Sunday, 10 February 2008

• Shabu Zen

  〒150-0047東京都渋谷区神山町10-8 渋谷クレストンホテルB1
  B1, Shibuya Creston Hotel, 10-8 Kamiyamacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0047
  03-3485-0800
  http://r.gnavi.co.jp/fl/en/g050002/index.htm

  

  At every turn in Japan, there are a lot of people and a lot of lights.  We've had ramen, sushi, and fried tempura meats, it's time to try out something else that Japan is well known for, its high quality beef.  One of such high quality beef is Kobe and another is Wagyu.

  Kobe beef comes from "..black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle raised according to strict tradition in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. These practices may include a diet of sake and beer, and daily massages to relieve muscle stiffness, presumably resulting in tender meat" (wiki).

  Wagyu beef, also known as Kobe-styled beef, comes from select breeds of cattle that are more likely to having intense marbling and produce a high percentage of oleaginous unsaturated fat.  These cattle are also provided a special diet of sake and beer, and daily massages (wiki).

  Both types of meat are known for their marbling characteristics, tenderness and juiciness, and increased eating quality through a naturally enhanced flavor.

  We were walking around the area of Shibuya for a restaurant serving Kobe beef or Wagyu beef but all of them we found were closed for a number of days around New Year time.  So we decided to go to a restaurant in our itinerary that did serve beef but not necessarily steak style.

  Away from the busy large streets is a secluded shabu shabu restaurant beside a hotel:

  

  Our glasses fogged up from the hot interior with everyone's steaming shabu shabu.

  With the link above we found a coupon for 1 free bottle of alcohol for every 2 people so we got a white and a sake:

  

  You could order meat individually or go for an all you can eat package.  1 order of meat is already more expensive than the all you can eat so it was a no-brainer.  Figuring out which quality of meat was the more difficult task.  In the end we opt'ed for the second tier after the server told us it would be difficult to taste the difference.

  国産牛しゃぶ食べ放題
  Japanese beef shabu-shabu (all-you-can-eat) 4,800 Yen

  The beef comes with vegetables:

  

  That was the most vegetables we've had on the entire trip to Japan.

  Beef sliced so thin you won't be able to tell if it was great meat or not:

  

  The sweet Korean style pot:

  

  This was sweet and much more flavorful than traditional shabu shabu.  There's still water in there so it's not like Korean BBQ.

  The boiled water shabu shabu style:

  

  Everything turned out bland in this pot.  Most of us just ate out of the Korean-style pot.

  We managed to finish 6-7 orders of beef between the 7 of us.

  After all that food, the server will cook noodles for us in our soup:

  

  Most of us were too filled by this point so she only had to make one serving of noodles.

  The server was right.  The result of boiling really thing slices of beef in shabu shabu or Korean-style pot produced all well done strands of beef.  The difference in meat quality would be hard to taste.  Service was incredible with our server trying to help us understand the all Japanese menu as best she could, bringing a fresh order of meat so our table was never out of meat, and putting up with us.  I'd try this place again if I'm in the area.

  Eric Tummy Points: 3.5

  • 11:49 AM
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