Restaurant Review: Shabu No Koya
The "fruits" finally met up for a dinner gathering after a couple of months. Full attendance for the first time in what? 2 years? The last time we all caught up in the FYP group was at Mandarin Oriental where we had the superb hi-tea at Axis. Since then L and i have had our defunct monthly indulgence, the girls and our weekend Malacca food trip and ADC bitched over brunch at FfT. So yay! We finally managed to find time in our busy schedules (them not me!) to have dinner at Shabu No Koya which is located at Liang Court.
I like to hang out in the Clarke Quay area (not for drinks but for all the awesome Japanese food) and Liang Court has been one of my favorite hangouts because of Meidi-ya. Did i mention how i love supermarket shopping (especially Japanese ones)? :)) There is also the Trung Nyugen Coffee place which serves up quite a decent Viet coffee, Tampopo ramen and the list goes on. The point is, i was always too distracted to check out the other eateries and surprisingly the basement level has a lot more to offer these days. One of which is Shabu No Koya.
If not for Groupon, the probability of dining here is close to zero. Even though i am quite skeptical about some of these establishments that are advertised with these discount groups, what's the harm when we are only paying $14 for Ribeye Beef shabu shabu right? As the evening progressed, it turns out that it was indeed a good deal for us.
Shabu No Koya specializes in Kaminabe (paper pot steamboat). For $14, you get a veg platter with japanese mushrooms, beancurd, lots of cabbage and udon. We were pretty amazed by the paper pots and we only discovered the mystery behind the cooking at the end of dinner.
The dashi (fish stock) soup base was pretty bland at the start because we haven't added in the meat. It became very flavorful towards the end due to the essence of the beef (and fats...)
This was what we came for. Thinly sliced ribeye beef fillet. This is a portion for 2 and it seemed pretty meagre when it was first served. This was despite the fact that each slice of beef was bigger than the size of my face.
Call me greedy but nobody eats shabu shabu for the veg. It's always for the meat. And i'm a self confessed carnivore. I wasn't very happy at the start till we started on our meal proper. By the 2nd slice i was kinda filling up and was thoroughly stuffed after 4 slices of beef (with plenty of veg, udon and RICE!). Was carbo loading unknowingly because the ponzu sauce (a citrus based sauce) for the meat was so appetizing. The mix of vinegar, soy, mirin and citrus helped whet our appetite and we started making after-dinner food plans during our meal!
Other dishes we ordered were the tamago tofu which was silky smooth. It's about $6 for 3 small pieces. Quite a miserable serving.
Shabu No Koya
177 River Valley Road, Liang Court B1-03/05
Tel: +65 6337 7856
Weekdays: 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6 - 9.30pm
Weekends: 11.30am - 9.30pm
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8 comments
great review! rather agree with you, though the $14 did not include 17% service gst. It adds up to be around $16 for the set!
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Haha and with our free flow green tea (which we paid for) and the sides, it was a total of $24 per pax. I think the company made the food taste better too? :))
ReplyDeleteHey, you're pretty spot on with the review! I had this last Friday, and from the looks of it they probably gave us the same table too. Anyway, imagine the disappointment when I saw that they only gave 4 pieces of the wagyu slices per serving (I kind of eat meat for a living), although those were 4 really yummy slices. We had the tamago tofu too. It was pretty good, but like you've said, the serving was quite small and we were trying to figure out how to split 3 tofus among 4 persons. I had an extra bowl of rice but they didn't charge for that -- it was quite a pleasant surprise :)
ReplyDelete^5 on that! Carnivores FTW! I just wish they give more meat. I could easily finish a portion for 2 myself. YUMS.
ReplyDeleteWere you at the Mraz gig today? I think I saw someone that looked like you!
ReplyDeleteMaybe u did! Haha. I was there for it. Stood somewhere in front. :) great concert!
DeleteYes, I probably did then! I was at the front centre area with my friends. Anyway, did you try the burgers? I spoke to what I think was the owner, and he recommended the argentine beef burger. Had it, but didn't really like it. The cheese complemented the patty pretty well, but the patty's texture was very angus beef-like, which I don't really like! I don't really know how to describe it, but its like a cross between a mos burger hotdog and normal beef burger patty.
DeleteHaha I went for the Quiznos sub because we weren't too hungry. It's really small though. I love their sandwiches. :)
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