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| - Disclaimer: I am not even close to a shabu expert. I have had it once or twice, but as a rule, I have a little issue with places where I have to be responsible for the end product. For example, Mongolian BBQ scares the pee out of me! I don't cook for a reason.
So, perhaps the charming company distracted me from my usual disappointment with do-it-yourself dining experiences because I had a good time and liked the food.
Then again, I did have something for the first time last night: sukiyaki. Unlike shabu, the end product is not a soup. You simply dunk your ingredients in the teriyaki-flavored broth to give them a little sweet, little salty flavor before you dip them in additional sauce (hot, teriyaki or peanut). Then, you devour them with rice. Speaking of rice, I really liked this rice, it was almost like broken rice, and while generally, I barely make it through one bowl of rice, I cleaned this bowl in record time. The sauces were also well-executed, especially with the addition of the pickled daikon. I love daikon!
I kept it simple, cheap and vegetarian by only ordering the $12 veggie and tofu platter, and this is more than enough because you get bottomless refills on vegetables, noodles and tofu. Note: Tofu noodles come with your order, so you don't really need to order a side of udon noodles, unless you just have to have udon.
Service was a little forgetful, but super nice. The interior was small with room for only about 30, but clean and charming.
At the end of the night, I really just had some fancy cabbage and tofu for dinner, but it was fun and tasty.
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