One of my high school buddies invited our group for his birthday treat, and we had a great meal at the shabu-shabu section of Gloriamaris in Greenhills. We started the dinner with siao long pao, and their version had just the right amount of soupy flavor inside.
The shabu-shabu ingredients are delivered to your table fresh off the pantry! You're given some flavor condiments to mix with the soup stock--garlic, green onions, sate, chili sauces. The soup continues to boil in front of you, just remember to turn down the heat if you don't like to overcook. There's a sequence to tossing in the ingredients--gabi, corn, tofu and squid balls, for example, take long to cook so you should drop these in first. Flavorings usually come next. Shrimps and sukiyaki strips cook easily, so you have to use your strainer to to fish these out in some 30 seconds! Vegetables cook fast, so we drop these in last.
You can't fool customers in the shabu-shabu business, every food item must be very fresh! Depending on the package of ingredients you choose, I'd say you have to prepare something like P500 to P800 per head. The cooking style is healthy and enjoyable to prepare (especially great in cold climates). The only drawback for me is that most often the soup tastes the same from start to finish--one can only eat so much of the same flavor.
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