Adventure 40: Shabu Shabu

Spoiler alert: this place is awesome. It was a totally different dining experience. A total eating adventure!

Shabu Shabu in Park City serves Japanese and Vietnamese food. Both cuisines that are among my favorites. However, other than the appetizers, I was unfamiliar with any of the menu items. Jim, our server sat Garrett and I at the bar. Every place at the bar, and every spot on the tables had one of these pots with a hot plate under it.

The interior was simple and elegant. 

Upon Jim's encouragement, we tried the signature, 'Shabu Shabu' dish. I ordered chicken, and Garrett, pork. All of the ingredients were brought out raw on serving platters, including the raw meat. We stared at it for a while not knowing what was about to happen while Jim brought out our appetizer.

Gyoza, which was delicious.

Jim then started putting sauces, and all the ingredients save the noodles in the pot, which was half full of boiling water.

After 5 minutes or so, he brought us a bowl of rice, and told us our food was ready. We were to grab a chopstick amount of food from the pot, dip it into a sauce, then eat. 

We dug in. It was different. Not quite as full of flavor as I expected. I suspect that's due to the water-y nature of the dish. The noodles just sat limp on the platter, so I started taking those and dipping them into the sauce. Very delicious. Jim came over shortly after that and dumped the noodles in the pot, then poured the remainder of the dish into bowls with spoons for us to finish off. Oops, didn't realize I wasn't supposed to eat the noodles yet.

Jim told us this is, in fact a common dish in Japan, though we'd never heard of it.

The meal was very filling, and very warming. I kept thinking it would be the perfect meal after a long day of skiing. This would surely warm you up, and fill the hunger from a long day of exertion. It was a lot of food, I couldn't quite finish all the soup that was left.

This was so much fun! It's now one of my favorite stops in Park City!

Time spent on adventure: 45 minutes

Money spent: $21 (including tip)

Recommendation: 8 out of 10 adventure points!