Interesting spot for dinner ...

Tonight (well yesterday) was the last Saturday of freedom for many of my friends, since Monday starts the new Fall semester.

So they all decided to have some sort of big hangout/gathering/shindig/thingy-mah-bobber to celebrate their last hours of summer vay-kay.

For dinner, we all headed to this place called Cocary Shabu Shabu & BBQ in City of Industry. This was literally down the street from where majority of where my friends were hanging out: Arcade Infinity.

What got my attention right off the bat was the name of the location ... Cocary Shabu Shabu & BBQ ... did this mean I had a choice between the two or something? Very intriguing to say the least.

There's a lot of hustle and bustle in the restaurant, which was good to me. It meant that it was a relatively popular spot to eat, and it meant the food was going to be fresh.

We all sat down at a table with 2 large burners, and on top of the burners were these interesting contraptions. From above they looked like flowers, but it was really a flower shaped flat grill, with the center being a large cast iron pot. Each petal would be used to grill food, while the pot in the center boiled away with broth.

NOW I UNDERSTAND WHY IT'S SHABU SHABU AND BBQ!!!

... although this seemed more like a Mongolian Hot Pot, rather than Japanese shabu shabu ... but I digress. xP

Here's what it looked like:



All in all it was a fun experience being able to grill the food, and have the soup. But it didn't fill me up. Sure, I did most of the cooking on my end of the grill, I guess I just ended up forgetting to eat as much as I should have.

What I did end up eating was very tasty. The pork, beef, and chicken were all marinated, and the broth of the soup was divine! I loved the fact that you could get PADS OF BUTTER to season the grill with (and to occasionally add into the soup broth like I did). Plus I did a pseudo fried rice on the fly with the leftover FREE RICE I had, and some butter and a little salt.

The ambiance was fun, and the company was great ... but next time I go, I'll have someone else cook. xP

Cocary Shabu Shabu & BBQ
18217 E Gale Avenue, #A
City of Industry, CA 91748
(626) 839-7938

-----

To all my loyal readers: I know this wasn't my typical restaurant review. Let's just say this was more of an experience, rather than a review. I think if I go there again, I'll be more prepared to actually rate the place hehe.

Keep on eating y'all! ^_^;;