The invite for the Healty Shabu Shabu event intrigued me. Not only was it unique (the invite was a mini poster posted on a bamboo mat along with a pair of chopstick), it also asks, “have you been doing it wrong?” How the heck can you go wrong with shabu shabu?
As it turns out, I AM wrong. Shabu Shabu is not just about putting everything in boiling stock and fishing it out when it’s done. I learned that you don’t just dump everything inside the hotpot. First, we were serve individual condiments. There was an egg, chopped garlic, chilis and spring onion, a scoop of sate, and a bowl of sauce. Contrary to what I thought we’d do (dump everything inside the pot), we were asked to put the garlic, chilis and spring onion into the barbeque sauce. Next, we put in half of the sate. After that, we were asked to seperate the egg yolk and the egg white. I was definitely not expecting that! The yolk went into the barbeque sauce, while the egg white became a meat tenderizer for the beef.
Once the sauce was prepared, we were told of the order by which the ingredients should go into the hotpot. First to go are the slice of taro and corn (because it takes long too cook them). Then, we were asked to put the shrimp inside. Of course, shrimps only take a short time to cook, but putting them in first means you’re mixing their flavor into the stock.
No rice was served, but there were two kinds of noodles: vermicelli and egg noodles. Vermicelli cooks in under a minute, so if you’re hungry, it’s best to put it ahead then scoop them out after a minute to quell your hunger. The egg noodles, on the other hand, takes longer to cook, so put them in early and just scoop them out later on.
Healthy Shabu Shabu has generous servings, and despite not having rice with the meal, we were all stuffed. Most of us ordered the combination set, which has meat (your choice of chicken, lamb, pork or beef [angus beef or tenderlion], assorted seafood (shrimp, squid, sea cucumber, fish fillet, and some sort of mollusk), and big platter of veggies (green leafy vegestables, carrot, mushroom) along with noodles (vermicelli and egg noodles), fish cake, squid balls and crab stick.
And the sauce? You dip everything you fish out of the hot pot into the barbeque sauce. I was a bit hesitant about the sauce because it had raw egg in it, but I forgot all about it when I tasted how good the sauce was. The soup stock was also really good. Whereas most meals feature the soup first, in Shabu Shabu, the soup is best served last. Why? Because once you’ve cooked all the meat, seafood and veggies in it, the soup now has all the flavors of all the ingredients. Definitely yummy, and a perfect meal for rainy days!
A big thanks goes out to Candy Hwang for teaching us the way of the Shabu Shabu!
Healthy Shabu Shabu is a fun, safe, healthy and interactive way of dining that utilizes state-of-the dining facilities and equipment. Healthy Shabu Shabu has branches at Powerplant Mall (Tel. No 898.3979/895.6300., The Podium (Tel. Nos. 914.1028-29), SM Mall of Asia (Tel. Nos. 556.0354-55), Robinsons Galleria (Tel. Nos. 633.1979/632.1634), SM North The Block (Tel. Nos. 442.0036-37), Alabang Town Center (Tel Nos. 850.6633/850.6976), Robinsons Midtown (Tel. Nos. 526.2981/529.3983) and Shangri La Plaza Mall (Tel Nos. 910.3272/632.7532).
