We walked past Arashi Shabu Shabu countless times while out window shopping in Johor Bahru malls but never stepped in before because we are street food people, first and foremost. But, this month we were trapped in the annual Singapore / Malaysia haze and had no choice but to eat mall food. So, for the first time, we had our lunch at Arashi Shabu Shabu.
Inside Arashi Shabu Shabu, it looked really ostentatious with heavy velvet padded high chairs, chandeliers, dim lights, heavy wall height curtains and all the bells and whistles. But, come right in - Arashi is actually a casual, family friendly hot pot joint with mid level pricing.
Arashi Shabu Shabu has about 10 outlets, meaning it is represented in every major mall in JB. This one at The Mall Mid Valley Southkey which opened in Aug 2019 is Arashi's newest.
Arashi Shabu Shabu offers personal hot pot sets for individual pax i.e. 1 diner 1 personal hot pot. I had the pork cheek set which come with pork balls, mushroom, bean curd skin and vegetables attractively presented like a bouquet.
There was a choice of about 10 different types of soup base for your pot, in two broad categories - either spicy or non spicy. I picked one of the spicy soup bases, fancily named Hot & Spicy Milk Broth.
We also had the pork belly set.
The thin slices of pork belly came with a bouquet of mushroom, meat ball, tofu, meat dumpling, fried tofu skin, surimi "crab" and leafy greens etc.
For our second set, we had one of the non spicy soup base - Kombu broth. Free top ups of soup base, on request.
We cooked our own food with our respective individual hot pots fired by wax candles.
I like it that the pork were sufficiently fresh - both the pork cheek and pork belly. The various meat balls, dumplings, mushroom, tofu and vegetables were fresh too, adding variety and flavours to the meal.
Between the spicy and non spicy soup base, we prefer the non spicy savoury sweet one as it brought out the natural sweetness of the fresh pork. The spicy soup base was a little too assertive in flavour, so it tended to mask and overwhelm the subtle porky sweet flavour.
Between the pork cheek and pork belly, we prefer the latter because it had more tender texture, more juicy and sweeter taste. The pork cheek were sliced too small and thin which took away most of the cut's signature juicy crunch.
Each set come with a serving of carbs - choice of rice, yellow noodles and glass noodles. We had the rice and glass noodles.
I recommend the glass noodles (no picture). Just dunk it briefly in the soup base (a little too long and it will turn soggy). The glass noodles retained a bit of subtle chewy bite and did a marvellous job infusing the soup base flavours - be it spicy or non spicy.
They have a good range of sauces and dips. Taste good but we didn't use them much as we like the natural taste of the fresh pork and other ingredients.
Arashi have many side dishes beside the hot pot sets. We had this chawanmushi steamed egg custard which was very smooth, eggy savoury sweet.
In a mall, I think Arashi Shabu Shabu is an option you can consider. The pricing is reasonable, the decor is "luxurious" (though may not be to everyone's taste), the food is fresh enough, portions are just right, and quite tasty. Service is good too. The staff respond quickly to the pager on the table.
When can we have fresh air and can eat outdoors again please? 😂
Restaurant name: Arashi Shabu Shabu
Address: T-022, Level 3, The Mall Mid Valley Southkey, No. 1, Persiaran Southkey 1, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1°30'06.9"N 103°46'36.0"E 🌐 1.501927, 103.776665
Tel: +607 278 3485
Hours: 11:00am - 9:30pm
Non Halal
Date: 18 Sep 2019
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