After relentless persuasions and annoyance invitations by my friend, I gave in and decided to have a go at this shabu shabu thingy. I’ve first heard of this steamboat affair since last year and this hype has plastered all over the internet by now and yet, I did not bother to try it at all.
As you all may know already, shabu shabu is steamboat with a twist. Unlike the ordinary steamboat you usually see/go for, in shabu shabu, a mini hot pot is placed right in front of you. In it, you get to choose your own personal choice of broth and that hot pot is for your own use only.
The place that I went was like any other restaurants. The tables were placed close to each other due to the limited space and the ambience was alright. Maybe it was late at night and there weren’t many customers.
Besides, there were a couple of round tables to cater larger group (about 10 pax). At the centre of that round table, there is a place for large pot for everyone’s usage (just like the ordinary steamboat).
This restaurant offers a wide variety of sauces. I couldn’t remember them all but there were more than 5 types on that day. All I could remember was the chili padi was fresh and really spicy. I didn’t get to try them all but some were quite good (to go with beef meat). Besides, they have some garnishes at the same sauce counter.
If I could remember correctly, there were about 18 types of broths. I didn’t know which to pick and so, my friend recommended me Pork Bone with Corn broth. I went with his words due to the fact that recommendation is always the best thing to go for.
Besides, I doubt anything could wrong with the usage with pork bones and corns. My other friend picked Shark Bone broth. There were a couple of corn cutlets in it and a huge pork bone. You can to order additional plate of corns if you want to.
As for the main dishes, my friend handled that section as well. It didn’t take long for the dishes to arrive. I had hard time snapping all the foods while asking my friends to wait. Even the boss of the restaurant was there at sight. It was really uncomfortable with all the eyes staring at me and the food!!
These are ribeye steak, so they named them. But to me, they are just thinly sliced beef meat. They were good as the flavour was intact. Besides, I get to cook the meat according to my liking.
Apart from the beef, my friend ordered pork too. As you can see, there is a thin layer of fat intact with the meat itself. It took awhile to cook them as the meat was rather thick. But the outcome of it was good as there weren’t any horrible pungent pork smell (unlike some places). Besides, I’m not sure how to describe this, the fat was… bouncy(?).
As for ready-cooked items, we, or my friend, ordered Fried Bean Curd and Fried Fish Skin. The curds were good but they were on the salty side. It was so salty that I had to order Coke to counter the salty-ness. The Fried Fish Skin was mediocre only. Nothing to shout about. It was good enough to be as snacks.
Balls weren’t spared either. There were 3 types on that day (but there were more in the menu). From the colour/outlook of it, the red ones were Homemade Beef Balls, the pinkish was Homemade Pork Balls and the pale white ones were Homemade Shrimp Balls. There were 4 of them in each plate and they were made of different ingredients.
At first, I didn’t know how to cook them. So, I left them inside the broth quite awhile before eating them. But rule of thumb said that as long as they are floating, then they are cooked. But for safety precaution, please make sure the inside is warm before consuming them.
These are Wanton Dumpling. They were huge and tasty. But then again, it took awhile to thoroughly cook them.
We also ordered Bean Curd Puffed (weird name, I know…). When they were cooked, they were really chewy. I didn’t like them as they have the ‘fried oil taste’, if you know what I mean.
For every RM50 spent, customers were entitled to purchase a plate of prawns, fish or crab at RM1 each. Being greedy, we bought a plate of prawns and crab. The prawns were fresh but not so for the crab. But we can’t complain much since they only cost RM2. Hehe.
Apart from those cheap seafoods, we tried out the scallops. I felt that it was rather small size, as big as 50 cents only. To cook it was relatively easy; 30 seconds or so.
Last but not least, the desserts. They were offering herbal jelly or mango pudding for free. I picked the latter. The taste… let’s just say I took one spoonful and offered the rest to my friends.
We ordered eggtarts as well. The tarts were alright as they were freshly baked upon request/order, which is a good point. However, they were that good as told by my friend and there are better egg tarts out there.
Overall, it was great experience for first timer like me. I like the fact that they offer different variety of dishes and the staffs were helpful. As of I’m writing this, the restaurant is open up to late midnight; i.e. 2 to 3 am. I might visit them again but just snack/supper only as it might be costly to dine there for dinner.
Address :
20.22, Jalan Barat,
Off Jalan Imbi,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel No.: 03-2148 0322
Map:
*Blue circle denotes the location of the restaurant
Oyako Maki (RM18)
