Shabusen Yakiniku House Cont’d

Restaurant: Shubusen Yakiniku House Cont’d
Cuisine: Japanese/Sushi/Korean BBQ/Buffet
Last visited: October 19, 09
Location: Vancouver, BC – Downtown (2 locations in Vancouver)
Address: 755 Burrard Street
Price Range: $20-30 ($23 dinner buffet price)

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

• Offers Korean BBQ and popular Japanese items/sashimi
• Owned and operated by Chinese
• Not authentic Japanese sushi
• Typical all-you-can-eat/buffet standards
• Busy/crowded/line-ups
• Good for large groups
• Reservations recommended
• Lunch buffet $13 11-2:30pm
• Dinner buffet $23 5-10:30pm
• Open everyday
• Shabusen – Part 1

**Recommendation: n/a

This is the part 2 of my post which focuses just on the deep fried items. It was too much to put under one post so I split them up.

What can I really say? It’s another all-you-can-eat Japanese place except it also features all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ as well. It’s convenient and good for large groups, not a bad deal, but I wouldn’t pick it. It’s not quite for me, but I’m not their target market either.

Compared to other all-you-can-eat places it’s only better because you get you’re Korean BBQ. The variety is decent with all your standard items but the quality and execution is better at others places.

Is the food at least good? Well it’s all-you-can-eat for $23… it’s not going to be gourmet, but it’s not dog food either, although it doesn’t look appetizing. It’s very basic, slightly below average, and a rough assembly.

I’ve divided my review into 2 parts because it was too much to digest… ha! Love the pun.
1) Not deep-fried items
2) Deep fried items

As a side note, what I really liked about Shabusen is that they minimize waste by offering 1 piece ordering.

On the table:Agedashi Tofu – 1.5/6

• It was a heavy coating of batter and it was too soggy.

Zucchini Tempura – 1.5/6

• Batter was too thick again. It was chewy, soggy, doughy and just not good.
• I do appreciate the fact that I could specifically order a zucchini tempura though. Most places don’t allow you to select your veggie.

Corn Cake – 2.5/6

• The corn cake was almost like a corn croquette. It had a really creamy filling that was perhaps thickened with condensed milk and mayo mix. It was sweet and I would have preferred a bit more savoury. It was a bit flavourless. The sauce wasn’t as good as bechamel sauce.
• This one was breaded rather than battered. It was much better.

Tonkatsu – 4/6

• The Tonkatsu was perhaps the most enjoyable.
• It was really good and crispy and they gave you a big piece of it. It had a perfectly browned panko crust and the pork was very lean. They served it hot and fresh, however as it cooled the meat tasted really dry. Which made me think that the “moistness” was due to the deep-frying.

• Tonkatsu sauce is almost like a Japanese BBQ sauce and it has a kick, but it’s not spicy.

Herring Tempura – 1/6

• Again the batter came right off because it was too thick. The herring is a little salty and there’s tiny tiny caviar in the belly. It’s not really crunchy like masago or even as salty, but it’s very soft and fishy tasting.
• They make it better version at Chinese restaurants.

Dessert

Jello – 1.5/6

• It was a coffee jello with evaporated milk.
• The presentation was horrible and it looked like it was separating.
• The jello tastes like a strong pot of coffee and they skimped out on the condensed milk so it looked really bad.
• They had no mango pudding either.
• To eat: you mix it all up.

[geotag]