Ahhhh... shabu shabu?

No, it's not a cool way to answer the phone in Korean. It's a delicious meal to share with friends! Let me walk you through the typical shabu shabu experience in my neighbourhood:


We always order the beef and mushroom version, but there are other options available- seafood, veggie (I think), etc. Well, not too many options, but enough to keep most people content. Anyway, they bring you the food like this: note the raw, very thinly sliced beef. It cooks in about 20 seconds!

They bring you a pot of boiling broth, to which you add the vegetables and beef (as much or as little as you like).

When the veg and beef are cooked to your liking, you pick them out of the pot with your chopsticks and dip them in the dipping sauce. Here is my coworker Helena in action. So yummy!



We also ordered two Korean style pancakes to go with the meal. This one was full of hot pepper, green onion, and octopus. You can also dip the pancake in your dipping sauce, to enhance the flava flav.

This may not look very appetizing, but it's my favourite part of the meal! When you've eaten all the veggies and beef you put a plateful of colourful noodles in the remaining broth and eat the broth and noodles together. The broth is really good, by the way. Not your typical beef boullion.

Here are the reasons I'm turning into a Korean: I keep my cellphone at my side at all times. I wear a hoodie that says "Total Performance Lubricant" in public. I wear that hat, even when it isn't cold out. I eat my noodles with a spoon and chopsticks. I mix my rice and jiggae together. And lastly, I like my kimchi BBQ'd (the last two were told to me by some Korean friends).

Enjoy!