My Shabu Shabu Dinner At Nagomi

I love shabu- shabu or steamboat! Especially on a cold and rainy night!

The weather had been just that recently, so it was not unusual that I ended up going for a few steamboat dinners these past two weeks. Of all the steamboat dinners I have been to, I think my favourite must be the Shabu-shabu Buffet at Nagomi Japanese Restaurant.

Located on the 1st floor of Menara Hap Seng at Jalan P. Ramlee KL, Nagomi is having a promotional price of their shabu-shabu buffet at only RM32.80++!



I actually loved Nagomi so much I went twice! The first time, it was my birthday dinner and my friend booked the restaurant at the last minute. So we ended up sitting at a table for two hidden at a far end corner.



It was OK cos we had lots or privacy. Haha!

The second time I went with two friends and we were given a table nearer to the buffet spread. Besides having easier access to the food, I discovered one major advantage sitting near the buffet spread and I'll tell you what it is later.



What makes Nagomi different from all the other steamboat restaurants? I must say it's their very fresh seafood! Yes, fresh seafood makes ALL the difference! I'm afraid that having eaten at Nagomi, I would find it hard to accept other lesser quality steamboat.

The first time I ate there, I was quite amazed to find endless supply of tiger prawns, crayfish (mini lobsters), flower crabs, salmon, scallops and oysters. Eat all these all you want at only RM32.80++? It was unbelievable!

I have to admit I have yet to eat such fresh lobsters and scallops in any KL restaurants at such an affordable price!! If you have, please let me know where!

However, during my second visit, some things changed and I would let you know what in a minute.


Scallops and fish slices


Crayfish (mini lobsters), tiger prawns and bamboo clams


Mussels, clams, and oysters



Scallops, flower crab, salmon and crayfish

There were many different types of sauces to dip your cooked seafood in. I could not remember their names, but after trying all of them, I settled for just one - the wafu sauce. It was yummy!!



So on my second visit, I took only my favourite wafu sauce! I thought of filling up a bowl with the sauce but then decided not to appear so greedy. Haha!



When I first ate at Nagomi, I was actually quite amazed that they were providing unlimited fresh salmon. As if unlimited lobsters and crabs were not enough! I remember telling my friend how on earth do they make money charging us at only RM32.80++ with all these expensive seafood?

And then, on my second visit, I discovered they did not have crabs and salmon! Nooooo!!!

Upon asking, we were told that salmon would be out only at 8pm. True enough, right on the dot at 8pm, a staff rang the bell announcing the servings of salmon. Then in true Malaysian style, everyone rushed to the counter to get their share of the salmon. Gosh! This almost reminded me of the uncivilized scrambling for chicken wings at Yuen Steamboat!



As I mentioned earlier, we were at an advantage sitting so near the buffet spread. Because of this, I was able to secure 4 plates of salmon! Haha!



The salmon was oh, so fresh and I immediately cooked them in the hotpot. By the way, it is all individual hotpot in Nagomi which is good as it is more hygienic and customizable. Besides, it's no fun cooking your salmon in a shared pot and finding out that someone else had eaten it! LOL!


My cooked salmon. Yum!

Besides seafood, Nagomi also serve thinly sliced meat. There were 4 choices to choose from - chicken, lamb, beef and duck. The first time I tried all, but on my second visit, I only went for the beef and duck.


Beef slices


Duck slices

Oh, did I mention that they also have sushi, vegetables, red bean soup, fruits and desserts too?

The sushi was not nice so I did not eat much. Anyway, you would not want to waste your stomach space for such things as sushi when there were abundance of seafood! Haha!

Fruits and desserts were rather limited. On my first visit, I did not know they have ice creams! I only discovered it during my second visit when I saw a staff manning an ice cream machine. Unfortunately, I was told the machine was down that evening! What a bummer!

Anyway, after the buffet, I and my friends went to Snowflake and I got myself a Japanese Combo II which was perfect after a hot steamboat meal!



The vegetables in Nagomi were very fresh but I noticed not many people eating them. This just shows how unhealthy most people's diets are with lots of meat and very little vegetables! If you go to Nagomi, make sure you eat their fresh vegetables too!


My hotpot containing tiger prawns, lobster and clams

I really enjoyed my steamboat buffet at Nagomi. I am not sure how much longer the price at RM32.80++ will remain but I may just go there again for the third time! Hopefully, the lobsters and scallops will not be missing like the crabs.

Buffet Steamboat at Yuen Steamboat

Last Sunday, I went to Yuen Steamboat in Sunway Mentari for a buffet steamboat. It was my first time there, after friends and my own brother had countlessly gushed praises on the food there.

But they had one warning for me. Be there early or risk queuing up outside the restaurant. And being early means I must be there at 5.30pm when it opens.

Together with my three other friends, we reached there slightly later than 5pm and already we could see that the three storey restaurant was full of customers inside. We were led to our table for four on the highest floor.

