Download the Moopon app on your iPhone and get free potsticker with a 12 oz meat purchase
I recently shot an interview on USC’s cable TV show “Trojan Vision” (link coming soon) as a panelist discussing food culture in Los Angeles. It was an hour of talking about food, especially affordable yummy food since it’s a show for college students. The whole panel all agreed that K-town is the perfect place to get your grub on without dipping into your savings. So I decided, after the shoot, to take a drive in the neighborhood and let the Moopon app alert me when a great promotion pops up.
As soon as I turned on the Moopon app, many coupons popped up, and since I’m not well versed in Korean shabu-shabu, I figured I’d check out the Oren Shabu promotion.
Oren Shabu
3785 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 32, Los Angeles, CA 90010
http://www.orenshabushabu.com
A lot of my friends have hang-ups on dining alone. I love it; it allows me to focus on the food better (no offense to my pals out there). Oren Shabu’s shabu-shabu bar is one of the cooler places to eat solo cause it’s such an interactive way to eat. It’s fun to feel like you have a private chef (actually a waiter, but he helps with food) helping you with your soup.
Shabu-shabu, traditionally a Japanese dish, but it’s common in Korean culture, and adds kimchi and other sauces (see below). Shabu-shabu consists of a hot pot of broth that cooks vegetables and meats. I’m sure many people eat it as a soup (although it’s very hot) but I like to dip in my meat piece by piece, more like fondue.
Once my broth (I chose spicy chicken) came to a boil, I added in the veggies and let them cook first. I started with carrot and mushrooms, then added in the greens, rice and fish patty and noodles. I prefer firmer tofu, so that went in last. I ordered the 12 oz dinner portion of rib eye (sliced very thin) and was excited to get it cooking. You can see a video of how I cooked the meat here. The set up comes with an array of sauces to dip meat and veggies in. Once the rib eye was cooked to about medium rare, I would just dip it straight in the sauces. The sauces were: ponzu peanut, Thai chili, ginger miso and jalapeño yuzu. I loved these sauces so much I ordered rice just to soak them up. My favorite was the Thai chili. Banchan (Korean sides) was also served with pickled cucumber and kimchi.
Not only was the shabu-shabu experience awesome, but then my server asked me if I wanted to turn my leftover broth and rice into a porridge. I hadn’t heard of this before, so I figured I’d try it. See the prep video here. The leftover broth gets reduced; the server added a fresh egg, nori, sesame seeds, sesame oil and a little soy sauce to create meal number 2. So delicious. It was so savory and filling that I had to take it home as leftovers. But I love that Oren Shabu discourages food waste! I wish more spots would do so.
Oren Shabu, like many other K-Town spots, is tucked in a larger business structure, so be sure to figure out the parking situation before your trip, so you’re not making laps. I’m excited to come back and check out the “munchies” menu, which includes small plates like chimichurri fries, rib eye sliders, and yellowtail collar. They also offer lunch specials and a shabu happy hour so be sure to check that out too.
Download the Moopon app on your iPhone and get free potsticker with a 12 oz meat purchase
