Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Shabu shabu for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a much anticipated holiday season in the West; particularly in countries like the States. It is basically a season which allows opportunities for family gatherings similar to their Eastern counterparts in the celebration of the Winter Solstice.
In a way, thanksgiving actually originated from the harvesting of the crops and the farmers celebrate their harvest over family dinners and today, it stuck as a tradition and also to pave an opportunity to gather busy family members for a yearly gathering. Celebrated by mostly Christians, the feast is actually a joyful one and family members partake in the preparation of the dinner; which will include turkey (similar to Christmas) and also meatloaf, etc.

On the East, Christians here do not largely celebrate the occasion as we do thanksgiving every other day. For me, I rather like the idea of Thanksgiving though, I believe that we do not give thanks to God only on one day but every waking minute for what he had done for me. However, in observation of festive mood and also a reason for me to go home to my family and celebrate, that is a good enough reason for me and my family to observe it:D

We drove to 1 Utama for dinner; as I suggested the new steamboat restaurant, Plus One, which caught my eye the last time I was in 1U and also, thanks to all the fellow bloggers for the constant reviews which motivated me to bring my family to try it out.
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Even as we were in the car, the huge banner hung outside the mall already commanded our attention and we were definitely eager to try this new Japanese-style steamboat (Shabu-shabu) which seemed to be the new hype:)
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After a couple of minutes driving around the carpark, we finally arrived at the restaurant at about 7.30p.m. However, to our disappointment, the restaurant was pretty crowded at that time and we had to wait for a good 10-15 minutes before we can get a table.
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The friendly lady boss came to apologize and told us that she will contact us as soon as they have a table and hope that we would not mind waiting.
Well, since we were not too hungry, we decided to shop around and we left her our number.

It wasn't long before they call us and their good nature and apologies really impressed us:)
We stood there for about 5 minutes while waiting for the staff to clear their table.
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Free flow of drinks (from cordial orange, nestea and peach tea to choose from)
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The Shabu shabu is a Japanese-style steamboat and in Malaysia, the difference is you cook them in individual pots.
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Plus One even offers the luxury of different soup base for each individual for RM8 if you order them by ala-carte.
If you take the set, then the soup base will be of your choce and inclusive in the set.
We ordered 2 Mixed Set (RM19) and a couple of Ala Carte Items.
We ordered different soups according to our own liking.

I ordered the Fish soup :)
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There were fried fish fillets in the soup with some vegetables:)
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Daddy ordered the Macau herbal pork ribs soup which was recommended by the waiter.
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However, Mummy got it instead as the waiter kinda mixed up everyone's order:(
He enjoyed the feast of the ribs anyway; and commented that the soup was decent with the sweet corn and abundance of wolfberries (Kee Chee) in it.

Bro ordered the Miso soup which came with soft beancurd and Japanese seaweed.
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This was Tomyam soup which was given to Daddy.
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Dear ordered the Sweet Corn and Carrots soup which was really sweet and I enjoyed the Sweet Corn and Carrots.
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*I was actually torn between this and the Fish soup when I was deciding and now I can have both:)

The items from the Mixed Set; a combination of the seafood and meat items
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There's enoki mushroom, egg, seaweed, fried beancurd sheets, crabsticks, sliced pork, sliced fish, prawns, scallops, yee mee
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We ordered a few side dishes ala-carte
Shrimp dumplings
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Tong Hou Vege (one of my Daddy's favourite)
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Additional Fish slices (RM12)
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The fish was so tasty and succulent:)

Their home made shrimp balls
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The different sauces available
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One comment though,I find all the sauces rather distasteful and just didn't seem to match the food. I passed on the sauces and prefer my food with its original taste.

Automation of the services. Should the customers need anything, they are only a button away:)
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The dessert was on the house; Custard mango pudding with sweet milk on the top layer.
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I find it too sweet for my liking.

The total damage for our Thanksgiving family meal was RM105.50
We find it fairly priced although may be on the high side due to the environment and the services.
I do recommend this place to Shabu-shabu lovers as they do have a large variety to select from and I must add to the list, the service was excellent:)

13 comments:

  1. oh happy thanksgiving-- albeit a lil late ;p u must be looking forwards to xmas then~! :) found a place for xmas dinner? ;>

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  2. Anonymous6:14 PM

    Shabu-shabu, what a nice Thanksgiving celebration...

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  3. They seem to have a wide range of broth available.

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  4. opss xmas dinner.. yea u found any place for xmas dinner yet?!

    shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhabu shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhabu

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  5. so early already celebrate xmas ah~ hmm... this year xmas dinner should go to where huh!!!!

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  6. Ooo... looks like I gotta start my homework soon... plan to visit KL during Xmas week.

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  7. jun, thanks thanks!! I had great fun:) I am still thinking of a place for xmas; will be in Penang though this year:p

    celine, yeah...unique:p

    jason, they do!! You should try it out; about 10 on the list I think:)

    yammylicious, haha...still thinking of a xmas dinner place...nah, not gonna be shabu shabu anymore:p

    alvin, it's not xmas celebration ler, it's Thanksgiving!! It's different:)

    new kid, you need our help? We can list down some places...all the bloggers will be more than willing to help you out;)

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  8. Forgive me but this is fascinating stuff.

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  9. Cynthia, you should try it out..it's really easy to make at home too:)

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  10. Heard good reviews bout this restaurant! Gonna visit it some day! Can't wait to try out their tom yam soup, looks good to me!

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  11. shabu-shabu. first time know this word. not bad, but kinda hygienic since they give you separate pot to do your steamboat.

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  12. sugarbean, yeah!! GO go go try it out and be the next blogger to talk about it!!;)

    nicholas, hehe...cute name by the Japs huh:D And yeah, I do agree with the hygiene part...it's so fun to turn to high or low temp to your own liking!!!;)

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  13. glad to hear that you and your family enjoyed da food here! their fish soup is absolutely flavourful and soupy! yummmm..

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