Beginner Shabu-Shabu: yet another Korean meal

Okay, okay, we haven’t had our fill of Korean. Here’s hoping you aren’t tired of Korean meals just yet as there are still a couple of other dishes I have slated for us to try in the near future.

Anyway, one cold day, hubby and I decided to try a new, hot dish. So, we went to Shabu and Congbul and decided to give the Shabu (hot pot) a try—Congbul will be for next time! We’ve had hot pots before, but mostly, they merely involved cooking the meats and veggies in a boiling broth on our table—more of a cook-it-the-way-you-want kind of thing. This Shabu, though, had an order of doing things, which our server was kind enough to instruct us on. We ordered Sirloin Beef Shabu.

Here's how it goes:
1.     Ban Chan (appetizer) is served

2.     The pot with broth is brought to a boil on the burner on our table

3.     The mixed vegetables (lettuce, mushrooms, squash, bok choy, napa), fish cakes and rice cakes are served-- to be cooked together with the thinly sliced and rolled sirloin beef

4.     The beef takes only a few seconds to cook and you just let the veggies simmer. When cooked, just take them from the pot into your bowl.

5.     When all the veggies are consumed, the noodles are brought out and cooked in the same broth. This takes about 5-8 minutes to cook. So, in essence, the noodles are eaten on their own—unless you had some left-over meat and veggies in your bowl. (Our server waited for us to finish everything before bringing out the noodles).

6.     When noodles are done, the rice (with red bean and already cooked in stonepot) with seaweed and some spices are cooked with egg and some broth. The result is a gooey cross between congee and sticky rice, but very tasty and hearty!

For us folks who are used to having the rice, noodles or potatoes along with the meats/veggies, this was interesting. It was a different dining experience and quite healthy, too! It was good to get the carbs last so you could enjoy the healthier veggies first and not get full right away. The critical thing would be to have a good broth and fresh ingredients. As for price, it came down to about $20 for two. It was a refreshing change from our usual restaurant fare, but we will be trying something else next time.