Shinjuku Shabu: Offers healthy, cook-it-yourself meal
Susanna Tjokro, Contributor, Jakarta
Are you looking for an eatery that serves healthy meals made without using salt, oil, MSG or chemical preservatives? If so, drop by Shinjuku Shabu, where there is no fatty, fried food on the menu.
Shabu shabu consists of raw meat and vegetables cooked by each diner at the table in a pot of hot broth -- hence shabu shabu is known as a cook-it-yourself meal. The word shabu shabu means "swish swish", referring to the swishing action and sound when you cook the ingredients in a hot pot.
Then dip the cooked ingredients into the variety of sauces provided for additional flavor. In addition, to create a taste all of your own, a variety of condiments, like crushed onions, horseradish, chili as well as chili powder, are at hand to enhance the flavor of your dipping sauce. Rice is the only side dish needed for shabu shabu. If you like (if you are not too full) after the meal, the remaining broth can be used as a soup for noodles.
Shinjuku Shabu looks minimalist yet stylish with elegant dark- wood decor, adorned with an artificial yet pretty Sakura tree as well as a grove of plastic bamboo trees. No blaring music, just Japanese songs softly playing in the background. Diners have the choice of sitting at the tables or at the bar.
At Shinjuju Shabu, you can choose an assorted vegetables, seafood, chicken or beef platter (thinly sliced U.S. or Australian beef). As for the price, the Shabu Shabu Beef Set costs Rp 100,000 (U.S. beef) or Rp 75,000 (Australian beef), while the Chicken Set is Rp 55,000 and Seafood Set priced at Rp 90,000 -- each set is served with vegetables (including mushrooms, as well as tofu and udon) and steamed rice. Extra beef, chicken, seafood, Enoki mushroom, udon, black mushroom, egg and vegetables are also on offer.
My meal came with two Japanese sauces: gomadare and ponzu. Gomadare (or gomatare) is sesame seed sauce, the beef and gomadare complimented each other perfectly. I also dipped the vegetables into ponzu, a sour, tangy sauce. The pon in ponzu basically means "citrus", and the zu means "vinegar".
"Ponzu is too sour for the typical Indonesian palate," said the owner, Michael I. Surjaudaja.
Hence Michael sweetened his ponzu to make it more palatable to his patrons, 80 percent of whom are Indonesians. However, do not expect his ponzu to be overly sweet -- no, the sauce, which is made of 100 percent Japanese ingredients, still tastes sour as it should be. So, as said by Michael, his ponzu sauce differentiates Shinjuku Shabu from other similar restaurants.
If you're not too full, the broth can be consumed at the end of the meal, and if you like you can add some Japanese noodles, udon, into your broth.
The desserts on the menu, such as Mochi Ice Cream, Green Tea Ice Cream as well as Waffle Ice Cream are imported all the way from Japan. My dessert was the delicious Mochi Vanilla Ice Cream (Rp 15,000). Anyone who likes the mouth-watering Japanese glutinous rice cake called mochi, should try mochi ice cream too. The outside layer is made of chewy glutinous rice and the inside layer is a creamy ice cream ball that melts in your mouth. Unlike other ice creams, you can eat mochi ice cream with your hand, and the ice cream won't melt quickly, as the mochi keeps the inside ice cream frozen.
The healthy Ocha (Japanese green tea) is available, but if you are in the mood for alcoholic drinks, try their Japanese Sapporo Beer, Ebisu Beer or Jinro Plum Wine, or you can taste Korean Jinro Soju which is similar to Japanese sake.
Opening its doors in December 2004, Shinjuku Shabu in Kemang is Michael's second shabu shabu restaurant. He opened the first Shinjuku Shabu in Gading Batavia in February 2003.
True to its tagline "Shinjuku Shabu - The Healthy Choice", the restaurant offers tasty, healthy food with natural ingredients for diners to savor.
Shinjuku Shabu Wisma 31, 1st level Kemang Raya No.31 Jakarta Selatan Tel: 719 3633 Opening Hours Lunch: 11.30 a.m.3 p.m. Dinner: 5.30 p.m.10 p.m. The writer can be reached at s_tjokro@yahoo.com