Shabugen しゃぶ玄 @ Akasaka (2024)

Shabugen is a specialist wagyu beef shabu-shabu place. Unlike Imahan, They do not offer sukiyaki. However, Shabugen allows you to have a taste of major regions of wagyu produces, and not just a single source.

Since 1973, Shabugen しゃぶ玄 has offered the finest shabu shabu しゃぶしゃぶ served in individual hot pots at reasonable prices. Diners are able to enjoy this traditional Japanese cuisine in a Western atmosphere, seated at a stylish marble countertop. Since the pot is not shared, the restaurant has proven very popular with foreign guests.

Shabugen provides the highest grade, A5 wagyu beef. They also offer kurobuta (Berkshire) pork and seafood items for their shabu shabu, but these are just for variety and not the mainstay.

本日の前菜盛り合わせ Today’s Appetisers

Everyone needs to order from a set menu, and then you can add a la carte orders of beef it that’s not enough. The menu starts from ¥8,800 (~SGD88) upwards and usually consists of an appetiser, vegetables and a choice of meat for shabu shabu. The sky’s the limit when it comes to the wagyu beef.

First up, a raw slice of Matsusaka beef wrapped around shari topped with sea urchin. Delicious. Then an aburi piece of salted mullet roe, followed by a bowl of beef tripes cooked in tomato a la Spanish callos. The last one was my favourite.

超厳選黒毛和牛ヒレステーキ Special Kuroge Wagyu Filet Steak

This was not a fantastic cut of beef, but the marbling was still outstanding. It was quite veiny, and not evenly grilled.

野菜盛り合わせ Assorted Vegetables

I was surprised that they asked us to dump the vegetables into the soup first, which is different from other shabu-shabu restaurants. They said it would allow the vegetable to get the fats of the wagyu infused into them.

本日の海鮮しゃぶしゃぶ Today’s Seafood

We were asked also to eat the seafood before the beef as the umami from the seafood would enhance the flavours of the beef. Strange approach, but we followed suit.

Three kinds of dips were provided to go with the seafood and beef. The first is a yuzu soy sauce and radish dip that is very refreshing and great with seafood, the second is a sesame dip infused with yuzu vinegar, and the third is a garlicky sesame dip infused with chilli.

Try all of them or just the one you liked. They will top up the dips when you finished them.

お肉 Meat

The three major Japanese Wagyu beef brands are Matsusaka beef 松阪牛 (Mie Prefecture 三重県), Kobe beef 神戸牛 (Hyogo Prefecture 兵庫県), and Omi beef 近江牛(Shiga Prefecture 滋賀県). The three major Wagyu beef is known as a brand of Wagyu beef that Japan is proud of in the world, and each has a different charm although they are all derived from the Tajima cattle.

Tajima cows 但馬牛 are genetically strong and are highly prized as purebred seedstock cattle in the breeding of Wagyu cattle throughout Japan. They have also been used for crossbreeding, so many excellent Wagyu brands such as “Kobe beef”, “Matsusaka beef” and “Omi beef” have inherited their genes.

Tajima beef that’s marketed today is known as “Tajima beef produced in Hyogo Prefecture”, which means it’s beef from Japanese Black cattle that have been raised and fattened in Hyogo Prefecture, with a BMS of 3-12 (Grade 3-5). It becomes Kobe beef when it’s grade A5 and raised in Kobe.

松阪牛リブロース Matusaka Beef Rib

Matsusaka beef is a brand of Wagyu beef with a small number of shipments overseas because of its popularity in Japan. It is the meat of Japanese Black cattle reared under strict conditions in the Matsusaka region of Mie Prefecture, and commands a high fat-to-meat ratio. This is most likely the wagyu beef (if that’s wagyu you are having) that you will find in the popular chain stores.

神戸牛リブロース Kobe Beef Rib

All Kobe beef are Tajima beef, but not all Tajima beef can be called Kobe beef. Kobe beef can only be called after a Tajima cow has been examined with stricter criteria for marbling and quality. It is perhaps the most well-known beef brand outside of Japan because of all the publicity on the painstaking steps (Mozart and massage) taken to raise these pampered Tajima cattle. Every single herd is tagged and documented. The last cattle shipped to Singapore was Oct 2024 and Cattle #1655611818 from Taniguchibokujo.

近江牛リブロース Omi Beef Rib

Omi beef refers to cuts of beef from Black Japanese cattle have been raised in Shiga Prefecture, in an environment surrounded by water and bountiful nature. In addition to having very fine fat marbling, what makes this meat distinctive is its lustrous fat and sweet, smooth flavour. IMHO, this is the brand to go for as it is very rare outside of Japan, or it is ridiculously priced otherwise.

The melting in one’s mouth sensation comes from the unsaturated fatty acids in the beef. All you need is to blanch quickly in the boiling konbu stock and dip in the condiments or eat it on its own. Do it slice by slice, and don’t kill the taste or texture by cooking it too long. The timing is when the meat just turned from pink, that’s when you take it out and let the remaining temperature cook it further. A second longer, the meat is overcooked.

お食事 Main Course

There are three choices of main course. The favourite item among all is the Shabugen special 100% beef curry. They have used the cuts of the wagyu beef and cooked it with Japanese curry roux for a buttery, delicious curry.

I opted for a lighter choice. 冷やしそうめん Chilled somen is similar to zaru soba, but instead of a cold dashi and soy sauce stock, they used a special thick miso infused sauce. And noodles used is somen 素麺, whisper-thin strands of hand-pulled noodles have served as a welcome respite from the summer heat for centuries.

The lighted of three choices, 本日の茶漬け Today’s Ochazuke, is a simple tea (and stock) poured over rice with a side of ikura (marinated salmon roe).

デザートDessert

And for desserts, there’s choices of ice cream, mizu shingen mochi (水信玄餅 or water raindrop cake, which they cheekily renamed 水しゃぶ玄餅) and 枡氷(shaved ice) with a choice of strawberry, sudachi (calamansi) and azuki matcha (sweet red beans and green tea). いちごの枡氷 Strawberry shaved ice was my choice, and it came with syrup and condensed milk. Yummy.

コーヒー、紅茶、抹茶 Coffee, Tea or Matcha

I am surprised they actually count this as one of the course. The wagyu at this place remains tip-top; I felt that the appetiser and grilled beef courses have dropped in standard, and they totally dropped the sashimi course (not missed BTW). But addition of the main course and upscaled dessert were much appreciated. It was much better than just adding noodles to the unfinished soup. Service was attentive with very limited English, although they have an English and Chinese menu. But you don’t really need to speak much and the beef will do all the talking.

Shabugen しゃぶ玄
3-8-1 Alto Bldg. 5F, Akasaka, Minato 107-0052 Tokyo Prefecture
〒107-0052 赤坂３丁目８−１ 赤坂アルトビル ５F
Tel : +81 3-3586-4054 (Reservations)

Visited Nov 2024