japanese/hotpot: i recommend HELLO KITTY SHABU

HELLO KITTY SHABU SHABU

No. 17, Alley 27, Lane 216, ZhongXiao E.   Rd, Sec. 4

台北市大安區忠孝東路四段216巷27弄17號

(02) 2711-5216

MRT: Zhongxiao/ Dunhua

website: Hello Kitty Shabu FB page

hours: 11:30AM - 10PM

$$ (about NT$500-700 per person)

Kid friendliness: booster seats available

Visit reviewed: 2/20/2016

Before my childhood friend Jenny even got to Taipei, she messaged me from LA, "Can we go to Hello Kitty Shabu?" And being the good host, friend and curious food blogger, I said, "Of course!" A reservation and few days later, we found ourselves wandering the alleys near Zhongxiao near Lane 216 looking for it.

Once you get closer, the glow of Hello Kitty's face beckons and a lifesized Hello Kitty greets you at the door, ready for selfies (also in that alley, NCIS Sushi, Hoshina udon and a new branch of dessert spot Monteur Cafe).

The inside decor seems to be casual Japanese, with lots of small tables for individual hotpot and a side area with tatami-style, lower seating for bigger groups. 

Reservations at Hello Kitty Shabu Shabu are limited to one and half hours, and when we arrived at 5:17pm, we were a little late. In Taipei, busy restaurants will usually tell you, you have a ten minute grace period before you potentially lose your table, i.e. If people are waiting there. Sometimes the restaurant will call you, or if you call them sometimes they'll be nice enough to hold it for you. I didn't call and they didn't call us, so when we told them our reservation was for 5pm, the girl told us we were late and it seemed like she was going to tell us we lost the table. But since the restaurant wasn't full and there weren't people in line, I emphasized that my friend had flown all the way from LA to eat Hello Kitty hotpot, and after some discussion between her and another server, they directed us to a small table in the back. 

Tables for four are divided with a removable divider, which is smart for the restaurant but crowded for us. Even though no one sat next to us, you can see there isn't a lot of space, so you have to do some Tetris-like maneuvering to make everything fit with your hotpot, once your veggies, meat and steamed egg comes. 

Hello Kitty Shabu offers individual yuan yang hotspots, so you pick two broths out of four choices- regular kombu, pork bone broth, tomato or Mala. Then you choose your meat- there's three kinds of beef or pork available or chicken or seafood. Then you pick noodles or Hello Kitty shaped rice. Everyone gets their own veggies and fish cakes, and additional hello kitty-fied fish cakes are available to add on. 

There's also fried shrimp, chicken and croquettes to order on the side, and a colorful drink menu. 

Once you've ordered, let the photo ops begin!! (Haha the only reason you're here right?) The servers asked us if we were done taking photos before whisking away the bow adorned wooden lids.

Complimentary pre-meal amuse bouche- I think it was konjac- but I found it inedible and tasteless.. 

I ended up choosing the pork broth and tomato. Next time I would skip tomato (it intensified when cooking) and choose the plainer kombu or go for spicy Mala. 

Additional fish cakes we added filled with mentaiko. You can also pick cheese filled. (NT$160 for 2)

The vegetables are quite bountiful- with chinese cabbage, cabbage, various mushrooms, corn, one piece of pumpkin, broccoli, taro and some tofu skin and fish cake.. And then topped with a Hello Kitty thing-- we think it was some sort of tofu soy thing with the HK face burned in, which actually gave it a smoky burned flavor that was kind of unpleasant. But oh, it makes for a cute photo. Lol. 

See how we barely managed to fit everything on the table, and it fits just so. I got the beef (NT$550) which wasn't as tender as the short rib (NT$650).

I loved this little apple bowl and cover with the spoon. I would maybe buy a set if they sold them there. The steamed egg inside was decent too. 

Of course most of you know how Shabu works, but in case you don't, you basically cook the meats and veggies in the hotpot until it's to your liking. You can dip in the sesame or soy sauce, but pork broth was actually quite flavorful already. 

