All-you-can-eat Japanese sushi restaurant.

Content.
 Subject. Page.

- Shabu Shabu. 3.

- History of Sushi. 3.

- Culture in Japan. 4.

- Difference between Japanese and Dutch food. 4.

- Competition. 5.

- Location Shabu Shabu Rotterdam. 5.

- How it works. 5.

- Prices and opening times. 5.

- Menu card. 6.

- Wasabi. 7.

- Chopsticks. 7.

- Positive and negative points. 8.

- Internet. 8.

- Criticism. 8.

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If you want to have an experience in a Japanese all-you-can-
eat restaurant, but you don’t have enough money to go to
Japan yourself. Then Shabu Shabu is the place to go to have
a great time and to bring some of the Japanese culture in
your life.
Shabu Shabu.
Shabu Shabu in Rotterdam is the biggest Japanese all-you-can-eat restaurant. As soon as you step
over de doorway you feel a great Japanese atmosphere. But there are more branches than only in
Rotterdam. They have 5 in total. Shabu Shabu in Amsterdam, Den Hague, Leiden, Zoetermeer and of
course Rotterdam. The branches in Rotterdam and Zoetermeer have a traditional Japanese sitting
area, it’s called a Tatemi. But you should be prepared to take your shoes of and show your beautiful
toes as you sit at a really low table. Take away food isn’t possible in Shabu Shabu, you have to eat in
the restaurant to enjoy the food.
Many customers want to know what Shabu Shabu actually means. Shabu Shabu is a Japanese variant
from the bouillon fondue, the meal looks like the so called Sukiyaki. Where both of them contain
meat, vegetable and are served with a lovely dip sauce. People see it as a winter meal, but in Japan
they eat it through the whole year.

History of sushi.
We need to go back to the 4th century in Southeast Asia. There the sushi started off. Rise and fish
had many proteins. They put the fish in the rise so that the natural substances kept good. For a
couple of months the sushi was stored, when they took it out the fish kept good but the rise they had
to throw away. Overtime this idea spread throughout China and later in the 8th century it was
introduced into Japan. Japan preferred to eat rice together with fish. In this way sushi stopped being
preserve food and started to become a cooking style.

In 1980’s sushi got much more attention because sushi became one of the healthiest meals. Sushi
bars have increased and making and selling sushi’s has become more accessible to countries all over
the world.

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Culture in Japan.
The Japanese have developed a sophisticated cooking style. In these years Japanese food has
become fashionable and popular in the U.S., Europe and many other areas. Dishes such as sushi,
tempura (shrimp) and teriyaki are some of the foods that are common and nearly everybody knows.

There is a way in Japan but also in other parts of the world to present sushi just on a normal platter
or on a Human sushi platter what’s also called a Nyotaimori. It’s a person who lies down on a table
with sushi on her for hours without moving. Most of
the times a female model lies down and very rare they
make use of male model. People could take the sushi
with chopsticks of the body. Before serving the
individual where the sushi will be put on have to take
a bath using a special fragrance-free soap and then
step into a bath with cold water to keep the body cool
for the sushi. In some parts of the world there is a law
that there must be a layer of plastic or other material
between the sushi and the body of the woman or
man. Human sushi platter (Nyotaimori)

Difference between Japanese and Dutch food.

There is a huge difference between Japanese and Dutch food. Japanese food has a big variation, they
eat everything from fish to beef and from noodles to potatoes. Sushi is a Japanese dish that’s very
popular all over the world also in the Netherlands. Japanese food is more complicated to make, well
it depends what you want to make. They do use more spices and hot peppers than what is in the
Dutch food.

Dutch food is simpler than Japanese food. When people think about Dutch food they think about
meat, potato and vegetables. When Dutch food is made they don’t use many spices or hot pepper
because most of the Dutch people can’t take this. They start to cough and cry.

Dutch food.
Japanese food.

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Competition.
Shabu Shabu is the hot spot in Rotterdam but they need to be careful because they have a lot of
competition in the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. The restaurants are all similar so there is plenty
of choice for which one you would like to try. The other sushi all-you-can-eat restaurants in
Rotterdam are called Moshi Moshi and Sumo. These are close by the place of Shabu Shabu. So every
day they are running a competition to avoid bankruptcy.

