Monday, January 16, 2012

Restaurant Discovery: Ganso-Shabuway

I am an official sucker for new places. As long as I see an “opening soon” sign, I make sure that I’ll try it before it turns 6 months old. Yes, even if I am not fond of the food it will serve. That’s how addicted I am to new places. Don’t get me wrong though as I love old places too as long as I have never been there (with the exemption of Intramuros for that’s just too classic not to visit again).
 
Irashaimase!
 
That was the first thing you’ll hear once you step inside Ganso-Shabuway. 

The place was packed when we arrived. But the turnover was pretty fast. We just waited for ONE MINUTE before we got a table. Fast, isn’t it?

I have a confession to make… I do not like shabu-shabu. In fact, I hate it. (It shocks me that I do not like this Japanese dish considering I am a Japanese wannabe who is in love with everything Japanese […food related that is].) But since I’ve never been to this place, my I-just-have-to-try-it-even-though-I-might-just-waste-some-hard-earned-money mentality prevailed.
We were given the menu as soon as we sat down and I was pretty clueless for I’ve tried shabu-shabu only twice before. I stretched my neck to the max to check what the other diners ordered and it all looked the same to me. O_O

I then decided to ask the server for their bestsellers and she recommended the Meyer Angus Veggie and Mushroom Set for 2 persons (PHP989). Trusting the server’s recommendation, we ordered that with an additional order of ramen noodles (PHP80). 
 
Since we could have two broths, we decided to try the Spicy Miso and Traditional Seaweed broths. I asked the server though if we could have the “spicy” miso a bit milder as my sister and I could not tolerate spicy food that well. She said that they could.

Upon serving the pot, we noticed that the broths looked the same. We were actually confused and since we were hungry, we didn’t bother asking the server anymore as they were also busy attending to other hungry diners. 
 
It tasted quite the same. It took us some time before we realized that it was both broths were seaweed. *awww + sad face*
 
The US Angus Meyer was quite good. It was served fresh and the cut was ideal for shabu-shabu. 
The serving of veggies was pretty generous as well. I love mushrooms and I enjoyed munching it till it all disappeared. 
 
I heard that the key to enjoy shabu-shabu is a great tasting dip. My sister and I didn’t experiment with our dips (meaning we did not add anything at all) and actually hesitated to use it. There were two dips available—Ponzu (sweet and sour) and Sesame Sauce (sweet and rich). I enjoyed the Ponzu more than the Sesame Sauce as I felt like the Sesame Sauce was too creamy for my taste. It reminded me of egg yolks too. 
 
Overall, the food was okay. (I’m a bit biased as I am not really a fan of shabu-shabu but saying that it was okay means that I was able to eat and got full). My sister didn’t like their service though as she was “ignored” by the servers when she requested that she would like to seat on the couch. The servers insisted (indirectly) that she seats on the chair opposite the couch as that’s where they placed the pot, her bowl of rice, utensils, and water. It would have been better if they were vocal about it instead of making my sister feel that she was invisible. 

NOTE: Upon doing a bit of research, I discovered that this restaurant is not very new after all as they opened their first branch at Greenbelt 5 a few months back. Since I do not frequent Greenbelt, I was not aware at all. Hoho. But, thanks to Rockwell, I get to try this place. 

Also, based on my research, hot pot lovers would love this place as the dips were something that sets this restaurant apart from the other hot pot places. I could testify too that the meat was really good. :)

Ganso-Shabuway is located at Level P1, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center, Makati City.

2 comments:

  1. oh my... bad service indeed! obviously they do not know the saying "the customer is ALWAYS right"

    i love shabu shabu! the secret here is to have the perfect dipping sauce. the food is really meant to taste bland lalo na if you get the plain/regular broth. the perfect dipping sauce makes all the difference. i recommend u try gloria maris and try this -- soy sauce, lots of chopped garlic, a teaspoon or two of satay, some spring onions. then order corn and taro. cook those two first and keep them in the broth for a longer time. they make the soup sweeter and when you eat the meat dip them into the sauce first before biting into them. :) shabu shabu is FUN!

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  2. Ooh, will keep that in mind. I'll try to kidnap a friend and try Gloria Maris' version.

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Comments or other recommendations? :)