shabu one steamboat buffet

I was hunting for food one day in Lot 10, Bukit Bintang. Had my mind set on a hot steaming bowl of Seafood Noodles from their food court when to my dismay, the entire LG floor was under renovation. crap! Suddenly, *sniff sniff* and this amazingly intoxicating aroma of something cooked with Chinese herbs was poking into my nostrils. gawddd...at this point, my stomach let out this thunderous roar.
As I trailed the smell like a hunting dog up and down the escalators, I stumbled upon this restaurant packed with lots of busy-looking people, only to discover it was a steamboat restaurant. My first thought was "Oh no, not another one?!"
Wanting to glance at their menu, something else caught my eye......the price!
My first reaction was "Wuaah! So cheappp...no wonder so many people wei!"
I was thinking with my stomach so inadvertently, I went in.

sorry for photo quality >.*

Once you enter (after paying first mind you), you're immediately attracted towards the food counter,

with many many little green baskets of your usual steamboat ingredients lining up on top of a looooong row of dry ice.
Next, you choose your desired soup base. There were 8 for me to choose from -
1. Thailand Tomyam
2. Sichuan pepper
3. HK Chicken Soup
4. Japan Anchovy Soup
5. Taiwan Hot Spicy Soup
6. Canton X.O. Soup
7. Italian Tomato Soup
8. Healthy Herbal Soup

The waiter recommended X.O. and Herbal. They suited my taste alright. :D
You can get the waiter to refill the soup for you throughout but then some of them can be quite stingy and only fills to half the pot, so I prefer to help myself with the jugs of soup below and carry them to my table.
What you see below are also the 15 kinds of sauces they have for your dipping! Yup, they really let their creative juices flow with this one. Tried 'Butter Curry' before? kekeke...
My comment on the soup ... slightly above average, could be tastier. But heyyyy, for the price I'm paying, I'm zipping my mouth (for now). Curious to know the price? To be revealed soon...
This is my steaming pot of 'treasures' - the 'healthy' and the 'UN-healthy' side...Now, doesn't that gives me a balanced meal?

The most expensive item I could find (or in my case that day... 'grab'), were these 'lai liu ha' (mantis prawn),

and fresh scallops!

(Tip: You really got to watch out when these items are brought to the serving tables, coz they really kena sapu habis like anything)

Interestingly enough, I think this place is a mixture of everything Asia coz they got cooked dishes like Taiwan Stewed Beef, Japanese noodles, etc..

and one of my favourites is this mini station that cooks the food only upon ordering. Can you see the two grills?

One grills cocktail sausages which in my opinion, Nutrifarm brand tastes better.

I think the 'white' sausages look weird like chalk. LoL.

The other grill station is for mochi (sticky rice flour). THIS I SUKA.

I ate mine with these 3 powdery dip - Peanut (typical), Cocoa powder (err, chocolatey?) and Mint (yuck..SO doesn't jive)

The only other desserts they serve are your boring fruit selection (yawn), flavoured jelly (double yawn) and ice cream (half yawn)..

Nah, don't be expecting any Haagen or BR, all you get is Kings.

And all 20 flavours of them!

Why else would I be attacking the ice cream below like nobody's business.

They were gonna be closing in like 10 minutes and I still have 15 flavours to go.

So, at the end of the day, boy, was I proud of my stummy (that's short for 'stomach' + 'tummy', in case you dunno) for working so hard 2 hours straight.

Was it worth my RM 16.80?

you BET!

Here's the sad part ... really...

If you're thinking of following my footsteps, be prepared to spend more on your pair of shoes coz the promotion was only good for their first month of opening (Sept).

Their normal price is actually RM 52++ (Mon-Thur) and RM 58++ (Fri-Sun).

BUT fret not, there is a cheaper way to enjoy this...

Join their membership for only RM 12 nett and you will enjoy 50% off the normal price, aka RM 26++ and RM 29++ respectively.

Still a good price to pay, I guess. Plus, I'm thinking they might have 'kept' some of the good stuff from us during the promotional period. Eg, how come no raw oyster geh.... hehe.

So, you'll probably get a better deal from now on.

Aaaaah, the luxury of eating a steamboat ... the sky is the limit....moreso if you're eating alone.

But food always tastes better when shared.

So, call me along lor.

Afterwhich, we'll go for drinks on this humongous gargantuan horse-shoe shaped sofa just few storeys below the restaurant.

I hardly notice the dude sitting on it.