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| - I discovered shabu when I worked in Sacramento where there are several restaurants serving this style of food, but until now you haven't been able to get it in Phoenix which I why I was thrilled to hear that this location had opened... and close to my house to boot.
For those who've never had it, shabu is an asian style of fondue, sometimes referred to as hot pot. Instead of oil, cheese, or chocolate each table has its own warmer to which they bring you a large bowl of soup broth in which you cook your food. You can even order two types of broth that come in a large container that is split down the middle.
We ordered two, the base, house broth for the kids and a slightly spicier lemongrass broth for us. We then ordered a mix of items to cook including beef, chicken, tofu, broccoli, dumplings, crab, scallops, and noodles. When they bring the items, they tell you how long each one should cook and its helpful to arrange them by cooking time starting with the longest that take 3 to 4 minutes and working down to those that take only a minute or less.
Once you have all of your food, the fun begins. My kids had a blast deciding what to try, cooking their own food, and eating with chopsticks.
Service was excellent, our server stopped by several times to see how we were doing and to adjust the heat on our hot plate. The manager (owner?) stopped by a few times as well to make sure we were having a good time and we assured him that we definitely were.
The atmosphere was fun as well. It's decorated sort of like a club and they were playing a great mix of tunes, including stuff that we used to go out dancing to in the 80s and 90s... definitely a Bright Lights, Big City type of place. The manager even mentioned that they have a DJ in the Thai restaurant next door on Friday and Saturday nights.
While we had a great time as a family, this would also be a blast for an adult night out on the town. If you've never had shabu, or you've been missing it in Phoenix, you definitely want to head on out to Shabu Fondue for an enjoyable time!
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