Location Shabu Shabu Rotterdam.

Shabu Shabu lies in the center of Rotterdam on the
West Blaak Street. The parking space is very close by,
just around the corner. The parking lode is every day
in the week open for 24 hours. If you don’t have a car
it’s very easy to come there with public transport. The
Subway stops at the station Beurs and from there on
it’s approximately 290 meters to get to Shabu Shabu.
Shabu Shabu is close to the mall of Rotterdam so
when you finish a wonderful and delicious meal you
could shop until you drop. Inside of Shabu Shabu.

How it works.
The rules are very easy. You could sit two and a half hours to enjoy the menu card. The order will be
made right away and will be served on your table by the wonderful waiters, not all the waiters are
Japanese some are Chinese and some are Vietnams. There are four rounds where you could order
what you want. During the lunch time you could order 8 dishes per round bit you can’t order
everything because some dishes are only for the dinner. During dinner time you could order 5 dishes
per round. Wasting any dishes by not eating them is not tolerated in Shabu Shabu. Per sushi it would
cost €1,- and €3,- for the warm dishes. There are also dishes which are so special that you have to
pay extra for them.

Prices and opening times.

At Shabu Shabu you could enjoy a great lunch or dinner. The restaurant is open from 12:00 – 23:00
o’clock but the kitchen times are different. The kitchen for the lunch hour is open from Monday up
and till Sunday. It’s open from 12-00 – 16:00 o’clock and it cost €16.95. There is a different price for
the kids. Kids from 0 up and till 3 years are free and kids from 4 up and till 10 years need to pay a
price of €8.50.

The kitchen for the dinner from Monday up and till Wednesday is open from 16:00 – 22:00 o’clock,
after that you can’t order anything anymore. You could stay until the restaurant closest and that’s at
23:00 o’clock. The cost for the dinner on these days are €21.50. For kids from o up and till 3 years are
free and kids from 4 up and till 10 years have to pay €13.50.

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The other dinner days from Thursday up and till Sunday are a bit more expensive. On Thursday and
Sunday the kitchen is open from 16:00 – 22:00 o’clock and it cost €23.80. On the days Friday and
Saturday they have a different arrangement, they have two parts with different times. The first part
starts at 17:00 – 20:00 o’clock and the second part starts at 20:00 – 22:30 o’clock, after that the
kitchen will close. Also here kids have a different price, kids from 0 up and till 3 years are free and
kids from 4 up and till 10 years have to pay €13.50.

Menu card.
The menu card have an extensive amount of choice, there are in total 100 different dishes that you
could choose of. The menu card give the people a choice of sushi, salads, temaki hand roll, rice
noodles soup and side orders.

Sushi is a Japanese dish consisting of cooked sushi rise which contains

other ingredients. The most common one is fish but there are also
sushi’s with egg, beef, avocado and more ingredients. In a basic sushi
role the following ingredient are in it; Nori, sushi rise, tezu and
whatever ingredient you would like to have in it, for example tuna.
Nori is also called seaweed, this is the outside of the basic sushi role.
Tezu isn’t actually an ingredient, it’s just handy to put on their hands
when they need to spread the rise so that the rise will not stick on
their hands. Basic tuna sushi role.

With the temaki hand role the ingredients are nearly the same as the basic sushi role. It could contain
shrimp, avocado, octopus, eel and raw tuna and salmon. It just depends which temaki hand role you
choose. The hand role is a bigger than the sushi and is easy to eat with your hands. A popular role in
America and Europe but not in Japan is the California roll. This
contains of the following ingredients; avocado, kani kama this is an
imitation of crab, cucumber and tobiko. Tobiko is the Japanese word
for flying fish eggs. With of course sushi rise in the inside and the
seaweed also called Nori on the outside to hold the sushi together.
But Nori isn’t only good to hold your sushi together but it’s also good
for your skin so more nori means a more beautiful skin.
California Temaki hand roll.

