Teddy’s birthday lunch at California Shabu Shabu. They don’t take reservations, so we had to wait for about 20 minutes during lunch time.

We both ordered the large (6 pieces each) 2 items combination: 1 beef/scallop, 1 beef/pork for $14.50 each.

They come with noodles, veggies, rice, & of course, the hot pot. The soup was just water, and you add your own seasoning (i.e. garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, etc.) to it. I prefer soup bases that are already made, like at Ichi Ichi. There were only 2 kinds of sauce, ponzu & the peanut sauce. They also had this cool hot sauce thing: 1 drop per spiciness level! That thing was really magic because who knew a drop could be so spicy!

The meat quality was really good though, and that is probably the main reason why this place could be better than Ichi Ichi.

My favorite part was adding the sauce with soup when you eat the udon noodles! I wish I knew about this earlier so I could have used that sauce for EVERYTHING. YUMMMMMMMMMMMM, so good!

First time customers get FREE ICE CREAM! Score! We got black sesame & lychee. Both were DELICIOUS!! Black sesame tasted like cookies & cream, but not as sweet… crazy. Lychee was just how I expected it to be.

I hate how shabu is so expensive, but is so good! This place got really good ratings, and I can see why, but I would prefer going somewhere else for better soup bases. Definitely a should try for first time shabu-ers!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEDDY (part II)!

California Shabu Shabu
801 Baker Street, Suite A
Costa Mesa, CA 92626