Restoran Stimbot Syabu Syabu

Restoran Stimbot Syabu Syabu sounds like a name which is generated without any thinking effort. It is located on the same plot of land which is nearby Kampar Club. The same area also houses a bistro/pub and a Chinese restaurant. This steamboat outlet is the one occupying a big bungalow inspired by Malay hut building elements. Rumours has it this building was haunted, anybody to verify this?

There don't really go by the one person one pot concept. You will get a common pot and an induction cooker for every table. One can choose 2 soup base at one go from the 4 types available – Chicken, Beef, Curry, Tom Yam. We went for the Chicken and Tom Yam combination. 

There is a bit more to steamboat here with a side range of cooked ready to eat food. There is a heater oven which offers fried chicken wings, fried wan wan and fried beancurd skin (fu chook).

Other ready to eat food include fried rice, fried noodles, beef masala curry, curry sotong, thai style taufu and a few other generic dishes “ala catering”. I skipped this area completely.... well, okay, I did sample one piece of Beef Masala.

This is the centre where it turned to be a warzone after 8pm!

Most of the items for steamboat are processed meat (fish balls, crabmeat sticks, weird looking surimi derivatives, etc). However, there is also sufficient amount of fresh seafood namely Dory fish fillets, sting ray cubes, tiger prawns, flower crabs, squid, cockles, and a few types of “clams”.

For poultry, they have chicken, lamb and beef fillets. They have a wide selection of noodles and vegetables too to fill up the empty space inside your stomach, but I doubt you will be eating them. Well, for the fibre purposes yes. We skipped the noodles completely that night.

It's my policy to eat REAL unprocessed meat when it comes to buffet steamboat. Call it kiasu-ism or what, the processed meat balls and surimi and crabstick can be found in pasar malam :p I had almost 2 whole crabs that night! Cholesterol level up :/

I hope by now you have noticed something.... Yes. this restaurant is PORK-FREE. Not certified halal yet but it seems that it managed to draw quite a substantial share of Malay customers...

The crowd started to build up at 7pm. They are not kidding or boasting about the reservation. By 8pm, the place is indeed FULL! So I advise you to be here before 7pm if possible as by 8pm, not only those fried wantan and chicken wings are gone, the nasi goreng and mee goreng are also empty!!!

The is a variety of sauce for dipping. As my memory recalls, there is Satay Sauce, Peanut Sauce, Thai Garlic Chilli sauce, Sambal Sauce, some cili padi belacan sauce, Maggi chilli and tomato sauce to mention a few. As typical Malaysian, grab abit of everything, and a lot of fried fu chook. Dip and savour to find which appease your taste buds the most :)

For the BBQ station, they offer tepanyaki (hot plate grill) and open fire BBQ styled grilling. The procedure is simple, pick from the choices of marinaded seafood or poultry/meat. The skewers are meant for open fire grilling while the non-skewered meats are meant for the hot plate. I had a fair share of both but I think the skewered ones taste better due to the slightly charred bits. After picking, write your table number on a sticker to tag your plates and patiently wait for the food to be grilled. They will send it over to your table once its done. 

Prawns, chunk of lamb, and squid tentacles (lovely and addictive!)

The Malay kuihs which is very disappointing. Perhaps you should go for the cut fruits or make yourself a cup of ice kacang....

 The ice kacang machine which and its pathethic toppings. Not appealing right?

 Go for some ice cream then, this pick is safe and wouldn't go wrong. It could be nice if you just top up a little toppings which were actually meant for the ice kacang. Hehe... how's my creation like? :)

So, that is more or less about it... The price is RM26/person nett. So, you judge for yourself whether the food is worth it or not. It's worth a try but I would advise you to come earlier before 7 to avoid the "warzone", so that you can dine properly for an hour or so....

For us, we arrived slightly before 7pm, ate at a relaxed pace with abundant of food. But after 8pm, the food seems to be empty and many who came late were frantically "fighting" for food. We were dining leisurely by then, aiming for the grilled stuffs. Yup, we sat until 10:30pm! Haha... I even had a hot Mocha before leaving. Trust me, steamboat is a good time for chit chatting and eating at leisure pace.

 

 There you have it - the latest "halal" steamboat environment in an air conditioned restaurant with ample parking space. The environment is pretty cosy... Shabu Shabu Stimbot shares the same plot of land with Kampar Club, just sandwiched between Impiana Hotel and Tropicana Ballroom.