Eat Out In Japan ----- SHABUZEN

30th November 2008

SHABUZEN4F4F Shoppers' Plaza Shin-Urayasu,
1-4-1 Irifune, Urayasu-shi,
Chiba 279-0012 Japan
Tel: 047-381-2424
One minute's walk from Shin-Urayasu Station
Lunch　11:30～15:00, 7:00～23:00(Mon～Sat)

As we left Tokyo Disneyland which we gave it a miss having visited before, we took the JR Keiyo Line from Mahaima to Shin-Urayasu that is the next station. Surrounding this station is a big Shopping Mall, the IKSPARI (sounds malay to me) and interconnecting is another shopping centre, the Plaza Shin-Urayasu and this is where this township residents enjoy their communal social interaction here and do their shopping in this sprawling area and this is akin to Singapore's AMK Hub being the meltpot of Ang Mo Kio residents.

We wanted to DiNe, no Wine and UnWind and as we walked into SHABUZEN Restaurant which is on the 4th floor of Plaza Shinurayasu to enquire if they serve Kobe beef, the answer is no.

Alas perhaps we should not try an outskirt restaurant and should have known that better. Japanese wagyu is the name of beef from cattle raised in Japan. Japanese are innovative in their branding and the whole world now easily recognise such brands like Toyota, Honda, Panasonic, Canon, Toshiba and thousands more... so wagyu sounds a more refined word than just beef.

Then the prized gourmet medallions of wagyu are Kobe, Matsuzaka and Oumi. It's a common mistake that Kobe beef comes from the famous town of Kobe as most would imagine but it is actually a brand for cattle from the Hyogo Prefecture where Kobe is the largest town. Most of the prized wagyu are from the A4 or A5 grades coming from Kuroge Wagyu (Black Haired Wagyu).

Little did we realise also that during this trip to Japan, though unplanned for as we just happened to walk in most restaurants, we seemed to have been going to restaurants with a bit of history as in Kikuya, Ramen Bayashi and now SHABUZEN.


Shabu shabu or even SHABUZEN was immortalized in Sophia Coppola’s film Lost in Translation (2003) by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson where their popular tag while having shabu shabu lunch at another SHABUZEN branch at the basement of Shibuya Creston Hotel is "What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?"

"Itadakimasu" - I am going to eat

Here we go "swirl swirl" than "swish swish" the thinly sliced of raw wagyu or Japanese beef then submerging them in the hotpot before dipping it in the "goma" which is creamy, sesame sauce sesame and "ponzu" sweet, citrus sauce. Oooishi des. This is served with tofu, long cabbage, enoki mushroom, kelps and black mushroom and vermicilli and spring onions and the fun part is you will again have to hands-on again to toss them into the pot of dashi to cook it just like the Chinese Hotpot.

Japanese Waitress' Genteel serving of Shabu Shabu

WAGYU @ Yen 3150 = equiv to SGD 50.40 per Shabu Shabu Set

We just had the normal beef SHabu SHabu which is a distinctly Japanese dish besides ordering another set of tempura too. We could have ordered the all-you-can-eat Prime Beef Shabu Shabu and this comes at Yen3465=equiv to SGD 55.40 x min 3 paxs = SGD166 but we were not sure if we have such big appetite.

"Gochisosama" - Thank you for the feast

Tagline from the film Lost in Translation (2003)

What kind of restaurant makes you cook yr own food?

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