NeoNabe: A contemporary healthy Japanese hot pot-located on
2065 South King Street, Suite 110

I've grown up cooking my own food. Helped a large family, with siblings galore, to cook family meals. So when I finally moved out on "my own," the adjustment wasn't so harsh. But now, I look at the some of the "younger" generation and gasp at their "microwave" and "order-take-out" cooking capabilities.

There are SO many young 20-somethings that are out on their own, who don't cook! I can name at least 20 people, who I know, that are even married, or living on their own, who don't cook, to save their lives.

So what prompted me to this month's pick? The buzz, and the fact that we get to cook our own food-Shabu shabu (also spelt "syabu-syabu") style. What is shabu-shabu? Nabemono/shabu-shabu, gives the diner a unique dining experience. Nabemono, or "one-pot dish," consists of thin slices of beef, with vegetables, cooked in soup. Shabu-shabu adds to that by dipping the prepared food in different types of sauces. Add to that, the beauty and fun part of it all-that it happens at your table!

Pictured here, L-R, Ryan Chang (Co-Owner), Cherisse Sakumoto
(Server), and Jace Kanemoto (Co-Owner).

Young entrepreneurs Ryan Chang, Blaise Sato, Moses Gomez, and Jace Kanemoto definitely found their niche in Hawaii's dining market. The foursome are the co-founders/owners of NeoNabe, located on 2065 South King Street (Suite 110). What's behind the name? "Neo," meaning "new and recent, and "Nabe," meaning pot, opened their doors in May 2006. Since their opening, Hawaii residents have found a late-night alternative to fast food and Zippy's - authentic Shabu-shabu for friends and family.

"We wanted to create a place that families [could] enjoy each others company...  shabu-shabu is good family style dining," said Ryan Chang, co-owner/founder.

So just what is "late-night?" Well, the hours of operation for this new joint, speaks for itself. Open from Sundays-Thursdays 5 p.m.-2 a.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 5:00 p.m.-5:00 a.m., it's a definite alternative to Zippy's and other late night eateries.

On NeoNabe's walls are unique pieces of oriental-inspired cartoon art by artist
Aaron Martin, pictured here, with Darin Nakasato, of Kaneohe.

What I liked most about the place was that it was classy, and intimate. Service was very family-friendly, and I didn't feel like I had to yell across a room to get water, or anything else I might have needed. It was cozy enough to feel like I wasn't in the middle of Chinatown. There are many restaurants that I've been to, of the same size, where space management wasn't the restaurant's greatest asset. You feel as if you're an elbow's length away from the patron next to you. However, NeoNabe spaces out tables, just right, to allow for breathing and privacy in the little space that they do occupy.

I normally do NOT review places that are high-end, in terms of price. As my readers, you know that I live on a single-parent income, and I am choosy about where I go, not only for cost, but, with all due respect, I have a ONE YEAR OLD! For those who have or have had children, I can end my sentence there. Not knowing if this would be a family-friendly place, I figured, why not? So one night I decided to take a trip down there. At a convenient location on King Street, NeoNabe boasts ample parking (or at least it did the night I went there), and is in a location that is easy to find, and hard to miss. Classy, simple, and modern, is the tone, as soon as you enter the restaurant, with servers and staff dressed in all black. Now okay, enough about the attire, location and ambiance. On to the important stuff - the food.

I am typically not a soup person. I enjoy saimin and oxtail soup but I'm not one to go out and order soup every chance I get. I'm not a pho person, or a stew lover. If its there, I eat it. But I'm not one who goes out of my way to order them. So taking the chance of going somewhere that served everything IN soup... that was a question that had yet to be answered. I figured, if a place prided itself on nabemono style dining, the soup HAD to be good. Well, I couldn't have been more correct.

I asked the server what he recommended. I always ask servers or managers what THEY recommend. I figure they know their food best. And if its horrible, I have no one else to blame, but the person who recommended it! Jace (who is also part-owner) recommended a combination of the garlic and miso nabe (soup). Both sounded YUUMMMMY. So my boyfriend and I, being "cuisine-adventurous," said, why not? Bring it on.

As the steam rises, the soup begins to bubble, and servers quickly arrive to
adjust settings on the burner so that your food cooks at the perfect
temperature

When the broth arrived, it looked nothing more than a normal miso shiro. Blandish in color. But I took a whiff of the aroma and oh boy, did it smell good! When asked about the varieties of soup broths, co-founder/owner Ryan Chang had this to say: "We all loved to eat shabu-shabu, but we thought that traditional shabu-shabu didn't have enough flavor; so we decided to put a twist and add different flavored broths."

Then for the fun part. As I mentioned, we pretty much eat anything. You name it, we eat it. So I figured we try both vegetables as well as the meat and seafood choices, so that we could get a "well-rounded" nabemono dish. We had fun, as we started to throw in won bok, bamboo shoots, round onions, tofu, konyaku (these noodles were awesome!), black tiger shrimp, a variety of mushrooms, which we loved (enoki, shiitake, and button), and my personal favorite - the "meats" - manila clams, scallops, and very thinly sliced rib eye beef steak.

Very thinly-sliced rib eye steak provides meat lovers with a wonderful addition
to your shabu-shabu experience

Of course, for the vegetarians, the options aren't only what you see here; tofu
and konyakkyu added to my favorites of "add-ins."

