🍴 CALIFORNIA SHABU SHABU, VA

We had the pleasure of trying one of the only Japanese Shabu Shabu restaurants in the DMV area: California Shabu Shabu. Shout out to Duke and Kimmy for their hospitality and showing us the Shabu Shabu way!

VENUE

This relatively small restaurant gets packed on the weekends and on Tuesday nights for their surprisingly authentic taco night!

FOOD

APPS

📸Japanese Chicken Wings + Shrimp Siu Mai + Pork Gyoza

SHABU SHABU

It was our first time having Shabu Shabu, so we took extensive notes to help ya’ll out by breaking down the process:

STEP 1: PICK YOUR PROTEIN AND BROTH

We tried the Tomato and Tonkatsu broths, both mixed with Spicy Miso!

STEP 2: MIX YOUR DIPPING SAUCES

Skip the sauce bar! California Shabu Shabu makes it easy with two choices: Goma, a sesame peanut sauce, and Ponzu, a citrus soy sauce - all made in-house!

STEP 3: GET COOKIN’!

Once you get your broth and heat it up to a boil, it’s recommended that you put in the parts of the veggies that take longest to cook to add some additional flavor to the broth. Then you can get started on cooking your protein and veggies to how you like them (and eat it with rice if you want!).

PRO STEP: NOODS

Be sure to save some meat and veggies for the end so you can convert your Shabu Shabu broth into a noodle soup!

Hint for the Average Socialite: You can ask for their super spicy hot drops to add to your sauce or broth!