Damsot

A room that looks more like a photo studio than a restaurant, white walls and bright lights over booths, serves single-portion pot rice casual enough for solo lunches in sweatpants. Rice arrives sizzling in an individual pressure pot, topped with things like sweet glazed eel, mackerel, or a stir-fried eggplant and pork dish the chain patented. A card at each table explains the ritual: scoop the rice into a stone bowl, mix it, then pour hot barley tea over what's left in the pot to loosen the crunchy layer at the bottom into a second course of soup.