Daldongnae's lunch specials remind me of a tiffin where the main dish is circled by seven banchan creating a colourful fulsome platter. Unlike their Korean barbeque sets, lunch takes longer to arrive as the kettle pot rice is made to order. It’s worth the wait to allow the purple rice to develop a bit of crust on the bottom and to allow the beans, chestnut, pumpkin, jujube and chickpeas to soften and seep into the rice.

Given how long it takes for make the starch, I’m surprised the pork bone soup ($21.99) doesn’t arrive bubbling… this stone bowl is for show only.  It also lacks flavour and needed to be stewed longer as the bones were difficult to tear and grizzly to eat. As kamjatang go, this is mediocre at best.

The spicy soft tofu stew ($21.99) was better, even the “medium” spicy level came out flavourful without being overpowering. And while it wasn’t bubbling, this was hotter and more comforting feeling. It’s just a bit stingy on the protein with few slices of beef but adequate amounts of tofu and vegetables.

Each arrives with an array of banchan including crispy kimchi cucumber, vegetable laced japchae, a flavourful stewed eggplant, a hefty portion of rolled egg omelette, a scoop of overly sweet potato salad, savoury gelatin, and a slightly sweet creamy lotus root. Two lunch specials can be shared amongst three people, otherwise expect to leave with leftovers.

Given Daldongnae wasn’t busy during their weekday lunch, their service was spectacular. Still, if you go for lunch, I’d stick with their wheelhouse and order table BBQ as the stone bowl mains were not impressive.

If Daldongnae wants to pump up their weekday lunch service, I’d recommend they switch to something they can execute better. Perhaps something like Haidailao where they offer table BBQ but instead of having diners ordering proteins separately, they create a mixed platter priced per person (with still a minimum of two people required). Korean tiffin you should be retired.