DaeBokJung — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Came on a Friday night, dinner before a comedy show with 3 other people. Read a bunch of reviews and wanted to give this place a try. As an intro, this restaurant is everything monkfish. Numerous courses of monkfish cooked in different ways. We ordered the Combo A. The combo menu is in korean so we had to ask the waiter what it included. He was nice enough to show us photos of the items.

First came all the sides including the banchan, steamed eggs, veggies pancakes, scallops. Everything tasted good. I liked the scallops. Then came the monkfish sashimi. That was fresh. Monkfish sashimi has more of red snapper feel in my opinion. Then came the fried monkfish whole. That was very tasty and crispy. Fried monkfish (in fish and chip style) served with sweet and sour sauce. The sauce was a bit too sour for me. Monkfish stir fried with bean sprouts. I wasn't a fan of this dish. Just way too much bean sprouts and this weird tasting round thing that tasted like medicine. Last was the soup which we opted upgrading to the puffer fish soup. They cook the soup at the table. That was good too not too fishy. We were running a bit late for the comedy show so we asked for the check. Which we learned the final final dish is fried rice. They use the remainder of the soup, add purple rice, seaweed and sesame oil and cook it at the table. That was good too but we were full and in a hurry so we took most of the rice togo.

Service was good. He explained the menu, brought our food, refilled our waters, and cooked the fried rice. The plus is they have a FREE huge parking lot which is rare in Ktown. I was all monkfished out by the end but definitely...

Recently,9/13/25. I’ve noticed that some restaurants in LA are actually more affordable than in Orange County, and the flavors are backed by long-standing tradition. You can tell the difference if you visit and compare for yourself — the ingredients taste fresh, and the dishes have their own unique character, so there isn’t much to compare with others.

Specialty items like monkfish or pufferfish stew and braised dishes are quite common in Korea, but here in LA they are rare to find, which makes this place even more special.

Visited again after several years. This place has always been one of the best restaurants for pufferfish and monkfish dishes, and it’s still serving generous portions at relatively reasonable prices. Everything was delicious, especially since pufferfish is such a rare delicacy these days. I would have preferred the braised pufferfish to be a bit spicier, but the pufferfish soup is absolutely perfect for curing a hangover....

We had Nakji Gopchang Jeongol and Agu jjim+Agu Maewoon Tang Combo. Due to COVID19, we had to eat outside but it was not too bad. We were able to sit within 5 minutes. It took some time because there were not many people working. I saw 2 servers that were serving and bussing the table. Nakji Gopchang Jeongol was served first, it was very delicious. Agujjim had good amount of fish and it was cooked just right. Agu Jjigae came out a little bit late (I think this is because of lack of employees) and we had to go, so we asked to change it to take-out. Server added new rice and side dishes so that we can enjoy it for dinner. Loved the attention to details. Definitely...