Hot pots perfect for cold weather at Simply Shabu
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
No too shabu...
Fried tofu skin. Cellophane noodles. Fu zhou fish balls. Dungeness crab. Pork blood.
The a la carte menu at Simply Shabu paralyzed me with choices, over 50 of them, all yearning to be delivered to my table raw and bathed in simmering, shimmering broth at this slick new hot pot spot from a 26-year-old Taiwanese-American ex-banker.
Dennis Tuan is a great example of the young entrepreneurs giving Chinatown a new energy. He opened Simply Shabu nearly a year ago, filling a long, narrow space with barnwood walls and a big U-shaped bar. Arranged along a pew-like banquette, each table is equipped with an induction burner to heat a sloshing tureen of fragrant broth. New to shabu shabu? Choose from five broths, pick your items — or just order a combo — and start adding the latter to the former. In a few minutes, the raw proteins and vegetables are cooked, fondue-style, and ready to consume.
After putting away a dish of addictively spicy-sweet pickles and two orders of golden-fried dumplings — come for the shabu shabu but don’t miss these — I tested a split pot of Tuan’s house broth — a honey blond elixir made with three parts pork bones and one part chicken bones — and the kimchi broth — a vegetable base fortified with housemade kimchi. Both could have used some salt, and at first taste, the kimchi version lacked heat. But as the broth began to bubble, petals of the fermented cabbage began floating to the surface, the chile marinade stoking a pleasant fire.
In went the outsourced cuttlefish balls (bouncy) and beef tendon balls (umami-rich and faintly sweet). In went the mushroom medley: creminis, shiitake caps, enoki and — the hit of the night — meaty oysters.
That was just round one. My warm but harried server swiftly arrived with more shabu shabu additions: thin ribbons of chicken and beef, pork belly, bok choy, tofu, surf clam. As each item cooked, I plucked it from the broth, dipped it in a mix of chile oil, garlic, scallions and black vinegar I created at the D.I.Y. “sauce bar,” and ate. The family next to my table openly stared, their eyes getting wider when dessert, a giant bowl of shave ice crowned with mango, peanuts and condensed milk, arrived. Not too shabu.
Simply Shabu | 1023 Cherry St., 267-273-0354, simplyshabu.com. Sun.-Thurs., 5 -10 p.m.; Fri., 5-11 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m., and 5 p.m.-11 p.m. $2.50-$26.