I quickly did a scan of the various food available. Not bad! Besides the different varieties of seafood and vegetables, there were fried rice, fried noodles, fruits, kueh, jelly, chicken wings and ice cream!

Unlike other steamboats, this one offered us a choice of clear soup or tom yam soup or both in the same hotpot which was separated into two compartments. We opted for both.



I did not find the tom yam soup that nice. It's not the spicy and sour type that I like. Or maybe I simply no longer like Malaysian tom yam after having tasted Thai tom yam while in Bangkok. This was like a huge letdown for me.

There were lots of mussels, clams, lala, and even snails or should I say, escargots? I didn't really like the snails. I don't know, maybe they were not that fresh?



All the seafood photos I took were raw ones, that is before I put them into the hotpot to cook. After they were cooked, I did not bother to take photos anymore as I just could not wait to eat them!

There were a lot of fishes, prawns and octopuses. I am not a fan of octopuses, but I took the fishes and prawns by the truckloads!



They had a large variety of balls - fishballs, beefballs, but no porkballs. I guess it's a halal restaurant although I did not see any Malay or Muslim diners.



There were also the usual yong tau foo stuffs which I took once only and did not really eat them because you can eat these outside.



Oh, the ones I like were the bluish looking crabs. Yes, you can eat unlimited amount of crabs here! I took plates after plates of these crabs. Look, aren't they beautiful?



I would also like to relate a special dish at this restaurant that seemed to bring out the uncivilised characteristics of Malaysians. I am talking about their fried chicken wings! Or was it grilled chicken wings? Or braised? And was it honey chicken wings? Or teriyaki? Or coca cola chicken wings? I really don't know, but they tasted sweet and unique.

I tell you, these chicken wings were so popularly high in demand that once they were taken out from the kitchen, everyone would be rushing to grab it. And believe it or not, these people were so uncivilised they practically fight with one another just to grab their piece of the chickens!

I could not believe that in the commotion, some chicken wings actually ended up on the floor! What a mess! And what a waste of food! Looking at how they fight over the chickens, you would have thought they had not eaten for days!

And believe it or not, once the tray containing the chickens that came out from the kitchen were placed on the table, the chickens would be completely gone within 10 seconds! I swear it's true because I actually timed it!

I gave up after three times failing to grab my share. But as the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them! I sure as hell was not going to miss the popular chicken wings by giving in to these people! Well, at least I need to taste the chickens once so that I would be able to understand why they were so popular. So we just watched and observed how the "successful" uncivilised people grabbed the chickens. And boy, did we learn fast!

So here's the technique we learnt. Oh gosh, maybe I should not reveal the secret here. Otherwise, I would have to really put in a fight the next time I go there! But on second thoughts, why not? Everyone should be given a chance to taste those chickens! Now you can say anything bad about me, but you will never ever say I'm not generous, will you?

So here's what you need to do to successfully outwit, outplay and outlast everyone else. Oops! Watched too much Survivor here. Haha! We actually noticed that the fried chickens would be brought out from the kitchen every 30 minutes or so. And the "veterans" who already knew would be lining up or should I say gather at the table 10 minutes beforehand! So plan your attack early!

Get ready 2 big empty plates. Hold one plate on each hand and gather at the table 5 minutes before the chickens arrive. No need to be there 10 minutes beforehand as you don't want to look like a desperado. Or a loser. I don't know which is worse.

When the lady carrying the chickens place the tray on the table, cut through the crowd mercilessly with the two plates in front of you. Then go for the attack! Lunge yourself forward and scoop the chickens with your two big plates! Take in as many chickens as you could possibly manage and get your butt out immediately leaving those losers to fight among themselves! Brilliant, no?

Anyway, we were so eager to taste the chicken wings we forgot to take photos! So, I only managed to take this photo of whatever chickens remaining on the plate.



I did not bother to take any photos of the fried rice, kueh, fruits and jelly as they were just the usual stuffs that can be found outside this restaurant. In fact, I did not eat very much of them.

As for the ice cream, I found their sago honeydew ice cream delicious! But when I went for a second helping, it was gone! So I settled for other flavours which was nothing much to shout about.

Overall, I would say that the steamboat was not particularly special or good, but there were certainly lots of varieties of seafood and vegetables. And the fried chicken we fought hard for was pretty good too.

The total bill was RM87.35 which came up to about RM22 per person. Not bad! Pretty cheap considering the amount of fishes, crabs and prawns we ate! Maybe that's why it was so popular. As we left the restaurant at about 8pm, we could see a long line of people queuing outside!

Oh, by the way, I do not know why my friends who recommended me this place did not advise me to make bookings beforehand. You can do that to avoid ending up queuing outside, which is most likely what you will do if you arrive at the restaurant after 6pm especially during weekends.