Rice noodles soup is actually the wrong name for it. Because
Shabu Shabu only serve noodles soup. The noodles soup could
contain different ingredients but at Shabu Shabu they have the
following noodles soup; vegetarian, rib eye and pork. With the
famous vegetable been sprouts.

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 Vegetarian noodles soup.

Wasabi.
Wasabi is a strong seasoning from the Japanese kitchen.
It’s mostly used by sushi and other fish dishes. Wasabi is
made out of the roots from the Wasabia japonica plant, they
have an outstanding green color so you can’t miss it at al. The
great thing of wasabi is that it’s really sharp but that the
sharpness doesn’t stay like with other seasonings such as chili
pepper or something even sharper.
As soon as you take a bit too much wasabi the seasoning goes
right away to your nose and gives a strange feeling, after
approximately one second your eyes starts to produce water.
And then the sharpness is gone and you could start all over
again.
Wasabi should be very finely grated before use or needs to be
made in a paste. Some wasabi they mix with other ingredients Wasabi roots.
like horseradish (that’s a plant), mustard and food coloring to
make it as green as possible. Once the paste is prepared the
wasabi will lose its flavor within 15 minutes.

Chopsticks.
Chopsticks are tiny sticks used in pairs of equal length. It’s used during traditional eating and in
certain countries especially in China, Japan, Korea Thailand and Vietnam. The first chopsticks were
made in China. Chopsticks are mostly made out of bamboo, plastic and various types of wood. The
pair of sticks you have to use in one hand between the thumb and fingers to pick up certain types of
food.
You need to be careful
because when you brake the
wooden chopstick to get two
sticks there could be some
wood chips. You don’t want
that in your mouth because
that would be very
uncomfortable. To prevent
wooden chips you need to
rub the sticks together so the wooden chips will fall off. With the plastic chopsticks you don’t need to
be worried about the wooden chips. Because this is smooth. But for the restaurants it’s easier to give
the wooden chopsticks and through them away instead off washing the plastic chopsticks over and
over again. Of course if eating with chopsticks isn’t your talent, you could ask for a fork.

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Positive and negative points.
Shabu Shabu looks great when you walk over the doorstep, they lead you to your table and explain
the rules and how it works. The positive thing is that it really feels as if you are in Japan. It’s nicely
decorated with all different Japanese art on the wall, on the table, just everywhere you look there is
something Japanese. The tables are already set up. And the food… The food is delicious, it makes
your day totally good. There is so many choice that it takes some time before you know what you
want.

Shabu Shabu still has some things where they could work on. I think that it’s a big disappointment
that the people don’t take your coat and hang it up. I know that it isn’t a very expensive restaurant
but it would be very polite to take the customers coat. Another thing that they could improve is to
give the waiters more information about what for ingredients are in the dishes or what wasabi is
made of. When we ask what wasabi was made of they had to ask it to their employees and then they
came with the answer that it’s from a wasabi plant. Not entirely correct but it was close. It’s also
very rude that when you are just finish with your sushi that they serve on a sushi plate, they right
away crab it away to clear your table that looks very rude. On one hand that is positive because when
there is a table for two there isn’t very much space to put everything on.

Internet.
There are many topics about the discussion which all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant is nicer.  But the
people on the forum find the sushi delicious and want to eat there every week. Like ‘Summerlove’
says: ‘I’m in love with sushi. I have only tried Shabu Shabu in Rotterdam but I would love to try
another sushi restaurant does anybody knows which one is nicer than Shabu Shabu? And ‘Peaches’
says: ‘I don’t have any experience with another sushi restaurant, most of the times I go to Shabu
Shabu and it’s delicious. I think that it would be hard to say which one is better. I think that Moshi
Moshi is the next sushi all-you-can-eat restaurant on my list.

Criticism.
Shabu Shabu is a beautiful restaurant. It’s a whole new experience to eat there, it feels as if you are
in Japan. The food is delicious. I never thought that Sushi would be so nice, everything you should try
for the first time. I’m not a fish person, I don’t like fish at all but for this I would make an exception.
Out of the five stars I would give Shabu Shabu four. Because I think that the waiters could be
improved, they need to be friendlier and should know the ingredients in the dishes if somebody asks
for it.