Lots of chopped veggies at the bottom of the large bowl. Sometimes restaurants cheat and it's actually empty or raised inside, but I was pleasantly surprised to find plenty. 

Cooking and eating.. As for the mysterious Hello Kitty faced tofu, it was a spongy, mysterious bite and tasted a bit burnt from what I'm guessing is the char from imprinting the face onto the tofu. I took one bite and wasn't sure if I wanted to take another. 

Dessert at the end included in the set are a few bite sized, brown sugar mochi..

All in all, it wasn't a bad meal as shabu spots go. Would I recommend it? Sure, I'd come back with other Hello Kitty loving friends- I like how they give you a lot of veggies, broth options and steamed egg on the side. And if you're a Hello Kitty fan, then you kind of have to experience it for yourself. It's not as bling and overly cute like Hello Kitty Sweets (now Hello Kitty Kitchen) so now Hello Kitty fans have two places to choose from, three if you count Hello Kitty Bubble, four, if you count the Hello Kitty food souvenir shop next to Ice Monster I have to write up. I was surprised to see an older couple next to us eating (and chilling) who didn't appear to be Kitty fans, but maybe they just liked the food. Also there were empty seats in the restaurant during our hour and half so maybe they save spots for walk ins. It will be interesting to see if Hello Kitty Shabu becomes popular- on one hand, Taiwanese people love hotpot, especially in the winter time. On the other hand, because they loved hotpot, the hotpot game in Taipei is fierce- there's super cheap version and fancy, luxe versions, spicy mala, all you can eat, vegetarian only, herbal broth, the list goes on and on, and now, you can add Hello Kitty Shabu to it. 

hotpot: i recommend NIPPORI SHABU SHABU 日暮里涮涮鍋

NIPPORI SHABU SHABU 日暮里涮涮鍋 (RI MU LI)
No. 3, Lane 220, DaAn Rd, Sec. 1
台北市大安路一段220巷3號
(02) 2704-7376

MRT: DaAn

hours: 11:30AM -3:30PM; 5:30PM- 10PM

$$ (about NT$380/person)

Kid friendliness: high chairs available and good seating for large groups. Older kids might enjoy cooking their own food. Small playground across the alley from restaurant.

Visit reviewed: 2/14/2015

Neighborhood hotpot place, reasonable prices, good sized portions. Family friendly seating, clean tables and environment, individual pots.  Can get busy, but luckily wasn't too crowded for a last minute lunch when we went with 10 people.

The Chinese name for the restaurant is 日暮里 which is pronounced Ri Mu Li in Mandarin, but translates in English to Nippori, which is an neighborhood/subway stop in Tokyo, Japan. So since I couldn't find an English name for the restaurant, I'll just call it as Nippori Shabu Shabu for my own reference (and those of you who can read Chinese can just refer to that!)

Chinese only menu- options start from NT$350 for kobe pork and sirloin beef options up to NT$800 for short ribs or NT$1000 for premium USDA beef. There's also fish and seafood sets. You can also order veggies and meats and whatever your favorite shabu add- in is ala carte.

With each set, you get a big bowl of veggies, a plate of thin sliced meat, and choice of rice, noodles or vermicelli rice noodles. The veggie plate includes cabbage, taro, straw mushrooms, tofu, shiitake mushroom, fishcake, fishball, tomato, all the usual suspects. What's good is everything is fresh and room temperature ready for cooking- I've been to some hotpot places where it seemed like that fish balls were still defrosting or just taken out of the freezer.

Pretty satisfied with the sirloin beef (NT$350) set. Some places cheap out with meat on their the inexpensive sets, but it tasted as good as some more expensive shabu places- the meat wasn't too tough or too fatty.

 

What's great about individual pots is that you can cook it however you like and perfect if there's a vegetarian in your group. But the table is also close enough that you can cook for others if there are kids or lazy people in your group.

I realized I was too busy eating and cooking to take a pic of all the veggies inside the pot- but you guys are seasoned eaters, you know how it works!

