Shabu shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ）is a variant of Japanese-style hot pot, which are available all year round, though it is eaten mostly during winter times to keep away the coldness. Most of these restaurants operates like buffet,
houdai (放題) which allows you to have free flow of ingredients for 90 mins or 2 hours, depending on the restuarant itself. In addition, they also have a la carte menus which can be included in the buffet course, of course at additional charges.
There are many style of soup base available and the one shown below is so-called yin-yang pot, where one is spicy while the other is just plain chicken stock.
Let's introduce the ingredients used... Usually thin slices of meat and veggies varieties. You can try all the veggies into the pot at first as it takes a longer time to cook. As for the meat, after the soup start boiling, dip the meat until medium rare and it is ready to be eaten, (not true for chicken meat though). It is quite a Japanese culture to eat a half-cooked meat and so don't be surprised by that !
Oh, nearly forgot about it. You need to dip it in sauces, called tare (たれ), which would make the food much more tastier. Usually used are gomatare (ゴマたれ), which is sesame sauce or ponzu (ポン酢), orange juices with vinegar. (Sorry, I will make up the photos for the sauces again.)
To prove that it is delicious, look at the mess we made in the restaurant ! Well, there are 2-3 big eaters around, and the waitress make it in time to do the clean up.
