Healthy Shabu Shabu was right. I had been doing hot pot wrong all this time. And to think I thought I would never again set foot in a shabu shabu place to grab grub. Last time I’ve been in one is, I think, about six or seven years ago, give or take, when I was still starting out as a tax expert in the best audit firm in the country. Tax experts in training get hungry all the time, you see. And an ordinary sized meal would only make us want to tear each other’s hair out in frustration. So the dinner place of choice could only be that now closed shabu shabu restaurant in Glorietta or a brawl scene started by manic-and-hungry corporate looking, calculator weilding, BIR forms and worksheets clutching tax experts in training could ensue. You get the picture, right? Good.
Like me, you must have passed by the well lighted Healthy Shabu Shabu resto in the Powerplant Mall in Rockwell (across Starbucks). It is likely that you also paid it no mind. When I got the chance to try out what the place had in store in their Shangri-La Plaza Mall (EDSA) branch, boooooooy, I said to myself just so I don’t get to sound like the tax expert in training I was before, “why haven’t I tried this sooner?!” No joke! True story.
I already mentioned I had been doing it wrong all this time, right? Here’s why. I’d usually take everything in front of me and just toss them all inside the boiling soup and take whatever my chop stick could snip by chance and eat them in that order. No decorum. Not a trace of well-timed shabu shabu know-how any where. Just a manifestation of primal craving. Had Genghis Khan been alive then, I would have taken a beating. The technique, which they would gladly teach and assist you with when you dine in Heathy Shabu Shabu, is to toss in the hard veggies first, let it simmer there, then toss in the seafood (like shrimp, mussels, and squid to make the broth more tastier) taking care that you time your ingredients so you can pick them all up from the soup, one piece at a time, when they are cooked at their prime. Then you can proceed with your meat. There’s also the right way of making the sauce that you are required to dip your food into before devouring them with food lust. Yummeh!
Sounds stressful? You betcha! We were told that in time, like after the first visit, you’d get the hang of it. Just watch out for the soup. It should maintain its temperature at all times and, most importantly, it should not run out. Ask for a soup base refill way before it could look like it’s about to dry up. The important thing is that you enjoy healthy and delicious food prepared the way it was originally done by the ancient Chinese (read, Genghis Kahn tiemz ancient). I’ve been told that the place ensures that you are only served fresh veggies, seafood, and meat with high nutritional value every time so that’s not something you have to worry about anymore.
(Sighs) Writing about that just made me hungry again, darnit.
Below are the photos I took with the posse I went with who also enjoyed the Healthy Shabu Shabu feast as much as (if not more than) I did.
Also, Beijing Olympics tiemz! I’ve got nothing to add to that. It just felt right to write that down. Don’t mind me.
Healthy Shabu Shabu can be found in these places: Powerplant Mall (898-3979/895-6300), The Podium (914-1028 to 29), SM Mall of Asia (556-0354 to 55), Robinsons Galleria (633-1979/632-1634), SM North The Block (442-0036 to 37), Alabang Town Center (850-6633/850-6976), Robinsons Midtown (526-2981/529-3983), and Shangri La Plaza Mall (910-3272/632-7532)
For related entries on Healthy Shabu Shabu from the Philippine world wide web, click here.
Twitter Updates
19 August 2008 at 11:45 pm
FIRST!
19 August 2008 at 11:47 pm
My grannies and I went to the MOA branch of Healthy Shabu Shabu last Sunday and taught them the right way of cooking shabu shabu. They did really enjoy the meal because they were able to cook the right way. Nice to see your grannies happily eating a healthy meal :)
Will make a post about this tomorrow :D
19 August 2008 at 11:51 pm
I eat out so that others can do the cooking. ;)
19 August 2008 at 11:53 pm
19 August 2008 at 11:57 pm
I know what you mean LOL. I tried it out for the heck of it and, whoddathunk I’d enjoy. You don’t have to fry food there unlike other shabu-shabus. Yay! Saya! :D
19 August 2008 at 11:59 pm
Ulirang apo!
20 August 2008 at 1:06 am
May I emphasize that I don’t have a decent photo in this bunch?
20 August 2008 at 9:45 am
We like Healthy Shabu-Shabu, but on days when we really want to eat all we can in a hot pot setting, we go to King One Hot Pot. PHP400 yata, eat all you can. That place rawks.
20 August 2008 at 10:19 am
The shabu shabu resto is great for families, no ganns? I shall take note of King One Hot Pot. That one’s reasonably priced din ah. Salamat! XD
20 August 2008 at 10:23 pm
i have tried all the shabu-shabus this side of manila (and yes, even the one in powerplant) and i still don’t get it right everytime. what gives?
21 August 2008 at 12:10 pm
Hey Fritz:)…
21 August 2008 at 1:16 pm
You may check out the step-by-step tutorial made by Phoebe here http://passthesauce.net/2008/08/03/how-to-chow-shabu-shabu-like-a-pro/ which has great accompanying photos, too, glenville. :D
21 August 2008 at 1:17 pm
Hi there, Alma. And congratulations with the new baby! XD
21 August 2008 at 1:18 pm
Must be the lighting. I also did not get to take impressivep hotos that night, unlike most normal nights.
21 August 2008 at 3:18 pm
I love it, the last time we ate at a Shabu-Shabu is like 2-3 years ago lolz at Tong Yang near Mother Ignacio…Hmpp I always like seafood might try it the coming weeks!
21 August 2008 at 3:27 pm
Within seven days, I should have gone back to the place. I’ll share with you something weird. The night after our visit, Aileen Apolo plurked that she’s craving for shabu shabu which is exactly what I was thinking at that exact instant. And several others admitted to feeling the same way about dinner. This was last month and I still haven’t been back to the place. Soon, though. Soon. XD
21 August 2008 at 7:40 pm
i want to try this one too :) btw, u have a cool website :)
21 August 2008 at 8:51 pm
After losing feeling and movement on my lower limbs during my last shabu-shabu eating bout, I swore not to visit any shabu-shabu joint again. Thanks to your tips, I’ll be able to once again face a potful of boiling broth filled with seafood, meat and veggies with confidence.
25 August 2008 at 12:14 am
Sarap nito! :)
25 August 2008 at 7:11 am
Thanks Gracie!
25 August 2008 at 7:12 am
Tindi no? Babalik ako malapit na malapit na!
25 August 2008 at 7:13 am
Lechon ata nilantakan mo kaya ka nagkaganun, isisi ba sa shabu-shabu! hmp LOL
1 September 2008 at 5:21 am
Hmm.. i want to try this one… how expensive ba dyn? hehehe
1 September 2008 at 6:09 am
Cheapest is around PHP300 up to around PHP850 for a set depending on the sides (meat, fish, chicken). Not sure whether this is VAT inclusive.
1 September 2008 at 6:16 am
pwede na.. will try it on weekend after wordcamp.. heheh