The Man Making a Pork Cutlet

The first time I passed by the Man Making a Pork Cutlet, I was on my way to lunch at another establishment near my job, which is located at the Gwangju Biennale. After having only seen the sign and nothing else, I found myself a touch curious, but remained mostly uninterested. It wasn’t until after months of walking by that brightly lit sign while occasionally seeing ads for it online that my initial lack of interest grew into a desperate need to know what kind of pork cutlet this man could make.

After bugging them to join me for some time, I finally made a visit to this mysterious restaurant with my friends Butternut and Sourdough. It was a little tricky to explain just how to get to the place due to its location on the third floor of a fairly inconspicuous building. Though it’s not something I’d personally recommend, we ended up parking near the Gwangju Biennale and walked the rest of the way.

Once we got past the short elevator ride, we were met with a modern looking restaurant with lots of space and an open kitchen. To think that such a place existed so close to my job when I had spent months eating at tiny places serving basic dishes blew my mind.

The menu, which was in Korean and English, was pretty straightforward. It was weird to see that their “must eat” appetizer was sold out, but outside of that, the menu was broken up into three sections: Cutlet, Pasta, and DONPAS. That last word, which I’m sure doesn’t exist outside of this restaurant, is a combination of the words 돈가스 (donkassu; pork cutlet) and 파스타 (pasta). The cutlet options were pretty normal with offerings like the original Pork Cutlet, Spicy Cutlet, Salad Cutlet, and Snow Cheese Cutlet (which I assume means it’s topped with shredded cheese). The same could be said for the pasta menu, which had Carbonara Spaghetti and Shrimp Rose Pasta. The DONPAS menu, on the other had, apparently brought the best of both worlds in three different dishes. Though we tried to order all three, our waitress warned us that each dish is meant to feed at least two people. Taking that into consideration, we ordered the Shrimp Rose Donpas and the Angry Donpas, which we were informed was spicy.

After we placed our order, we were first met with a bowl of cream soup and the usual sides of pickles and kimchi. The soup wasn’t anything special, but served as a decent way to warm us up for what was to come.

The first to arrive was the Shrimp Rose Donpas, which left us all giggling as we took turns taking pictures of what was one of the most ridiculous dishes we had ever seen. Now, I’ve had pasta served in a bowl made of bread, but having it served to me in a bowl made of pork cutlet has definitely eclipsed those memories. On a giant plate with a side of salad and some dipping options came a large bowl of fried meat and breadcrumbs that had been filled to the brim with pasta and sauce. The added shrimp head sticking out of the pool of sauce was a nice, hilarious touch. It took us a few moments to figure out the best way to approach this dish, but we decided to start with the pasta before consuming the bowl it came in. Despite the novelty of our dish, the pasta sauce was one of the best rose sauces I’ve had in Gwangju, and the pasta was cooked well. It was difficult to remind ourselves to leave some sauce to eat with the cutlet bowl, as we all really enjoyed it. Due to its massive size and awkward shape, the cutlet had to be cut into pieces before we could properly eat it without making a mess. Our dipping choices included a savory, tangy Worcestershire-based sauce and an interesting, flavorful powder that tasted strongly of turmeric. Though I wasn’t crazy about the first option, I practically inhaled the latter.

The Angry Donpas came when we were about halfway done with the first dish. Considering how full we were starting to get, it was for the best that we followed the warnings from our waitress to not order too much. Who knew consuming nothing but starch and meat could be so filling? This dish came looking more like an oven spaghetti. Topped with melted cheese and some extra fixings like garlic chips and olive slices, one would not know just from looking that this bowl of meat contained spaghetti and marinara sauce that had flavored with 고추장 (gochujang; chili pepper paste). Though I was a little concerned with this fusion dish, it ended up being much better than I anticipated. There was a good amount of heat, but not too much, and the sweetness I feared would be overpowering ended up being quite subtle. As with the previous dish, we went through the pasta before getting into the pork. Those last few bites were a struggle, as we were all quite stuffed.

As novel as the food at the Man Making a Pork Cutlet was, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. Each dish had been made with care with good ingredients, and there was clearly some thought put into what easily could have been a disaster. I only wish that the restaurant may someday consider including Japanese style curry or other saucey options with their deliciously ridiculous pork cutlet bowls. If that doesn’t happen, I will probably still return in the future to enjoy the less unique dishes on their own, as everything tasted great.

Address: 광주 북구 용봉동 869 용산빌딩3층
Phone: 062-511-3668
Hours: 11:30 – 10:00 (break time 14:40 – 17:00)
Website: http://www.instagram.com/don.kkanam
Average Price: 17,500 to 19,500 for Donpas