shabu shabu buffet, melbourne

xm found a review of shabu shabu (380 lonsdale street, melbourne, 03 9642 4934) on tummyrumbles a couple of weeks back and when she told me about the $25 buffet i replied “i am SOOO in!”

shabu shabu is a japanese variation of a steamboat, but the way this joint differentiates itself – besides pretty much being inside a carpark – is that the ingredients are placed on a conveyor belt for you to choose from that snakes around the restaurant. the place gives you a choice of three soups (soy, miso and chicken) and you can choose to share a table (like the people in this photo) but the limitation is that you share one big pot of soup and therefore have to agree on what kind of soup you want. that and people stealing the stuff you’ve put in there alternatively do what we did and sit side by side facing the conveyor belt. this way you get your very own pot of soup. you also get a choice of soy, sesame or suki sauce as an accompaniment. i chose suki, which was a sour chilli-based sauce with coriander. k had the sesame sauce which was okay, but i thought the suki sauce was much better.

i was quite surprised at how clean and modern this place was, i was expecting more of a dump. but shabu shabu clearly stands apart from its competitors. even their website is pretty funky. we were greeted by polite waitstaff and shown to our places. as we sat down the waiter informed us that we had one and a half hours, and we had to leave our spots at 9pm. we were a bit annoyed by this, but at about 8.50pm we realised that there wasn’t much more we couldn’t have eaten.

veggie wise, there was what i think is kangkong, chinese cabbage and straw mushrooms. even if you’re not a veggie fan this gives the soup a great flavour and sweetness.

the conveyor belt is chock full of thinly sliced meats (pork, lamb, beef), an assortment of seafood (prawns, scallops, mussels, squid, fish), noodles (egg and glass noodles) and different types of processed seafood including fishballs and the like. i had a plan to try everything and did pretty well… in the end i managed 28 plates of food is that a lot? would love if you could tell me how many plates you had… i thought i did quite well but k had more than i did which almost never happens!

it’s good value for $25, and i would definitely recommend the place to someone who was looking for a more unique dining experience that doesn’t break the bank!