Shabusen @ Ginza Core

I visited Tokyo for the first time last year in September 2012. Someone told me that it's impossible to find bad food in Tokyo, and it's a city with the most Michelin star rated restaurants in the world. I have to agree with that statement, it really is a foodie's paradise. I can't think of any unpleasant food. Heck, even the food in the convenience stores tastes good ! They have everything from salads, sushi, onigiri, rice to strange hot dog buns with spaghetti in the middle!

Ok, so I stayed at Shinagawa Prince, which was an excellent location with many, many good eateries around it. Right opposite the road was the Shinagawa train station, which is a large train hub, serving many areas around Tokyo all the way to the outer parts via Shinkansen (Bullet Trains). The famed Ginza area is just around 3-4 kilometers down the main road. 

My hosts brought me to a nice building named Ginza Core and led me to the lower levels. There was a small unpretentious looking restaurant called 'Shabusen'. The seating is very unique, basically there are two chefs serving in two separate circular cooking 'bar' area, and each chef has to man up to 16 small stoves at a time. I learnt that Shabusen was sort of a famous training ground for chefs, who specialised in shabu-shabu and 'graduates' from the restaurant were held in high esteem by other restaurants. 

So anyway, their menu was quite simple, you either had beef or pork shabu sets. I opted for the wagyu beef set. Each set came with thinly sliced beef and assorted vegetables for the soup base. Each diner had their own hot copper pot of boiling water, and you can add in the ingredients as you go. We started off with a refreshing cherry tomato salad that had shredded daikon (white radish) and a nice salad dressing. This was a real appetite opening prelude to our shabu meal later.

While waiting for the water to boil, you can make your own shabu dip, which consisted of sesame based sauce, some chilli oil, mashed garlic and coarsely chopped scallions. This dip concoction smells absolutely heavenly.

 

When the water starts to boil, you can add in the vegetables, mushrooms and tofu to make the soup base. You can then dip a slice of beef in the water, and give it a quick surface bath (shaabuu, shaabuu). Since it is sliced so thinly, it cooks in a jiffy, and you 'rescue' it and drench it into your aforementioned dip before finally coming to papa.

After you finish your meal, the chef will then scoop up the remaining soup into a bowl for you to savor. My God, the soup was so nice... (wipes saliva). Wash everything down with some fruits and a beer (or two) and the whole world doesn't feel so troubled anymore. 

Anyway, the meal worked out to be about SGD 80 per person if I remember correctly. If I could rate this place a 10 out of 5, I would :) Highly Recommended!

Opening Hours :  11:00 - 22:00 Address : Ginza-Core 2nd Basement Floor, 5-8-20, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Google Maps