Shabu Shabu in Essen Experience Chinese Restaurant

3.4 / 5 based on 10 Reviews

Updated: July 3, 2024

Summary

Shabu Shabu in Essen offers a delightful dining experience focused on traditional Chinese Hotpot cuisine, allowing customers to cook their own meats, seafood, and vegetables in one or more boiling broths right at their table. The restaurant provides a rich all-you-can-eat buffet for €18, which includes beverages and a selection of homemade side dishes. Guests are encouraged to explore various ingredients, including lamb, beef, fresh vegetables like Pakchoi and Tofu, as well as an array of flavorful sauces to mix. While the central location and friendly service enhance the dining experience, it can get crowded, especially after 6 PM, and replenishing certain ingredients may occasionally take longer. The website highlights the positive aspects of this popular establishment alongside a few minor drawbacks, making it a valuable resource for those looking to explore Shabu Shabu in Essen.

Details

Type: Restaurant
Published: May 5, 2017
Visited on: December 2, 2
Rating:
Price Category: 51.4579148
Touristic Level:

3/10
Address: Kopstadtpl. 1, 45127 Essen, Deutschland

Online Reviews Summary

Shabu Shabu in Essen offers authentic Chinese cuisine, especially popular for its hot pot and rice noodle dishes. Guests frequently praise the rich flavors, generous portions, and unique soup bases. The customizable sauces and fresh ingredients are often highlighted as a strong point, making it a great place to try traditional Chinese flavors. While the food is generally well-received, several reviewers mention inconsistent service — including long wait times and occasional mix-ups with orders. The atmosphere is simple and functional rather than decorative, and some guests noted communication challenges due to language barriers. Despite this, the friendliness and effort of the staff are often appreciated. Overall, it's a strong choice for authentic Chinese hot pot, especially if you’re looking for a flavorful, interactive dining experience.

Here you can eat traditional Chinese dishes as well as hot pot (engl. Hotpott). Hot pot is a type of Chinese fondue, where you cook meat, fish and vegetables directly at your own table in one or more boiling broths. Depending on the restaurant, more or less cooking broths are offered. The most common are meat broth and a spicy broth. You have to make your own sauces. Either ask an employee for the best recipes or try my sauce mixture, which I describe below.

For 18 euros you have an all-inclusive buffet (hot pot, side dishes), which also includes soft drinks. In addition to the many cookable ingredients, this restaurant also offers homemade side dishes. In my experience, the restaurant gets very full from 6 p.m. onwards. So feel free to come before 5:30 p.m.

In this picture you can see 2 different broths; meat broth (white) and a spicy broth. Besides beef and lamb you can also see various types of vegetables such as Pakchoi, tofu skin, various types of mushrooms and seafood.

At the beginning, hot pot raises many questions. You have to choose from a lot of ingredients, most of which are rather unknown. I recommend you:

Meat broth
Spicy broth
Lamb
Beef
Pakchoi or Chinese cabbage
Tongaho (Chinese green vegetable)
Tofu
Tofu skin
Shiitake mushrooms (very very delicious and healthy mushrooms)
Enoki mushrooms (small mushrooms that are bundled together)
Morel (black sponge-like mushrooms)
Mussel meat
Octopus
Beef tripe (I don't like it)
Many more...

The sauce selection is also difficult, as you have to mix it yourself.

I recommend the following sauce combination, which you can see in the picture below:

Left peanut sauce:

2 spoons of peanut sauce
1 spoon of garlic
2 spoons of spring onions
Some coriander

Right Hoisin sauce:

2 spoons of hoisin sauce
1 spoon of garlic
2 spoons of spring onions

My conclusion in short pros and cons:

Pro:

Very good hot pot restaurant in Essen
All you can eat buffet + drinks (except alcoholic ones)
Other side dishes freely available
Price of 18.90€ per person justified
very central location in Essen
nice service
Very delicious sauces to mix together

Cons:

Especially with the meat, you have to reorder more often, as it is delivered on small plates
Refilling the side dishes takes a while
From 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. it can be difficult to get a table