Today I was craving for shabu-shabu but my friend was busy so we can’t go out on our usual weekend plan. I decided to make one myself. Here’s the outcome.

Luckily, in Taiwan we can buy freshly cook ingredients like tofu, taro, and even fresh instant noodles.

What I did was boil some water, then add all the ingredients. Let it boil again, then just drop some vege (any greens) that’s it! It’s good for 2 persons and it’s economical too!

Here’s the ingredients:

secret ingredients…

bearing gifts…

oyster mushrooms…

hot pot…

So, Yuki and I took a few days to visit some of the early temples and castles in the Kansai region of Japan. Most of the structures we saw date back to the 8th century and are truly amazing! Besides the structures there were also tons of great sculptures from the same time period. However, as you all know, this blog isn’t about architecture, it’s about food. This post is to let you know about the incredible Kaiseki we ate our last night in Nara at the Ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn) we stayed at, Yoshino.

Kaiseki is the classic multi-course meal that progresses through various cooking techniques using regional, seasonal ingredients. It’s the highest art form you can find in food anywhere in the world. Focus on the subtleties of each ingredient to draw out natural flavors and not cover then with heavy sauces (sorry Frenchies, but the Japanese have your asses kicked in food culture!).

It started with that dish in the middle of the picture above. From left to right was a little fish grilled in a sweet soy marinade, a roasted chestnut, ama ebi (sweet shrimp), some sort of seafood that had a jellyfish-like texture in a miso sauce (I have absolutely no idea what it was, but it sure tasted good!), then a three-colored fish cake.

After that they brought out this dish. It was obviously a shrimp, but I’m not quite sure what else there was. I think it was a gratin made with the roe of the shrimp. Also on the plate as a macaroni salad and some lettuce with a tomato.

Then we moved on to the sashimi plate. It had some fantastic Chu-Toro (tuna), Tai (snapper), and the star of the plate….Ika (squid). In the States when you order Ika it’s usually very thin and a little rubbery. Not these two slices. They were about a half centimeter thick, squid steaks! Rubbery? Hell no! Each chew and the squid literally melted away in our mouths. Hands down the best squid I’ve ever eaten.

Then they brought us a plate of steamed Ayu (sweet fish). It’s a river fish that eats moss attached to stones giving it a really fresh and clean taste. It was served with a light ginger sauce. The thing that makes Ayu special is that it’s eaten when the belly is full of fish roe. There isn’t much meat, so it’s like dipping chopsticks into a bowl of fresh water caviar.

Being the meatavore that I am, the next plate was what I was most looking forward to….Beef Tataki. Lightly seared beef to give a little texture to the soft raw meat laden with mouth-watering fat. The dipping sauce is a soy-dashi mix. You see the little mound of reddish gew on the side of the dish? That’s a mix of togarahsi (Japanese red pepper) and yuzu (a small citrus fruit). You mix that into the sauce like you would wasabi for sushi, along with thinly sliced chives. With the tataki there was a small dish of sliced cucumber and I think seaweed in a vinegar sauce that cleansed the palette from the fatty beef.

Then we ate the Shabu-shabu. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the individual hotpots we used, but here’s the ingredients. The broth was a light sake base, in it we added cabbage, enoki mushrooms, and shimeji mushrooms. Once they were cooked, we sloshed the thinly sliced beef around to cook it and then dipped it all in a light soy with more of the togarashi yuzu and chives.

After that we got two different preparations of Unagi. To be honest, I have absolutely no clue what the difference was. One was served on top of rice, the other with rice on the side. All I can tell you is that you will never find eel of that quality anywhere in the States. It tasted like they just caught it that morning. Best eel ever! Both came with a little dish of Japanese pickles. They were probably damn good pickles, but I don’t like pickles so I let Yuki eat mine.

After the Unagi was a clear broth soup with an ingredient we couldn’t figure out. At first, we thought it was some sort of mushroom. It wasn’t. Then we thought it might be shiroko, fish sperm sack. It wasn’t that either. We finally found out that it was eel liver, probably from the Unagi we just ate. It had kind of a crunchy yet soft texture. Not something you’ll find on any old menu.

Finally, to finish things off was a plate with fresh persimmons and grapes. persimmons are in season right now and are everywhere while Japanese grapes are absolutely huge compared to what we get.

All in all this was my 5th Kaiseki. I wish I could afford to eat like this every night as there is always something unusual and strange to the western palette. If any of you get to Japan I highly recommend splurging at least once to experience the delicate yet sophisticated Japanese cuisine at it’s finest.

