Vivian C.
Yelp
Kaze Shabu Shabu is their name, but there's a poster outside advertising their lunch specials consisting of Bibimbap (Korean mixed rice bowl) and Ramen (Japanese soup noodle) served daily till 3pm. This tempted me because it has been rather hot this summer so far, and I'm not much one for Shabu Shabu (cooking your own food in a hot pot of soup) when it is this hot.
Note that Kaze does not open until 12 noon on Sundays, 11:30am every other day. There's two bubble tea places down the block.
By 12:30pm, their first floor was full up, and we had all been served our main dishes, as the Bibimbaps came with both miso soup and ice cream, while the Ramen came with ice cream. All that for $9.50! ($10.50 if we had gone with the eel variant)
The clay pot arrived super hot and without a verbal warning. But we were all experienced enough to know better than to touch the pot. I gave my egg a flip to start the raw side cooking against the pot, then shortly realized it would be best to give my rice a nice scooping as well, since I prefer my scorched rice a golden crisp sans the burned black. The beef, though shaved too thin, was well flavored. The portion fully consumed, and well satisfied.
A DC commented that the ramen noodles were too soft, but the egg was very well done and nicely flavored.
Ice cream was a simple scoop of vanilla. A nice end to a tasty meal. (On another visit, it was strawberry. The similarity was that there was no choice offered.)
For those electing hot pot, I thought it great fun that the condiments to make the sauce was provided on a well contained trolley.
We'll be back. They also offer hot pot lunch specials, starting at $10 for beef, lamb, pork, or chicken breast, while topping out at $15.50 prime rib eye. $15.75 seafood deluxe, and $33 beef lover, and all the items you could want to add for a la carte pricing.
Note: 18% gratuity was automatically included for our party of 8.
***
I did return on a cooler day for one of their hot pot lunch combos. It was $10 for either lamb or beef, so I opted for the lamb and traded slices with a DC to try the beef. Both were thin cut and tender and tasty, so can't go wrong either way!
I played it simple and selected their included meat bullion and tossed in some scallions and fried garlic from their sauce cart. It sufficed. But I did sample a DC's $5.95 Pork Compact Bone Marrow w/Tomatoes & Sweet Corns soup base (aka Big Pork Bone Soup) and found it a nice rich alternative. When sharing a burner with another, the broth arrived in a large divided pot. However, for my own private burner at the other end of the table I was provided with a smaller pot containing my single soup base. It was larger than those individual settings set bar side at other establishments, and so could hold everything I decided to toss in at the first go without running out of space nor cooling down overly much.
Unlike the flip side of the lunch menu, the hot pot combos do not come with dessert (a refreshing scoop of ice cream). Instead, the meat selected is accompanied by a bowl of assorted vegetables (namely greens, carrot, turnip, mushroom, and corn), and a choice of noodles (Japanese Potato, Mung Bean, Udon, Spinach, Vermicelli) or rice.
Neither lamb nor beef take long to cook, so just a few swishes till the color changed over, and it was ready to eat. Veggies were not quite as simple, as the root vegetables and mushroom should be tossed in first for a longer hot bath. Noodles soak up some of the broth, so I threw those in close to the end of my meal.
I ate all the meat and leafy greens, but some of the noodles and other vegetables made it home with me for a snack.