A lot of people aren't sold on the shabu shabu idea. To paraphrase Bill Murray in Lost In Translation, what kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food? But some are enamored with the concept of swishing meat around a boiling pot. These are the same types who enjoy 1,000-piece puzzles: those who endeavor to do something not because it is easy, but because they can. Shabu Shabu Bar is more than happy to indulge them in the pleasure of doing it themselves. It even allows diners to grind their own sesame seeds for the goma. But what ultimately endears the place to its fans is this DIY joint does a lot of things for you. The service borders on the obsessive; it's almost as if the restaurant is compensating. The chatty servers will skim the scum from pots, mix sauces, serve rice and even prepare the noodle soup with the now-flavorful broth that used to be just water. Even Murray might warm up to the place.
