Recently, DH and I passed by a sign for a lunch special at Shabu World (or Swab World, as the sign seems to read) and decided to check it out.
This was our first visit to Shabu World which serves Japanese hot pot. I really liked the decor and the set-up. There is a giant bar to sit around in the center of the restaurant, but also some tables off to the side as well. We chose to sit at the bar.
The restaurant was quite empty when we dined there. I think part of it was due to the heat and they didn’t have A/C on inside. For $8.95, you get a choice of beef, pork or chicken, and a plate of vegetables and udon noodles, and a soda. For an additional $2, you can upgrade from shabu shabu broth to either miso, spicy, or sukiyaki.
DH and I both decided to upgrade the broths after being warned that the shabu shabu broth is just water with seaweed. DH chose the miso, and I chose spicy.
The miso basically tasted like miso soup. The spicy broth was a very mild spicy. Both broths were still a little bit light on the flavor scale, especially the spicy broth.
We both opted for the rib eye beef. It was some pretty good quality meat, very tender and flavorful. Just a quick dip and it was ready to be eaten.
Our meal also came with a choice of brown or white rice.
The vegetable platter consisted of napa cabbage, enoki mushrooms, broccoli, tofu, carrots and celery. A lot of the napa cabbage was bitter though, which is often a sign that the cabbage is old and not fresh. We also were given some udon, along with a larger bowl, to make a bowl of udon noodles at the end. 
We were given two dipping sauce, a ponzu and a peanut sauce. We were offered some hot sauce drops to add a little oomph to each of the sauces. There was also garlic and onions to add to the sauces.
The service was really nice. They checked on us frequently, turned down the temperature of the pot when needed, etc.
I thought for $8.95 was a pretty good price for a lunch special, especially since shabu shabu tends to be on the expensive side. However, even though there were quite a bit of items included with the lunch special, I still felt that the meal was quite light. I was full at the end, but not super full.
For another perspective, check out Kirk’s post here.
Here are pictures of the lunch and regular menu:
Shabu Shabu
3904 Convoy St
Ste 117
San Diego, CA 92111
Hey Kirbie – You finally made it to Swab…ummm..Shabu World! ;o)
Lol. You know last night when doing the post, I was looking for the folder of pictures to upload and I looked under “Sw..” and couldn’t find it. And then realized, oh right, it’s Shabu not Swab.
Swab World LOLLLL
That’s pretty cheap. I will have to check it out soon.
I liked that they offered a variety of vegetables and even brown rice!
I keep accidentally calling it that because it’s always what I think when I see the sign!