Friday, December 24, 2010

Shabu Dinner with Shabuya

Jive Kitchen was invited.

Between packed schedule and unfriendly traffic, couple weeks ago finally we were able to visit and enjoyed Shabuya, restaurant specialized in shabu style with “premium angus beef” tagline. Thanks to goorme.com who gave such invitation for ‘tukang makan’ like us.


Once you step through reception desk, you’ll find white bricks walls dominate the interior while iron décor and hanging lamp accentuate warmth ambience. Most of the tables are spacey, enough for a family of 6 or more to sit comfortably. In fact, eating shabu always become communal ritual in fun way. We were hosted politely to a reserved table near window. Our table can accommodate up to 4 person, and equipped with electric infra red ceramic cook top. I like this kind of cook top due to its capability to provide stable warm temperature for longer cooking period.

Three kinds of Korean style appetizer served nicely in small array. Home made fresh kimchi, today chef selection of golden ball (meaty potato balls), and sweet potato glazed with caramelized sugar and sesame. I like their kimchi because of its fresh taste balance and crunchy bites between watery cabbage, spicy and sour fermented chili. The golden ball, rolled on bread crumb before frying, combine the crunchy texture, softness of potato and crumbly meat at the core.


Before cooking ritual begin, they served us several kind of dipping sauce, vegetables, plate of seafood, and appealing thinly sliced shiny red angus beef. Ponzu shoyu (citrus based sauce) come in larger bowl than usual, while gomatare (sesame dipping sauce) only served when you asked. Table default were chili powder and salt. Pak Kevin, the restaurant manager, hand us plate of triple yakume : crushed garlic, radish, and chopped scallion. He assists us to blend the ponzu with triple yakume to acquired better taste for dipping. The ponzu gets thicker with the mixing and gave bold taste while gomatare taste less nutty than usual. This ponzu sauce was tasty enough, once you realize in next session you tend to dip the beef and vegetables over and over.



At first, we wanted to try the broth without any dipping sauce to acknowledge its original flavor. The broth surprisingly taste good with slightly natural sweet meaty taste come from good quality beef and katsuoboshi broth. Electric stove worked excellent for those who want food texture and broth temperature stays on their peak. Vegetables still crunchy to bite, and meats still lean. In that way, you can enjoy your shabu for longer period without worrying for overcooked meals.

Later, with few drips from ponzu dip we try to continue the exploration for richer taste to come. It works, with the result we tried to dip most things into ponzu sauce. Some of vegetables went well with gomatare dip. Those who wanted hotter splash sensation, there are chopped chili and chili powder to fulfill your needs. We decided to keep eating with lesser dipping and enjoyed meat and vegetables original flavor. Seems nice to have relaxing family dinner here next time.

Shabuya
Central Park Mall 1st floor 113A
Jl. Let. Jend. S. Parman Kav.28
West Jakarta, Indonesia
Phone: +62 (21) 56985585
Opens: 09:00 - 21:30
(Last Order)
Twitter: Shabuya_Indo

1 comments:

Ruby said...

Gotta say, this is one of the go to places for shabu. Like the atmosphere, and the sweet potate is just 'ngangenin'. =p