I personally never heard the sound — the onomatopoeically-named “swish swish” sound that the thinly sliced pieces of fresh, red ribeye steak are supposed to make when they’re stirred in their fragrant broth. The broth I’d just made. At the table. In my brass hot pot on the portable gas-burning stove. Awesome.¹

My first time eating Korean food was an event in and of itself. It was a UYE, which, for those of you out there who are not in the know², UYE is Yelp code for “Unofficial Yelp Event”. What this means is that a bunch of cool Toronto foodie-types (usually the Elites such as yours truly) get together at non-Yelp sanctioned events and basically eat and imbibe until our little hearts (and stomachs) are content. When I saw that the event was Korean, I nearly blew out my keyboard RSVP’ing so furiously.

Swish by Han is a tapas-style Korean fusion restaurant that recently opened in the turning-swanky lower Toronto financial district. JamesJT over at Compendium Daily did a most excellent roundup of the resto. I’m sure you’re thinking “oh, hell naw, she did not just link us through to another site”, but fret not – his photos of Swish by Han are fierce, not to mention he has a scan of le menu which allows you to see Korean fusion in action for yourself. It’ll just happen this once — promise!

The interior of Swish by Han was pleasantly pleasing. Large, rustic wooden tables line one side of the space with tables just opposite;

Jellyfish!

 contemporary art from friends and family members hanging throughout; an almost out-of-place chandelier at the rear; and my personal favourite, tons³ of candles burning. Most importantly, the washroom was hip, large, and clean, and since y’all know how much I appreciate a good washroom, I’ll add simply that it may not be the cushiest washroom, but it has plenty o’space to do whatever you need to do.

Let’s get to the good stuff — the food. Food I consumed included:

• Jellyfish — no longer being a jellyfish virgin, I can say that it’s actually quite tasty. It was vinegary and tart, and delicious!
• Pork dumplings — not overly greasy, but with an excellent flavour
• Purple yam fries — wrapped in Korean newspaper, presented in a glass vase, and served with a spicy house-made mayo. Killer.
• Kimchee — I finally had kimchi!! It wasn’t what I expected, but it was good. I expected more of a warm cabbage instead of a cold pickled cabbage in a red sauce. I’ll definitely try it again, though.
• Shabu Shabu, Swish Swish — the reason to go. We shared three different swishes: beef, seafood, and vegetarian. A brass pot is brought out to you with a portable gas-burning stove. You are then brought a plate of perfectly-sliced beef and another plate of various vegetables. The pot is turned on to boil, you add the herbs and vegetables to flavour the water, and once it’s boiling, you add your beef and “swish” it around for just a few minutes until it’s cooked! It was served with a sweet and sour sauce that was good, although my dinner partners informed me that you are usually given a sesame soy-type sauce with Korean food as well. Of course, what did I know.  Once you are finished with your dish, you are allowed to choose from either rice or noodles; your leftover broth is used to cook either starch and you finish off the Shabu Shabu this way.
• Soju — a very strong drink made in South Korea. Traditional soju was distilled from fermented grains, a method that was prohibited during the rice shortages that began in 1965 and lasting more than three decades. Instead, they began using ethanol (yes, the same ethanol that we use to fuel our cars) to dilute the soju. Although the ban has been lifted, cheap soju is apparently still made this way. Its alcohol content is between 20-45%. Swish by Han’s soju was served in flavours including ginger, which is what we had. It’s traditionally shared by the table and served in shot glasses. I had a very tiny sip and practically grew a patch of hair on my chest. Pretty!

The service was excellent! Granted, we were there early on a Tuesday night, so they weren’t packed, but our server was patient and attentive with our large group.

My first time eating (sort-of) Korean was seriously good. And of course, I’ll become a shabu shabu prophet to all those whom I feel need a little spice in their life. Not to mention, it’s just fun to say to shabu shabu, swish swish. It’s some serious rhymoflavin’, nón?

¹ I think I use this word far, far too much. I will try to use it less. Try, being the operative word, naturally.
² By which I mean totally uncool.
³ Or “tonnes” if you’re Canadian.

It’s starting to get damn cold here in Chicago. In Japan, when it gets cold out, they start eating Shabu-shabu which is a Japanese hotpot. It’s called Shabu-shabu because of the sound the thinly sliced meat makes when you slosh it around in the broth to cook. I didn’t make this one, this dish is one of my wife’s responsibilities.

To start, she had to make the broth. Typically it’s Konbu (kelp) boiled in water. We didn’t have any Konbu, so she used Niboshi, dried anchovies. A good handful boiled in water for a bit and you get a really nice healthy broth.

