It is an oddish sort of day to be writing this.
Especially since it has been some time that we've come to Shabu Sai here at Orchard Central for an afternoon meal- and I am, in fact, missing it quite a bit.
If it were another local franchise that made me see the value of (affordable) hotpot buffets, it was Shabu Sai that reignited that love.
For the longest time I knew I had a special thing for hotpot buffets. What I didn't think, however, was just how much I would love it, come to appreciate it, and wish to have it such that I could have it every day.
Maybe it is the fact that Shabu Sai serves up the most essential of hotpot ingredients in what I think is most classy a way.
I don't know about other outlets, but never has it been, I tell you, that I come to this one here at Orchard Central and the vegetables are not properly placed, or nicely chilled.
Always it is that the smoke from the chiller delights me whenever I step into the place. It's just a refreshing feeling, a cool, pleasant sight.
Best of all it keeps the ingredients nice, chilled and cool.
In recent days our favorite soup bases have leaned towards the light and the clean. When we first started coming here I liked to order the tonkotsu. After a while I began to realize that I liked the soup on its own, but not with other ingredients thrown inside. So afterwards I tried the yuzu, which, shall I say, was good. It didn't lose its sour even after boxes of thinly sliced meats were dunked inside. But my friend likes an even cleaner taste so it is to the seaweed he goes.
That's what he chose this afternoon.
I decided to stick to the yuzu- I like the sour sour taste of the soup base before the savory of the ingredients take over.
Amongst all that we ordered today from the menu, there was, of course, the meat.
The meat is an integral part of our meal here. I don't know just how many trays of these thinly sliced beef we ordered but let's say there were enough to constitute two towers.
What's interesting is that we don't actually order other kinds of meat. Not because they aren't good or that they aren't fresh- no, the meat comes out all cold and chilled, some trays even come out almost frozen- but because these slices are the fastest to cook and so the fastest to eat and so we can eat lots more.
It usually takes about five, six trays of these before I start to feel full, but me being me, I dont' like to stop there, and instead try to squeeze in an extra tray or two.
But it actually isn't the meat that makes me feel full.
It is all the other ingredients that I throw into the pot to cook together with the meat.
There is good variety from the counters to choose from, I'm not kidding, and whilst I don't take everything, when it comes to my favorites I tend to take a lot, and so more often than not, my pot is filled not just with the many slices of meat, but the cabbage, the lettuce, the mushrooms and the occasional cheese tofu.
This afternoon for my first plate I had gone straight for my favorite lettuces of Iceberg and Romaine. Never mind that there were other kinds of green leafy vegetables at the counter. For this plate I was only interested in the lettuce and even though the portion wasn't overflowing, for me, for me to put in my pot, it was more than enough.
But I didn't just take the lettuce.
Along with them greens I got myself a couple pieces of cheese tofu, because what is a hotpot if you don't have some of the fun ingredients to throw inside?
I could have had a choice of, say, the fish balls and cuttlefish balls and some of them lobster balls.
I could also have had some of them what we call tau kwa or some silky bean curd, or even a couple of meat balls.
But I was happy with just the cheese tofu.
Into the pot all these ingredients went, all bubbling away on their own, whilst piece by piece using my chopsticks I dropped the meats into the bowl, and swirled them around until they cooked.
Altogether I think I helped myself to at least three plates of lettuces and cabbages alone.
Yes, it sounds like a lot, but if you know me, you'll know that I have this thing for lettuces, and cabbages cooked in soup. There's something soft and mushy about them vegetables that appeals to me. Maybe it is the way they turn this nice slightly brownish shade of fresh green. Maybe it is the way they absorb the soup, such that you get a burst of soup and a light crunch of the vegetable every time you take a bite.
Never has it been one time I don't enjoy the warmth of the big lettuce leaf embracing my palate.
Never has it been one time that I don't get the joy of feeling the soup burst out from the leaf once I've taken a bite.
And the gentle crunch of the stems or the leaves, it is pleasant in terms of texture, nothing too soft, nothing too hard, nothing too green.
I pretty much liked watching the leaves all turn soft and smooth inside the bubbling pot as I alternated between a piece of vegetable and a piece of thinly sliced meat at the same time.
Some of you might be wondering if the meat were tasteless- this one came unmarinated after all- but Shabu Sai does provide a variety of sauces which you can concoct however you like.
I've seen diners take a variety of sauces including garlic, sesame seeds, chili oil and lots of fresh chili.
Me, however, I tend to take a unique combination that consists of sesame sauce, sesame oil, and huge serving of parsley or coriander. On occasion I throw in a bit of fried shallots but normally I stick with the parsley. I'm happy with them.
Same time too we do make our own version of dip for the meats.
Like how we do it for the grilled, here too we sneak in the Greek style yogurt, one serving of miso, one serving of garlic powder, and that's about it. At one time we sneaked in the sesame oil even but later discovered we didn't need it at all.
So good is our dip that we often finish our dip before our meats are finished.
I like the inclusion of miso and Greek style yogurt with our meat.
It makes digestion faster, which, in turn, lets me have more of what I want to eat and want to try.
This afternoon I somehow got attracted by the sight of them huge, fresh-looking, carefully chilled sliced tomatoes, so I decided to get a few. And then because right next to the tomatoes there were these huge spinach stems, so I got myself a few as well.
Afterwards I decided that I wanted to have a bit of noodle.
Because, why not?
Here at the counter they have three kinds of noodles- there's ramen, soba and instant noodle. Out of all three, ramen is my favorite- always is, always has been- so I got myself a serving.
However, I didn't realize is that my tongs had picked up more than I thought I wanted, so in the end, after having tossed it into the pot, it came out as two servings, which, let me say, I didn't mind.
Two servings, two bowls.
Both bowls, I stirred in a dash of the sesame sauce-sesame oil concoction I'd earlier made, then a single piece of lettuce and a single slice of meat.
In one bowl I added some of the parsley, and can I just say all these fresher than fresh ingredients made this small bowl taste exceptionally good.
Thinking back on it now, this really was a very pleasant, and memorable meal that I had this particular afternoon.
More so, made by the fact that I haven't had the chance thus far to eat it again.
Still, a meal is a meal, and there's nothing better than to come to its close than to have an ice cream for dessert.
I generally have the same thing when it comes to dessert. In that sense they don't have much options, but oy, I don't care. Today, like how I always do, I got myself a cup of vanilla soft serve, tossed in some sesame seeds- for no particular reason other than a bit of crunch- and had it in a very pleasant, delightful way.