Shabu Shabu Part 3: Money Pot Shabu, Arcadia, CA

So we've been craving shabu shabu and have been trying different restaurants. Our default has been Mr. Shabu in San Gabriel, but there was a long wait so we decided to try out a new place named Money Pot Shabu Shabu. It's located in a mini-mall next to a 99 Ranch market.




Entering the restaurant I was surprised to be warmly greeted by the owner and we were seated promptly. Our waitress and the owner explained the menu choices and the different broth flavors for the shabu shabu. The service is far superior than what I've experienced at Mr. Shabu. And while we were looking over the menu, we were served a small salad and hot tea:



And a closeup of the cabbage salad with crisp fried wonton chips with a tasty dressing that was similar to thousand island:



And a closeup of the two sauces, a ponzu with green onions on the left and sesame sauce on the right:



I ordered the prime rib, and a plate of nicely marbled beef was brought to my table. It was a generous sized portion:



DRMW ordered the seafood and prime rib combo. This was pretty good, it had some large fresh shrimp, fish, squid rings fish cake and small scallops:



It was interesting to know that Money Pot Shabu has different choices of broth flavors. I choose the spicy hot pot special:



While DRMW choose the Money Pot Shabu special which was a lightly flavored broth. The other option was interesting, they had flavored tea broths. I'll probably try it on my next visit.

Along with the beef, we each had a plate of fresh veggies, including nappa cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, firm tofu, bok choy, corn, Japanese pumpkin, carrots, rice vermicelli noodles, and udon:



The veggies were great and the quality was top notch. The corn was fresh and so were all the veggies. Here's a pic of my spicy shabu pot:



Here's a picture of the shabu shabu pot with veggies and beef simmering:



Everything was absolutely delicious and the service was fantastic. After our meal, we were offered a choice of the red bean soup or their passionfruit jello. We all picked the jello, and it was extremely tasty. Instead of the typical Chinese style 'mango pudding' dessert, the jello was clear agar gelatin with a fragrant passionfruit syrup. It was terrific and a perfect balance to the shabu.

Regards,
ED-209