Damsot
Korean restaurant · Koreatown
3377 Wilshire Blvd #112, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Highlights
Korean pot rice with unique toppings like spicy eggplant & steak
Korean pot rice with unique toppings like spicy eggplant & steak
"The picture-filled menu at this famous bibimbap chain from South Korea is essentially a Pinterest board of aesthetic rice pots. Do you want yours decorated with spicy pork and carmelized eggplant, shishitos and tofu, or a big grilled mackerel filet that juts out from the bowl? There’s no wrong answer, and the only mistake would be not adding an order of Damsot’s crackly shrimp-stuffed fried eggplant to start. Each piping-hot rice pot costs around $20 and arrives on a tray with salad, soup, banchan, and a kettle of barley tea, plus a step-by-step process on how to eat it. The finale is the best part: pouring tea over the layer of crunchy scorched rice at the bottom to create a toasty soup that’s as soothing as a long, steamy shower." - sylvio martins, brant cox, garrett snyder, cathy park
"A South Korean-based pot-rice chain that debuted to long lines but has settled into its Brown Derby location, making it easier to grab a seat for lunch. Each meal comes with a choice of sot bap (pot rice), surrounded by kimchi, banchan, and boricha (barley tea) to pour over the rice and make nurungji. The steak pot rice, with tender bites of beef, is a crowd favorite; the house specialty eggplant pot rice (available mild or spicy) is served with ground pork. The dining room is sparse but clean and serves its purpose. After lunch, the write-up recommends heading over to Honeymee for some of the best soft-serve in LA." - Eater Staff
"Bibimbap can be found at dozens of restaurants in Koreatown, but it’s usually a humble sidekick rather than a starring act (RIP Jeon Ju). But that’s where Damsot turns the tables. This chain from South Korea specializes in rice bowls, with a menu that’s essentially a Pinterest board of pots topped with things like sweet glazed eel, a mountain of spicy eggplant and crumbled pork, or a big glistening mackerel filet that juts out from the bowl. The restaurant looks like a photo studio with white walls and bright lights, but you can still show up in sweatpants for a solo lunch or casual dinner. Each bowl costs around $20 and comes with a tray of goodies: a steaming rice pot piled with toppings, a side salad, miso soup, a few banchan, and a kettle of barley tea. There’s a bit of a ritual you have to follow (every table has a how-to guide), but it’s more straightforward than any IKEA furniture we’ve built, and worth the effort. Because while all the elements are delicious on their own, they’re better mashed together into a savory jumble. Scoop the contents of your rice pot into the stone bowl (which we wish came pre-heated), give it a good mix, and then pour the hot tea from the kettle into the layer of crunchy, charred rice sitting at the bottom of your now-empty rice pot. Got it? The tea and rice will slowly turn into scorched rice soup by the end of the meal—a toasty finale that’s as soothing as a long shower. Food Rundown Fried Eggplant Shrimp We wish this appetizer could be ordered by the dozen. The golden, deep-fried nuggets crackle like the top of a crème brûlée and scatter crumbs before you get to the soft eggplant-shrimp mixture in the center. They’re too heavy to pick up with chopsticks and dip in the mayo sauce, so just use your hands instead of fumbling around and dropping one like we did (the five-second rule applies). photo credit: Cathy Park Spicy Eggplant Pot Rice This flavor has a loyal fanbase in Korea for a reason—big, caramelized pieces of eggplant and spicy crumbled pork over a bed of fluffy rice. Stir it all together, and everything ends up in the right proportions. photo credit: Cathy Park Beef Bean Sprouts Pot Rice A pile of bean sprouts sits on top of spicy, saucy beef chunks, and once mixed, it turns into a messy bedhead-like tangle that’s fun to eat. photo credit: Cathy Park Mackerel Pot Rice The most photogenic of the pots and our favorite seafood option. It’s topped with a big grilled, flaky mackerel fillet that you break apart before mixing into the rice. Use the roasted seaweed sheets to wrap up little bites—just watch out for a few sneaky bones. photo credit: Cathy Park" - Cathy Park
"The latest Korean restaurant chain to expand to LA, Damsot in Koreatown is a rice pot specialist that serves hot stone bibimbap with unconventional add-ins like eggplant, cheese, shishitos, abalone, and steak. After mixing your bowl and scraping up all the rice, they’ll also pour hot barley tea into the leftovers to make scorched rice soup. We recently visited Damsot and added it to the Hit List." - cathy park
"The picture-filled menu at this famous bibimbap chain from South Korea is essentially a Pinterest board of aesthetic rice pots. Do you want yours decorated with spicy pork and carmelized eggplant, shishitos and tofu, or a big grilled mackerel filet that juts out from the bowl? There’s no wrong answer, and the only mistake would be not adding an order of Damsot’s crackly shrimp-stuffed fried eggplant to start. Each piping-hot rice pot costs around $20 and arrives on a tray with salad, soup, banchan, and a kettle of barley tea, plus a step-by-step process on how to eat it. The finale is the best part: pouring tea over the layer of crunchy scorched rice at the bottom to create a toasty soup that’s as soothing as a long, steamy shower." - brant cox, sylvio martins, cathy park, garrett snyder, brant cox, sylvio martins, garrett snyder, sylvio martins, cathy park, cathy park, garrett snyder, sylvio martins, brant cox, cathy park, cathy park, brant cox, sylvio martins, sylvio martins, sylvio
