With winter passing, a friend and I wanted to have hot pot one last time for this year. Having overeaten a bit lately, we decided that it would be prudent to avoid another buffet. With these conditions in mind, we headed to Shabu Shabu Hotpot, at Sunnybank Plaza.
Whilst Shabu Shabu carries connotations of being Japanese, Shabu Shabu Hotpot was most definitely Taiwanese.
For the very economical price of $16.90, you can customise your own shabu shabu set with a complementary drink. You can customise your soup base, mains and noodles or rice. If that isn't enough, there are optional add ons for extra cost.
Our soup was provided rather promptly by our very friendly waitress. I ordered the basic chicken soup, whist my companion ordered the herbal soup. The soup bases in hot pot are usually the most important part, as it affects the tastes of everything. To this, I found the soup base in Shabu Shabu Hot Pot to be much more mild than anything else I've had at other places, which was disappointing for me.
Condiments were DIY. I got my usual soy sauce/sesame oil/garlic combo, with spring onion.
Our assorted sides came next. I considered it to be a very nice combination of all essential hot pot ingredients, including a nice range of vegetables, mushrooms, lotus root, taro, tofu, tofu skin and fish cakes. The up side of having hot pot in this manner is that you can try everything, even things you would have not tried if you had been to a buffet (such as throwing in tomato), but on the down side, if you find something you particularly like, you'd still only have one piece.
Our serve of udon came. I was surprised that one serve is only have a noodle. I was also slightly disappointed that it was the non frozen, preserved type. (As opposed to the unpreserved, but frozen type).
Our serve of beef came first. It was a slightly thicker cut to other places, and there was significantly less fat on the meat. I would have liked the portion to be a bit more generous though, as this is the only meat portion of the meal.
Compared to the beef, the pork was definitely more fatty, but also thicker cut.
Whilst Shabu Shabu Hot Pot wasnt the best dining experience I've had, it was definitely filling and served its purpose. As my friend had mentioned to me, you get what you pay for. I think the only place which would offer comparable meals is the new hot pot place up in little Taipei. Despite there being a number of places which need improvement, I did still enjoy my experience there, and would definitely still go again.
Price Range: $16.90 per person (more if you get extras)
Taste: 7/10
Value: 8.5/10
Service: 9/10
Environment: 8/10
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