Shabu Works, 9841 Mira Mesa Blvd., San Diego, California 92131
By Sandi Masori
SAN DIEGO — “Jewish Christmas” is how Jews often celebrate a day off work while Christians celebrate their religious holiday. Traditionally, it involves dinner at a Chinese, or Asian, restaurant before or after a movie. So, have I got the place for you! Shabu-works in the Mira Mesa area is just across the freeway from the Edwards Theatre, making it the perfect place to go before your Christmas Day movie (yes, they’ll be open, I checked!)
I have to tell you, I love ethnic food- especially Japanese or Korean food. I especially like it when I discover a restaurant and find that I’m the only “white girl” in the place. My taste in Asian cuisine tends to favor the more traditional rather than Americanized flavors, so if all the other customers are Asian, to me it’s a pretty good sign.
First thing you need to know is that this is an all-you-can-eat (AYCE) restaurant, so bring an appetite!! Prices are $18 for lunch and $26 for weekends and dinner. They have an expanded menu for dinner and weekends, but between you and me- all the good stuff is on the lunch menu.
Asian food enthusiasts may be familiar with the various Asian hot pot concepts, but for most Americans, it’s a new thing. This restaurant is different in that it combines elements from Japanese, Korean and Chinese style hot pots.
Shabu Shabu is the Japanese expression for hot pot and means “swish swish,” which is what they think it sounds like when you dip the meat in the water. Essentially you have a pot of boiling water or broth in the middle of the table, and you put meat and vegetables in to cook. Then you take them out and dip them into any one of a number of sauces that you can get at the sauce bar. My favorite sauce is “ponzu” which is a citrus soy sauce. You can add scallions, ground radish and chopped garlic to it to give it more flavor. If you’re a tahini fan, you might prefer the gomu sauce, which is made from sesame, and really is very similar to tahini.
They have self-serve islands where you can pick out your own sauces, veggies, noodles, fish balls, seafood, and non-alcoholic drinks. Then you can order as much beef or chicken as you like. On the dinner/ weekend menu they also have lamb.
The meats come thinly sliced and cook very quickly, so you have to be careful to pull them out of the boiling water quickly lest they overcook.
Unlike other similar AYCE restaurants, this one does not have buzzers on the table to get the server’s attention, but the servers are very attentive and come by often, so that does not present a problem.
One of the things that really set this restaurant apart is its “bing-su” station. Bing-su is a popular Korean dessert made of very finely powdered ice, with various toppings added to it. I like to top it with red bean, mochi, popping boba and rainbow jelly (like jello). Then you can add various syrups or condensed milk to the top. A very satisfying sweet treat that doesn’t feel heavy, even once you’ve eaten your weight in meat and veggies.
I discovered this little gem just a few weeks ago and have been back several times since, so I think it’s safe to say it’s made my top 10 list. To say that I’ll be back would be redundant. All in all, I’ll give them a 9 out of 10. I’m not sure what it would take to move up to a 10, but I feel like I need to save the 10 rating for something that is so good, so perfect, that it invades my sleep and I can’t stop dreaming about it. This one is close, and perhaps if they added traditional boba for the tea and bing-su, that would push it over the top. For now, I’ll stand by my 9.
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Masori is the food and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World. If you would like her to review your favorite restaurant, please contact her at sandimasori@gmail.com and provide details.