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Shabu shabu: 30 Days of Japanese Food

January 9, 2022 | Michael Turtle | 4 Comments

JAPANESE FOOD

Day 15: Shabu shabu

I’m starting to think that perhaps there are some Japanese foods I like purely for the name, regardless of how they taste.

Even before I tried shabu shabu, I had decided I would embrace it. I mean how can you not love a food that has an onomatopoeia for a name – in this case, the sound of swishing a thin piece of meat through boiling water. Shabu shabu.

Luckily it is also delicious and has already become one of my favourite dining experiences in Japan. Let’s go back to the start and I’ll explain how it works.

shabu shabu, sukiyaki, japanese food, japanese dishes, japanese cuisine, boiled pot meals, shared food

Shabu shabu is a form of ‘cook yourself’ food. On the table you’ll have a big pot of broth that sits over a heater. On the side, you’ll have a selection of thin slices of raw meat and chopped vegetables.

Once the broth is hot enough, you boil the food in it. The meat normally only needs a few seconds and you should only wave it through a couple of times and then eat it, without it ever leaving your chopsticks.

The vegetables normally need a bit longer, though, so you can dump them in the water and leave them for a couple of minutes while they get nice and soft.

Normally with shabu shabu you would also want to dip the cooked food in something before you put it into your mouth. The two most popular accompaniments are sesame sauce or ponzu (a citrus flavoured sauce) but you could also have minced garlic, ginger, curry powder or a range of other things.

shabu shabu, sukiyaki, japanese food, japanese dishes, japanese cuisine, boiled pot meals, shared food

Shabu shabu is quite similar to another dish you may have heard of called sukiyaki. The main difference is in the broth which is used. The Sukiyaki pot has a mixture that includes soy sauce and sugar, whereas the shabu shabu one is quite simple.

In the end I had a dinner where we had a selection of both shabu shabu and sukiyaki on the table. I went with a couple of friends because this is a meal best eaten with good company and we ate more than our fair share at this restaurant in Tokyo’s Shinjuku area!

shabu shabu, sukiyaki, japanese food, japanese dishes, japanese cuisine, boiled pot meals, shared food

In a lot of the shabu shabu restaurants, you pay a fixed fee for an all-you-can-eat or pre-arranged amount of food. This one was a very good deal and was 2400 yen (US$24.40) for each person for as much as we could handle. At other places, the price can easily be four times that depending on the quality of the meat and the atmosphere.

This is a dining experience I would highly recommend in Japan with a group of friends or family. Oh, and this restaurant did a reasonable all-you-can-drink deal too! 🙂

>> You can check out the whole list of Japanese food dishes here <<

Reader Interactions

    Comments Cancel reply

  1. zoomingjapan |

    April 16, 2013 at 11:59 am

    Reply

    I love Shabu-Shabu so much!
    That’s such a great way of eating meat!
    I only wish it wasn’t so expensive! ^___^;

    • Michael Turtle |

      April 16, 2013 at 11:48 pm

      Reply

      I think we were lucky we found a cheap one. I couldn’t believe how expensive some of the places were. Easily over 10,000 yen ($100) each!

  2. Annie |

    April 20, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    Reply

    DELICIOUS! Wish we could go again soon. I’m going to have to research making it at home.

    • Michael Turtle |

      April 24, 2013 at 3:02 pm

      Reply

      So delicious! We’ll have to find a local in Sydney so we can go all the time! (Or you could make it at home… but I would feel bad taking advantage of the ‘all-you-can-eat’ aspect.)

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This is the website of travel writer, Michael Turtle. After working in broadcast journalism for a decade in Australia, Michael left Sydney to travel the world indefinitely and write about the places, people and experiences he discovers. This isn't a diary - these are real stories from the world.

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