Complimentary red bean soup for dessert. Yum! Great way to end the meal.

japanese/hotpot: i strongly recommend KANPAI KUROGEYA

 

KANPAI KUROGEYA 乾杯 黒毛屋
(HEI MAO WU or BLACK HAIR HOUSE)
at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi A4
No. 19 Song Gao Rd, 6F
台北市信義區松高路19號6F (新光三越A4)
(02) 2723-7722

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: kurogeya.com.tw

hours: 11:30AM - 2:30PM; 5PM - 12AM

$$$ (about NT$800-1000/person)

Kid friendliness: plenty of options for shabu loving kids; no high chairs spotted; table positions fixed so can't move tables together for larger groups (or odd numbered groups)

Visit reviewed: 4/30/2014, 4/4/2014 & 1/3/2014

Last fall, Xinyi Mitsukoshi's A4 revamped their sixth floor into a row of enticing restaurants- Sukhothai, Kanpai Kuroegeya, Hachi Bei and a teppanyaki restaurant. I had been hearing my friend raving about this place, calling it Black Haired Pig, for the longest time as she was in a shabu phase. But finally when I did the write up, I realized it's Black Hair House (Wu) not Pig (Zhu). Lol. 

Anyways, Kanpai Kurogeya (which is its official Japanese/English name) is an upscale, modern shabu shabu place offering unique options such as soymilk broth hotpot and adding touches like freshly grated radish, melted mozzarella cheese and at the end of the meal, an option of having parmesan cheese risotto. 

First time having hotpot with boiled cheese!

The first time I tried it, I thought it was good, but not particularly special. But after trying the soy milk broth hotpot, I'm a fan. Instead of using water, or in this case water with kombu kelp, you can opt to have a soy milk broth made from soy milk, dashi and white miso, which lends a richer flavor to everything you cook in it. I ended up even drinking a bit of the broth and not needing to dip much of my veggies or meat in soy sauce.

The menu is in Chinese only, but basically most of the choices are sets with the choice of meat (beef, pork) and hotpot broth, prices for sets run about NT$700 and up. Options for broth are either a clear kombu broth, a soy milk broth or a sukiyaki style hotpot.

Sets come with vegetables, assorted fishcake, and one plate of meat to cook in your hotpot as well as a choice of rice, noodles or xi fan which is made with the broth of your hotpot at the end of the meal. The servers does some of the cooking for you to start off the meal, but if you are impatient, you can start shabu-ing away.

Assorted mushrooms and fishcake - the first time I came, they set out a little glass timer and told us that when the timer was done, the fishcake would be ready. My server didn't give me a timer on my second visit, as well as forgot to give me freshly grated radish. Boo. So if you don't get it on your first visit, be sure to ask for it.

The soymilk broth looks like it will bubble over, but the server checks the temperature and lets us know when it's ready.

It's ready! 

This is a yuzu pepper condiment I've seen seeing all over town. It's very potent so use sparingly.

One of the first things the server will cook and plate up for you is the tofu. 

Two styles of pork come with the soy milk broth hotpot and pork is the only option. If you want beef, then opt for the kombu broth or the sukiyaki. Each person gets their own pot and own plate of meat, which is pretty satisfying and filling.

Extra plates can be ordered ala carte. 

The servers will start off some of the cooking for you and depending on how many other people they have, you can toss the rest of the stuff in there at your own pace. 

Just start throwing everything in there to cook...

Before and after of the fatty pork belly slices...

After you are done eating your meat and veggies, the servers will come and give you your starch- for kombu you can opt for a bowl of rice or noodles, for the sukiyaki they cook udon in the soy sauce and for the soy milk broth, they make a cheese risotto, which I loved. The empty out the pot by spooning the broth into another container then putting back a little broth for the rice to soak up. The cheese risotto only comes with the soy milk hotpot- the other hotpots come with regular porridge or noodles. 

And the dessert is quite yummy too- a few bites of brown sugar mochi, fresh fruit and a scoop of sesame ice cream.

A nicer option for hotpot in town, suitable for date night or even dining alone with the individual hotspots and counter seating. 

OTHER LOCATION 

No. 165, Dunhua S. Rd, Sec. 1, 2F 

台北市大安區敦化南路一段165號2樓 

(02)2751-5577