Recently, we had the pleasure of going to a Japanese restaurant which was both traditional and contemporary. Yes, they had the specialized seating where you could sit on the mats, but they also had a modern bar and regular tables with all-too comfortable chairs to lounge in. There, we had shabu shabu.
Shabu Shabu is Japanese hot pot. You are essentially crafting excellent soup at your table by cooking fresh ingredients over a burner at your table. Thin slices of meat are boiled in the broth that you have created, with the meat flavor adding to the flavors of that broth. The name shabu shabu directly translates to ‘swish swish’
Hot pot is a place where the ingredients have a chance to shine. You and your friends are the chefs at the table, the restaurant provides the freshest ingredients possible to make the experience all the better. One can easily envision family members using their chopsticks over a portable countertop range.
Everyone should experience shabu shabu at least once in their lifetime. Gather together a bunch of friends and go to one of the more traditional Japanese restaurants, and they are most likely to have that. It’s an experience which takes people to the enjoyment of food and the lives surrounding that food.
