Shabuya Shabu-Shabu @ Vivocity

Found a cheap deal at groupon.sg - For $30, we get to enjoy Shabuya Shabu-shabu buffet at Vivocity with full flow beer. There is also free flow of sashmi. NICE! But it was limited to 100 minutes of dinning which we thought was well sufficient. 

Everyone has a mini pot to themselves which I thought was great as I do not take beef. Thus, everyone can enjoy whatever they want and cook it whenever they like. 

Okay, besides the fresh sashimi which consist of Salmon, Tuna, Swordfish and Tai. The sashimi was really fresh and it was the first time I tried Tai Sashimi. It was quite nice to me. 

For the minipot, I think it was shoyu soup base. For the dipping sauce, there was only ponzu sauce and sesame sauce. I do not really fancy the sesame sauce. It tasted a bit weird to my liking. 

As for the meat portion, there are beef, pork, chicken, duck and lamb. Wooah, so many variety for me to choose from besides the beef. For the pork, there are pork collar, pork loin and pork belly. For me, I always had pork for shabu-shabu and had never tried eating other meat. Here, I tried the chicken, duck and lamb. Personally, pork is still the best. It was thinly sliced and with seconds, it was cooked. For the chicken, it was a bit bland and not that fantastic. I liked the duck and lamb too. But they were not very thinly sliced and thus, it took quite a while for them to be cooked. Overall, the meat category was great. I had plentiful of meat that night! 

For the seafood, they were relatively fresh. Some of those we had were the tiger prawns, mussels, crabstick, some seafood balls. We had initially wanted to try the fish paste, but it was never served to the table despite multiple reminders.

As for the healthier side, there were assorted mushrooms, cabbage, corn, carrots and many more to choose from. 

They will serve the 'standard' items when we first arrived. But you can 'reject' if you do not like it at the first instance. Do not eat and then try to reject them. Waste food will be charged!

Shabuya Hotpot

By the way, not sure if it was a promotion, the service crews were quite attentive when we arrived. But with more customers streaming in, they became busy and some of the orders were not served. As for the beer, we had to order thrice before it was finally served.

But well, at the end of the 100 minutes, they did not chase us away. I guessed it must be because they were too busy and that there were sufficient tables.

For the $30, I think it was quite worth the value!

VivoCity
1 HarbourFront Walk #01-102/103

Hotpot @ Shabu Sai

Lunch for the day was at Shabu Sai - a treat from Sis made the day. She highly recommended to go to Shabu Sai at Orchard Central to have hotpot. The lunch buffet starts at 11.30am and we read that we have 70mins of time limit to complete the meal. However, upon asking the manager, he mentioned that it is only upon there is a crowd and line forming that they will execute this time limit. Well, a reasonable answer to our question. 

At Shabu Sai, you would have to pay before eating. For each pot, we are entitled to 2 soup choices with a total of 7 soup bases to choose from. In the end, we took the Sukiyaki Soup and the Seafood White Broth. The latter is the special soup of the month which changes every period. For weekend lunch, the price is S$19.90 per adult and we add on S$1.99 per adult to enjoy free flow of drinks.

The buffet concept is that the vegetables, ramen, udon, and some seafood are put at the counter for self-service. For the meat (chicken, pork and beef), we would have to order from the service crew who will bring them fresh to us.

For the chicken and pork (we do not eat beef), they are very thiny sliced and thus, it took us just seconds to get them cook in the hotpot. The meat was tender and sweet. As for the self service counter, there were cooked food and sushi and rice for us to eat while waiting for the hotpot to be ready. The variety of vegetables was great - mushrooms, chinese cabbage, lettuce, radish, carrot, bamboo shoots and more but the other variety of hotpot ingredients was lacking - just mussels, clams, crabstick meat, fishballs and vegetable balls. But well, I guess people go for the meat, that's why.

There is a counter where we can mix and make our own sauces according to our preference. I added sesame sauce to peanut sauce and added sesame seeds to it. I quite liked the combination. The soup broths got saltier as we put in more ingredients along the way. The way to tackle this saltiness was the pot of seaweed broth on the table to dilute the soup broth.

To conclude, Shabu Sai is reasonably-priced. Thus, if you are looking for affordable Japanese Buffet in Orchard area over a good supply of meat and vegetables, Shabu Sai is a place you can consider. Moreover, it is located at Orchard Central which is a relatively less crowded place to dine at. 

Hotpot @ Shabu Sai

Address:
Shabu Sai
#08-09, Orchard Central
181 Orchard Road