interior was fairly clean. Since Namsan is a tourist area, there seemed to be quite a few international visitors as well.

The self-service bar had soup, extra sauce, pepper, kkakdugi, danmuji, and more. The soup was entirely self-service, so you can pick it up after ordering donkatsu. It was the familiar mushroom soup you often get at old-style Korean Western restaurants.

Here is the full spread: two mixed cutlet sets, spicy donkatsu, what seemed to be a newer Donkatsu Noodle Maep-tteok dish, and jjolmyeon. Perhaps because it is Namsan-style donkatsu, the portions were huge. I felt that a solo diner would likely find it difficult to finish a whole serving—the portions were very generous.

I had the mixed cutlet set. I thought I might get tired of the regular sauce, so another friend who ordered the same set and I added spicy sauce to share. It was better with the spicy sauce.

The mixed cutlet set comes with regular donkatsu, hamburger steak, and fish cutlet. I tend to like fish cutlet, so I really enjoyed the fish cutlet with tartar sauce. Eating several different items worked well, since having only donkatsu can become a little heavy.

The Donkatsu Noodle Maep-tteok was the one dish that disappointed me a little. I liked the donkatsu, cheese, and boiled egg, but not the tteokbokki. It came with sauce simply poured over rice cakes and fish cake. In the photo, the tteokbokki had looked as though it would be well coated in seasoning. The flavor was only so-so too, and my friend left quite a lot of it. I think the donkatsu was finished, but the rice cakes were left behind.

This is the spicy donkatsu: regular donkatsu topped with spicy sauce. It was the same sauce we had ordered extra. Since donkatsu is fried, having it with the spicy sauce was nice and kept it from becoming too rich.

We also shared the jjolmyeon, and it was tasty. It seemed that everyone was getting full of donkatsu, but we finished all the noodles without leaving any behind.

The basic jjolmyeon has just cabbage, cucumber, and egg, with a clean, straightforward feel. If two people visit, my recommendation would be one mixed cutlet set, extra spicy sauce, and one jjolmyeon. If you are looking for a donkatsu restaurant on Namsan, this is not a bad option: there is variety on the menu, including noodles. #NamsanDonkatsu #NamsanRestaurants #NamsanLunch #NamsanDate #SeoulDonkatsu #SeoulRestaurants #NamsanTower #MyeongdongRestaurants #ChungmuroRestaurants #KoreaTravelFood