Two fridays ago I went with some of the new teachers in my neighbourhood to a Shabu Shabu restaurant. This is one of the korean restaurants that I like. Wednesday of this week we had gone for an english teachers dinner from my school to another Shabu Shabu restaurant across the road from our school.

Here is a brief video another KBlogger made about shabu shabu. Basically you boil your own meat in a pot that sits in the centre of your table along with vegetables.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1E3hyAxiOs 

I believe there are maybe three types of Shabu Shabu, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese. The one across from our school is Vietnamese. This style is different in that you use rice paper made in circles, which you soak in water to soften, and place your food items inside making a wrap. 

Here is an earlier blog entry from a vietnamese style shabu shabu restaurant. 
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/londone7/1/1292881179/tpod.html 
 

When I first came to this neighbourhood a teacher had taken me to a local shabu restaurant. Usually you are given a platter of meat, and one for vegetables. This one was different in that the vegetables were a self serve all you can eat buffet style which I havent seen in other shabu restaurants. 

Having gone more than a year ago I had no idea where this restaurant was other than a general area. I'd tried a few times to find it but never could. So this time with a group of the new teachers I wanted to take them but we couldnt find it. Luckily, as we were walking back to an Italian restaurant instead we passed it so I herded everyone over. 

As we were a large group we were able to order one meat platter and one seafood platter. The owner who spoke some english suggested we go for the higher priced all you can eat which meant unlimited meat refills.

The centre pot had two halves, one for mild broth, one for spicy. Then you place your vegetable and meat items and bring to a boil. On the seafood platter we had giant clams, shrimps, small octopus as well as other shellfish. You then use tongs and scissors to lift, cut, or de-shell the items. 

Even though we paid for the meat refill platter we never ordered a second as it was just too much food with all the veggies. I think we paid 12,000w per person without drinks ($11). 

There was more food to come the following Friday with a teachers dinner. This time we went to a karaoke restaurant we had gone to a year earlier. This was a different style of cooking from other restaurants.

You either had a centre flame pit to grill your meat or a raised gas fired pot on whose surface you cooked your items. The latter had a small paper cup on one side where all the excess oil drained into. Again you use scissors and tongs to turn, pick up, or cut items. 

There was a large plate of lettuce leaves I thought was salad. This was used to place vegetables and meat items into a wrap in your palm. 

Later the teachers karaoke began after dinner. There were some solo or group performances with tamborines. I was surprised when the new vice principal really danced up a jig.

I did not perform this year. Adjacent to us in the next room was another school with two foreign english teachers that I knew so they would have noticed any english karaoke songs. Life has been busy since with too many more dinners with friends.