Kuku's Random Diary — 2023.5.6 ☁

Let me share the amazing food I ate this week!

Take a look at this first:

a hot pot absolutely loaded with vegetables!

This is from Shabu Yoha!

Not sure if you all have tried it before.

It's an all-you-can-eat hot pot place, prices run roughly $15-25.

Personally I think the value for the price and food quality is really solid.

The vegetables are all fresh, and it's self-serve, so you can pile on as much of whatever you like as you want.

The curry rice from the self-serve bar is really good too.

And they have Japanese warabi mochi as well.

Their whole thing isn't really about the meat, it's about the huge variety of vegetables.

But! I actually think their pork is amazing.

I don't usually eat much pork, since a lot of places have that gamey pork smell I'm not a fan of.

Theirs had absolutely none of that, so good.

Next, I went to Haidilao with everyone from the studio!

This was my first time ever trying Haidilao.

My impression going in was, "probably expensive, probably kind of average, mostly selling the vibe."

Having actually eaten there, honestly the food itself is really good too, lol, guess you really do have to try it yourself to know.

That said, the vibe thing is real too, there are staff doing live performances around the restaurant.

If you order their noodles, someone comes over and does the whole noodle-swinging show right in front of you.

I have to give a shoutout to Haidilao's tofu pudding and tofu, so good.

And they somehow even sell Linling rolls.

Linling rolls are this really thin type of tofu skin.

Usually you only see them at ginger duck hot pot places, pretty rare to find at a regular hot pot spot.

I absolutely love Linling rolls, and tossed into a mala broth, they're an absolutely perfect 100 out of 100.

For meat, we ordered short ribs, and they were so good!!! So smooth and tender, so smooth and tender.

For dessert, I finally got to try the brown sugar mochi that's a Haidilao specialty.

It tastes like fried nian gao with a sweet sauce drizzled over it.

I already love fried nian gao, so I thoroughly enjoyed every bite, hehe.

And also,

I want to show you the drink I ordered at a bar!!

The one on the left is mine.

It's a strawberry-flavored cocktail, with a dried strawberry garnish on top.

The texture on top is nice and velvety, and it's not overly sweet, you can really taste the strawberry.

No surprise there, my go-to bartender, Kumori-chan, absolutely nails it every time.....

Let's wrap this round up with a happy self-indulgent photo, hehe.

Lastly, this week's KURO,

extreme close-up of the paw beans!