My Birthday Dinner at ShabuNiku

A Special Birthday Dinner at ShabuNiku 

       It was July 25, a special day for me with a planned dinner with David and Tita Miriam at a relatively new restaurant along Lacson St. in Bacolod City. According to one of the restaurant crews ShabuNiku is owned by some Korean businessmen who bring about the Korean delicacies to the Philippines.  Outside the main entrance are the tall baskets of flowers displayed at each corner of the main door.

ShabuNiki main door

Yakiniku

              As we entered the main door, infront of us are the tables which are intended for grilling. In here is where the customer grill their own food. Each table has this long silvery and metallic tubes right above the grilling portion of the table to suck up the fumes and smoke. This is the Yakiniku area of the restaurant. I was quite interested to try here, but since it was a rainy evening, we opted to dine at Shabu Shabu area, at the other side.

Shabu Shabu

              This is the Shabu Shabu area of the restaurant. On every tables is a big casserole at the center. Shabu Shabu are designed for people who prefer to have both seafood and pork and beef soups at the same time. We got the chance to pick the nice spot honestly, because it was our first time. We noticed also that the place is very clean and exquisite. This was surely the best place we were looking for a nice and memorable birthday dinner of mine.

Shabu Niku menu

our table

Our Appetizers 

Kimchi

             While waiting for our orders to come, appetizers were sent immediately to our table, such as the very common Korean food, Kimchi and the other one but we were not so familiar with. For me, it was almost similar with Kimchi, yet they use sliced cucumber covered with hot and spicy sauce. The cucumber was not as spicy as the Kimchi, that was why I never attempted to get another try of the Kimchi.

hot and spicy cucumber

The Main Course

sliced pork and beef meats

                 The male crew assigned for us came with two types of soups. When he opened the large casserole, it was divided into two parts. At the left side, he poured the hot soup for pork and beef meat, while at the right part he poured the hot soup for the seafoods. Then he turned on the stove just beneath the casserole and left. After few minutes, he brought two platters filled with noodles, plenty of vegetables and some seafoods such as shrimp balls, crab sticks, etc. While we enjoyed watching him mixing the ingredients our hunger got intense due to the delicious smell of the boiling soups in front of us.

               Then he brought a longer plate this time filled with thin slice of pork and beef. One by one he placed the pork and beef meats to the boiling soup, of course not for the seafoods soup. He also brought us two types of sauces. This time, it will be up for us which type of taste we prefer for the soups by using the different sauces he gave us. Unfortunately, I was not able to get the name of the sauces, but hey, I was already fine with the soups without any seasonings at all. Truthfully, I almost forgot my cup of rice.

                 

the boiling soups with some ingredients

our soups ready to serve

shrimp tempura

The Kitchen     

the kitchen crews at the kitche

           This is the restaurant's kitchen established near the Shabu Shabu area. The kitchen crews and the chefs were very busy preparing the ingredients and cooking the special menu for the hungry customers. The kitchen wall is made with transparent glass which made us see them working and taking pictures of them.

              Below is the photo showing the three (3) crews in orange uniform waiting for the prepared ingredients and some foods to be delivered to the customers' tables.

the 3 crews in orange uniform

with Tita Miriam and David

             Without a doubt, my birthday dinner was as special as the fresh and healthy foods we had here. A big thanks to Tita Miriam for this exquisite dinner, in fact we are planning to come back here to try the Yakiniku. Of course, the evening will not be complete without going to a nice place for sweet desserts nearby, and we decided to go to Calea Pastries & Coffee.

              More stories to tell and pictures to share next time! God bless, everyone!
              Truly, more fun in the Philippines!