Situated at the back of a non-descript plaza is De Chou. Having grown up near the neighbourhood, I hadn’t heard of the restaurant until a family member recommended it for lunch. Such a shame as it would have been a great high school hangout with their large square tables that comfortably seat ten.

De Chou has a lengthy menu to match with dishes made for a crowd. The kamjatang jeongol ($47.99) is a hot pot stuffed to the gills with pork bones, potatoes, rice cakes, zucchini, and even enoki mushrooms and jalapeno garnishes. The broth wasn’t very salty but still flavourful and once you let the peppers steep into the broth, they add a lovely spicy kick.

Another substantial dish is the steamed pork bo saam ($49.99 for large) where slices of pork belly are kept warm on a hot plate. Diners tuck these soft meat slices into lettuce, Napa cabbage, and turnip with a smear of the savoury bean sauce for a protein packed bite.

Our table was split about the haemui pa jeon ($28.99). The size of a medium pizza, it’s made for a group. Personally, I found it way too thick and didn’t contain enough ingredients to balance out the doughiness of the Korean style pancake.  Conversely, my relatives preferred the heft as it contrasted the crispy exterior and soft interior. I guess it depends if you’re a thin versus pan crust type of pizza lover. I’m firmly in the Neapolitan camp.

I thoroughly enjoyed the crust that develops on the bottom of yachae dolsot bibimbap ($18.99). And the hot stone rice bowl contained a good combination of ingredients to ensure there was plenty of vegetables and beef to go around.

De Chou’s LA kalbi ($34.99) was rather neutral with very little sauce, so you mostly taste the beef. I personally would have preferred more sauce to help caramelize onto the beef ribs, but the older members of the family appreciated the plainness and liked that it was tender.

If you like it saucy, the ddukbokyi or tteokbokki ($15.99) has plenty of it. While it had a decent flavour, I found it a tad tame for my taste. At least, the soft chewy cylindrical rice cakes came with a lot of fish slices. So much so that there was a lot of leftovers after the rice cakes were gone.

In fairness, the popcorn chicken ($12.99) was true to its description, little thumbnail sized nuggets of chicken topped with okonomiyaki sauce. Based on previous experiences with Korean fried chicken, I was just expecting larger bites, like karaage and found these tasteless and dry.

Despite the size of De Chou’s dining room, it started filling up by 12:30pm on Sunday. Luckily, there’s a buzzer at the table so you’re never waiting around for long. And if you’ve read this post to the end, maybe it’s a sign for you to gather a group and introduce them to this hidden restaurant.