Donkatsu (돈가스)

Korean-style pork cutlet — thin, wide, and smothered in brown sauce.

Korean name: 돈가스
Spice level: Not spicy
Flavor: savory · crispy
Typically contains: pork, wheat flour
Vegetarian / vegan: Not vegetarian — meat or seafood is core to the dish
Typical price: ₩8,000–₩12,000 per person checked 2026-07 — varies by area
Good to know: Beginner-friendly ●●●●● Solo dining ●●●●● Kid-friendly ●●●●●
Also written as: donkkaseu, donkas, don-gas, korean pork cutlet

Spice and flavor are editorial assessments of the standard version — individual restaurants and recipes vary. Ingredient notes are typical, not guaranteed: always check with the restaurant for allergies or dietary needs. Eating and cooking notes describe common practice in Korea; our first-hand deep-dives live in the Eat Like a Local guides.

What is Donkatsu?

Korean donkatsu is its own genre, not a tonkatsu clone: pork pounded plate-wide and thin, breaded, fried, then blanketed in brown demi-glace-style sauce with rice, shredded cabbage, corn salad — and soup — on one nostalgic platter. It's 'gyeongyangsik' (Korean-Western) diner food from the 80s that never left.

How to eat it

Old-style kits arrive pre-sauced with knife and fork — cut and eat Western-style; that was the original point.
Alternate with the sweet corn salad and shredded cabbage.
Kimchi on the side still applies; this is Korean-Western, emphasis Korean.

Cooking it at home

Pound pork loin thin and wide; salt, flour, egg, breadcrumbs.
Fry golden; rest briefly.
Douse with a brown sauce of demi-glace lineage (ketchup-Worcestershire shortcut at home).

Good to know

Kimbap-shop donkatsu vs Japanese-style thick tonkatsu are different dishes — set expectations by venue.
Wheat, egg, pork — the full breading allergen set.

Namsan's 'donkatsu alley' fame came from taxi drivers — big portions, fast, cheap, view included.

Nutrition

Calories	280 kcal
Carbohydrate	15.89 g
Protein	13.85 g
Fat	17.94 g
Sodium	343 mg

Per serving (~100g): ≈280 kcal · sodium ≈343 mg (17% of the WHO daily guideline, 2,000 mg)

Per 100g · total serving 100g · Official data: National Integrated Food Nutritional Information Standard Data (Korea MFDS) (DB item: 돈가스, synced 2026-07-17). Values vary by recipe and portion.