To the broth she added shiitake and enoki mushrooms, green onion, and shanghai cabbage. That was left to cook for about 10 minutes in the boiling broth. If I hadn’t forgotten carrots at the store she would have added them as well. Daikon also makes regular appearances in Shabu-shabu.

After the veggies cooked a little she added tofu and konnyaku, a firm gelatinous cake-like ingredient made from yam starch. Then the pot was brought to the table and left to simmer on our table-top propane burner (something every Japanese household has).

In our bowls we poured a little ponzu, a soy sauce product with yuzu citrus juice and a little vinegar mixed in, and a couple ladles of the broth. Then we picked and chose which veggies we wanted and dipped them in our bowls before eating. All the while taking slices of the pork (we picked up some thinly sliced kurobuta pork at Mitsuwa) and sloshing them around the broth to cook. A side of white rice to complete the chow.

This a the perfect winter dish to have with a cold beer. It’s fun, delicious, and very healthy since there are no added oils or anything. Just make sure your meat, whether using pork or beef, is very thinly sliced so that it cooks quickly in the broth.

1. Yosenabe
Nabe berisi makanan laut dan sayur-sayuran, sedangkan bumbunya berbeda menurut daerahnya di Jepang.
2. Yūdōfu (tahu rebus)
Nabe berisi tahu dan sayur-sayuran.
3. Kamonabe (nabe bebek)
Nabe berisi daging bebek dan sayur-sayuran.
4. Mizudaki
Nabe berisi daging ayam dan sayur-sayuran.
5. Chankonabe
Nabe berisi berbagai jenis daging, dan biasanya merupakan makanan pesumo.
6. Sukiyaki
Nabe berisi daging sapi.
7. Botan nabe
Nabe berisi daging babi hutan.
8. Motsu nabe
Nabe berisi jeroan.
9. Tetchiri
Nabe berisi ikan fugu.
10. Oden
Nabe berisi berbagai bahan yang direbus di dalam kuah.
11. Shabu-shabu
Irisan sangat tipis daging sapi yang dicelup ke dalam panci khusus berisi air panas.
12 Jōyanabe
Nabe berisi daging babi dan sayur-sayuran hijau.
13. Kakinabe
Nabe berisi tiram dan sayur-sayuran.
14. Mizorenabe
Nabe berisi tahu dan parutan lobak.
15. Jjigae (Chige)
Nabe khas masakan Korea dengan kimchi.
16. Thainabe
Nabe ala masakan Thailand.
17. Sichuan mala (Hinabe)
Nabe ala Tionghoa

Masakan nabe (鍋料理 Naberyōri?, masakan panci) atau hanya disebut Nabe, adalah jenis masakan Jepang yang dimasak dan dihidangkan di dalam panci besar. Dalam bahasa Jepang, nabe berarti panci. Panci diletakkan di atas kompor kecil atau plat pemanas yang ada di atas meja. Sambil dimasak menggunakan panci atau wadah dari keramik bernama donabe, dan makanan dihidangkan di atas meja makan langsung bersama pancinya. Masakan nabe termasuk jenis masakan steamboat yang dihidangkan untuk beberapa orang sekaligus yang duduk mengelilingi panci berisi hidangan utama. Makanan diambil sendiri dari panci oleh orang ingin memakannya, dan dipindahkan ke mangkuk milik sendiri sebelum dimakan. Selain disebut Naberyōri, makanan jenis ini juga disebut Nabemono (鍋物, なべ物 barang panci?). Makanan ini populer sebagai makanan musim dingin di Jepang. Sebelum zaman Edo, orang Jepang memiliki budaya makan “satu orang satu nampan”. Pada waktu itu, masakan nabe dihidangkan untuk satu atau dua orang. Pada zaman Meiji, masakan nabe menjadi begitu populer, terutama masakan nabe daging sapi yang disebut gyūnabe.

A lot of people really don’t think of shabu shabu or sashimi as a meal that you make at home. It’s always about going out to eat and spending money at a nice restaurant. I never thought about it like this before but why would you go out to eat and pay to cook your own meal? Or if you love sashimi and have access to fresh fish why go somewhere to pay a arm and a leg for someone to slice it for you? I totally understand if it’s for the ambiance  you’re looking for or you just feel like going out but come on man we’re in a recession, do it yourself…

Yellow tail sashimi with wasabi, green onions and ponzu sauce

This right here is $12 worth of rib eye and yellow tail from Marukai, $2 bag of salad from Trader Joes and a 12 pack of Red Stripe ($11.99) from the corner liquor store.  Less than $30 and the 2 of us got full and buzzed…

Melts in your mouth

I pretty much give my meat a quick dunk in the dashi (broth), yep I like it raw…

When we’re done with most of the meat I like to throw in some somen noodles, this makes a rich, hearty soup!