I love enoki mushrooms, and they blend so nicely with the soup base as well as the sauces


I love enoki mushrooms, and they blend so nicely with the soup base as well
as the saucesMy ultimate favorite add-in, seafood. Just don't overcook, to avoid
seafood jerky!

The fun part, is deciding what to put in your soup, and when! Here I am, adding
bamboo shoots to our concoction!

I got a little anxious, as I saw everything cook SUPER fast. I saw my boyfriend's face light up as he had this look on his face like, "See, honey? I told you I could cook!"

Steam signifies the broth being READY for creative dining!

As I mentioned at the start of this article, people who can't cook, will marvel at the ease, but more so, on the taste of the finished product. And I haven't even TOUCHED the sauces yet!

After the ingredients are thrown in, its time to try the sauces!

I'm a skeptic when it comes to sauces. Not one to drown things in sauce right away, I try to taste and savor the flavor of whatever it is I'm eating before drowning it in sauce. I figure, if something tastes good WITHOUT it, why need it? But I was so curious with NeoNabe's three signature sauces.

Pictured here are NeoNabe's sauces. From left to right, ponzu sauce (light, shoyu-citrus),
NeoNabe sauce (my personal favorite-a ginger and garlic sauce, in shoyu), and Gomadare
sauce (a thicker sesame based sauce).

First, the "ponzu sauce." Described as a shoyu/citrus sauce. It reminded me of something that would taste really good with fish. So I tried it with the seafood dishes. Pretty darn good, I tell you. Light, just the right amount of citrus flavor, not too overbearing. But most importantly for me, with "shoyu-type" sauces, not too salty. The next one, their "NeoNabe" sauce. Okay. I got a little too excited about this sauce. I LOOOOVE garlic and ginger. The two COMBINED? With shoyu? Pure heaven. So I decided to FORCE myself, to try this sauce that I just had to twist my own arm to dip my already-flavorful food into. OH MY GOSH. My mouth was in taste-heaven. What this sauce does to your tastebuds, is tantalize it with the right amount of spice and tanginess (if that's even a word). I started dipping everything in this sauce. And yes that comes from the same person who, a paragraph ago, admitted to not automatically dipping everything in sauces, just because they are there. I got "dip" happy and realized I didn't even try the last sauce yet! So the third and final sauce, is called "Gomadare sauce," described as a peanut-butter consistency sauce, but sesame based. It was bit too rich and thick for "dipping," in my opinion, but my other half loved it. He went through that bottle through dinner at the same consistency I went through the "NeoNabe" sauce. It could be, because of his love for peanut butter. But we both had our favorites.

THEN. Dessert. As full as I was, I had to try the dessert.

NeoNabe's Bunmeido a la mode is moist, tasty, and perfect for a la mode lovers

First we tried the Bunmeido a la mode. Next door to NeoNabe boasts a very popular Japanese bakery. Featured in the dessert is their famous apple turnover, accompanied by an ice cream flavor of your choice . Now, this is NO ordinary apple turnover. Its one of those super moist, Japanese pancakes with apple filling in the middle. A mini-apple pancake sandwich, to be more exact. So that, next to Bubbies' vanilla ice cream? Perfect combination. Next, we tried what people supposedly go to NeoNabe to order, with or without entrees!

NeoNabe's signature sundae dessert is made of a mix of Green Tea ice cream,
crushed chocolate laced wafer cookies, and kinako - definitely a recommendation
from me!

Its called their signature "NeoNabe" sundae. We chose to go NeoNabe's signature sundae dessert is made of a mix of Green Tea ice cream, crushed chocolate laced wafer cookies, and kinako - definitely a recommendation from me!
with Green Tea ice cream this time, since we tried vanilla with the a la mode. So green tea ice cream, sprinkled with those chocolate swirl wafer-rolls (the ones that are super crunchy, called "Love Letters"), topped with kinako! Yes, you read right, the same kinako you drab mochi in. The combination was AMAZING. I loved it, and would go back ANYTIME to delve into this sundae. It was the perfect end to a perfect meal.

My boyfriend Damon, enjoyed the dessert just as much as I did,
even as full as we were from dinner!

"NeoNabe is all about food and fun. Here, you are your own chef, cooking your food to your liking, at your table. Its an ideal way to share a meal with family and friends," concludes Chang. I couldn't have said it better myself!

What Da Locals Think:
"So shabu-shabu. What do you think?" I posed the questions to diners at NeoNabe?
	"I'm cooking my own food! Plus, the ambiance is cool; modern, and the food is good!" - Bryson Gabriel, Waipio Gentry
	"I like it! I cooked my own food, which I normally don't do; I loved the ponzu sauce! Shabu-shabu is definitely something to talk about!" - Joyce Daguio, Ewa Beach
	"I ordered the kim chee broth; and compared to traditional Korean style kim chee soup, its lighter, with just the right amount of kick in it... it tastes really good!" - Kyong Yu, Honolulu
	"We ordered the garlic soup base and added ribeye steak and shrimp ... super good! Plus the dessert is good!" - Matthew Honda, Waipio Gentry

"Where I've Been" returns next month with a star-studded column you'll love!