Breakfast in the Hotel and A Shabu-Shabu Dining Experience
January 6, 2018
Breakfast Experience
Because our hotel is a distance from other restaurants we elect to have breakfast in our lovely hotel which is clearly a Japanese experience. Again the design of the breakfast layouts on the trays are enough to make you salivate and hesitant to disrupt the beauty of the layout.
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| Hotel Breakfast Room |
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| John checks out cooking instructions |
John has made a reservation at Hyoto Restaurant for a Shabu-Shabu hot pot experience. We have another opportunity to practice our chop sticks technique, dinner manners and pot cooking efforts. I think because of my prior fondue experience living in Switzerland that I should cook with ease once I have mastered the chop sticks, instead of using a single fork. Moreover, based on my web research on chop stick usage noted in an earlier blog this time I believe we will be less embarrassed by our American dinner manners ineptitude. Alas.. we find we are clearly in another league in this restaurant a bit like going into the Olympics without enough coaching. I notice that aside from ourselves this restaurant is 100% Japanese who are clearly at home with shabu-shabu.
We are greeted with the usual welcoming smiles and nods and asked to take our shoes off to walk on the wood floor with our socks. As for our prior soba noodle hot pot experience (with chicken) we are expected to cook the raw vegetables and meat in boiling water at the table. We are asked to sit in the floor at a table, but instead choose a table with chairs. At this restaurant, instead of providing a portable burner there is a cooktop built into the table for induction heating.
The menu includes a choice of types of pork or beef. John orders the more expensive Biyuton pork brand while I will stick with the regular pork. I don’t know if the Biyuton pigs have been fed beer or massaged daily as was the case for the Kobe cows. There are several 5-7 course menu options all have sashimi but others are without sushi. I clearly have not done enough research as I’m not even sure of the difference between sashimi and sushi. Okay using positive self-talk I tell myself we will be fine. Here is what I learned.
Both pork choices come presented as paper-thin slices similar to prosciutto and look exactly the same. Will they taste the same? The name shabu-shabu comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia for “swish swish” as each piece of meat is swished around the boiling water before eating. We start by preparing the dipping sauce or “dashi” by placing sliced onions and “yuzu” paste in the dashi.
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| Dashi bowl for dipping |
After this we begin to cook the meat and our menu guide warns not to cook more than 10 seconds or the meat will be tough. Nonetheless, I am worried about eating raw pork so probably overcook it.
Later that night when researching the shabu-shabu method of cooking I learn that it is best to cook the vegetables first because the mushrooms take 4-5 minutes to cook and the added leek onions, tofu and other vegetables add more flavor to the broth. We do remember to be careful not to use our personal chop sticks in the communal pot ~ well maybe we only forget a few times. We dip the pork in the dipping sauce but learn later it is better to let it sit a bit in the sauce so the meat can absorb the sauce. I am not sure what the ladle and extra pots are for. Later I learn that you are supposed to use the special spoon to scoop the fat and froth off the top of the water. Our water continues to boil nearly burning my hand holding the chop sticks and sending fumes into the air. I look around and don’t see smoke at other tables. Later I learn you bring the water to a boil and then you must turn it down and let it simmer. This is important in terms of not overcooking the meat. Finally, late in the meal we realize we have a panic button on our table to signal our need for help. We do use this to signal we want the noodles to cook so we aren’t too full to eat them as was the case in the prior restaurant. Our waitress cleans the boiling water with the ladle so it can be used for noodles. Later I find out it is important to fill yourself with protein and vegetables first before the carbohydrates and that eating some noodles and drinking the broth are just to “finish off” the meal. I only eat half my pork but John finishes it off. I ask if he notices the difference in the meat taste and he says no. Perhaps this is because we overcooked it or made some other cooking error.
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| After eating meat noodles are cooked and put in Dashi Bowl and slurped |
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| Tofu |
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| Sashimi |
You may have noticed I am doing research on Japanese restrooms. Of course I must check this out. For using these rest rooms, we are given slippers which are removed when we are finished in the bathroom. The bathroom is immaculately clean as expected and the toilets have all the button options I am getting used to. However, in this restaurant there are a series of 3-step instructions on how to clean the toilet seat with a specially provided towlette.
We leave this restaurant feeling we still have a lot to learn for our return to Tokyo the next day.
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