Nagomi, Hartamas Shopping Center (Mar 9, 2009)

We had a choice between the Chinese steamboat and the Japanese shabu shabu... which was not a difficult decision, since the Nagomi was a much funkier, bigger and contemporary looking restaurant. Large tables with individual hotpot and stove. One of my friend, Keith was recovering from a flu and it was not a good idea to cook in a communal hotpot... who knows, maybe the germs may survive the boiling soup and get to us...

For Shabu Shabu, you have a choice of wagyu beef, the premium stuff and the ribeye beef, the affordable stuff, chicken, duck, salmon and tuna... I wonder how does the salmon and tuna taste like in a Shabu Shabu??? You can order it as a set which comes with your choice of soup i.e. beef, chicken and vegetable; a bowl of rice and a huge serving of assorted vegetable, mushroom and udon. Besides the Shabu Shabu, the menu also offers sashimi, sushi and the other regular japanese dishes.

We ordered 2 Shabu Shabu dinner sets - the ribeye (yes, the affordable beef) and the duck; and an assorted nigiri sushi platter. 

The soup was poured from a long neck kettle... reminds me of Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant in Park Royal Hotel i.e. staff will perform acrobatic tea pouring stunts with this long necked kettles... (I am just exaggerating) but any how, it got me a bit excited.

I must say the portion was pretty generous, if you can accept that the beef will be sliced to the thinnest milimetre possible. The two sets were enough for 3 person. The soup was fabulous, we ordered a beef and a chicken. Additional soup and rice is chargeable for the third person since we only ordered 2 sets. 3 type of dipping sauce is served peanut sauce, chilly garlic and ponzu (citrus based soy sauce).

The ribeye beef was good but the duck meat was not very well sliced. It was too thin and when cooked, breaks into tiny bits. Along with the duck, were pate duck balls which were difficult to cook... tasted like soggy luncheon meat. I think it was made from mince duck meat which was mixed with an egg. On the hindsight, we should have ordered another plate of beef instead. 

The soup as expected, got better after a few round of replenishing the vegetable and meat. After finishing the meat and with some remaining vegetable, we poured in the rice and let it boil for awhile more. Now towards the end the soup is extremely tasty and is so good with the rice.

Including drinks, it came up to about RM55/head. It would have been cheaper, if we didn't order the sushi platter which was RM55. The Ribeye Shabu Shabu set was RM39 and the duck RM31.

If you are interested to find out more about Shabu Shabu and want to check out Nagomi's latest promotion, look up their website  http://www.nagomishabushabu.com

Nagomi Shabu Shabu Restaurant

Lot G11A&11B GF Hartamas Shopping Center

60, Jln Sri Hartamas/Sir Hartamas KL