Love photos? Start compiling a full-coloured book together and publish your book of photography.

I’ve always been a fan of Shabu-Shabu cuisine not because of how simple the food is to prepare but also how you can also be creative with your meals! One of the dishes I got was a california maki. Isn’t this lovely? I’ve been collecting my full colored photos now and then. Might publish them someday

In Las Vegas for a bachelor party in early August, I was surprised that the food was so good.  We ate most of our meals in the Wynn/Encore complex, which probably had something to do with it.  But, after a weekend of doing what one does in Vegas, two of us had a Sunday afternoon and evening to kill before catching red-eyes back to New York.  Tired of the hyper-oxegynated casino complex, we ventured out onto the streets and decided to get dinner at a Korean restaurant in a shady shopping plaza a few blocks away.  The resrtaurant was called, oddly, “SPORTS WORLD KIMCHI.”   There were silhouettes of athletes all over the front of the building.  Weird.

Inside, however, there was very little of the “sports” theme.  Instead, it was a large space filled with formica tables and plastic chairs, lots of smoke, and crowds of Korean customers.  The meal was actually better — and more expensive — than I expected.  I was worried that I might be left with some gastrointestinal distress on my flight home, but all turned out well.

After the jump, a few more pictures.

All of the confusing side dishes they bring to the table.

Fried little eels.

Beef.  Delicious.

Kimchi tofu and pork.  This was way too much food for two people.

Minimalistic modern shabu shabu hole in the wall, seated communally around a long u-shaped table. Affordable yet satisfying. Diners select their main course – chicken, pork, beef, or vegetable – and their broth – traditional, spicy, or chicken. Spicy seemed to be the most popular, though I enjoyed my chicken broth. You get a small bowl of rice, a large wok of broth and two plates – one with thin raw slices of your meat or veggie entre and one full of sliced napa, carrot, daikon, mushroom, and udon. I enjoy playing with my food (looove mushu pork and those Vietnamese rice tortillas that you roll yourselves at the table), and got a kick out of placing each item into the broth just before I was to eat it. My husband enjoyed the food, though was sometimes frustrated at the effort involved with dipping things into the broth and then scooping them out – it does tend to get a little messy and I’m not sure I’d recommend it for those unused to using chopsticks or for small children who might not be trusted near a hot pot.

Service was hot or miss; one server took care of the entire restaurant (and possibly everything in the kitchen, too, from what we could see). It took her twenty minutes to give us tea (it comes with) and we didn’t get a daikon amuse bouche like the rest of the diners and though she told us there was no more green tea ice cream, we heard her then offer it to the people sitting next to us. Perhaps we looked too scruffy to be bothered with; perhaps we should dress like high rollers next time.

75 Rue de la Gauchetiere O at Rue St. Urbain

metro: Place d’Armes

Sho Teppan at ION Orchard, a casual do-it-yourself teppanyaki eatery was a new concept by established food and beverage company Creative Eateries. Diners sit at cosy bar counters and cook their food in non-stick pots over induction heaters. Price ranging from $10.90 to $20 depending on the sets you ordered.

For me, I’ve decided to try out the Marble Pork Shabu Shabu Set…

Overall, not that bad, the pork is much more nicer than the one we had at SUKI-YA in marina square.

Btw, we just got to know that they’re actually both from the same company. hahahaha

2 Orchard Turn
#B3-19 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9969

Went to try out the Suki-Ya Eat-All-You-Can Shabu Shabu Buffet at marina square as we saw it like a week ago and we’re tempted to give it a try.

Before i continue with my review, i shall show u guyz the pics first

Overall, food over there didn’t taste bad but i think the variety is kinda little. Some of the staff have really bad attitude services… i mean some of them as there was this guy that serve us, very friendly and very initiative, which i’m kinda satisfied with.

One thing that actually pissed us off was that there was actually a variety of sauces for us to choose and mixed to go with our shabu shabu, but guess what, after numerous attempts of reminders, they failed to top up with the sauce we want and this is what they told us :

Sorry, we’ve run out of sauces. the supplier didn’t manage to deliver the sauces in on time.

We was like, HARLO!!! is this how u run a restaurant? very bad impression given… i doubt we will go back again…

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giving and receiving…