Shabu Robert Valaika Shabu
442 Main St. (Fourth St.)
Park City, UT 84060
Map
Cuisine: Asian / Fusion / Sushi
A lively, hip dinner and sushi spot, Shabu is ideal for swanky folks without big appetites.
Openings: Dinner nightly

Features


Shabu Restaurant Review:


Kevin and Robert Valaika, disciples of restaurateur Bill White (Grappa, Wahso, Chimayo, Windy Ridge, Ghidotti's), opened their trendy dinner spot in a small hideaway below Main Street. Shabu offers "Freestyle Asian" cuisine, a mixture of Japanese, Thai and Chinese influences. We find our appetites piqued by starters like firecracker shrimp, Thai melon soup or the scallop ceviche salad. Entrées include a sleek but small-portioned curried lemon grass-crusted swordfish brushed with a passion fruit vinaigrette, and Tokyo broil tenderloin with Szechwan peppercorn demi-glace. Less appealing is the namesake shabu-shabu (the term references the sound of food swished back and forth in a hot broth), which feels like eating an entire meal of bite-size appetizers. Diners skewer less-than-top-quality pieces of dark-meat chicken (or beef, seafood or tofu) and common vegetables, boil them in either a Thai coconut or vegetable broth, and eat them with a small bowl of pasty noodles. To compensate, order the banana fritters with house-made ginger ice cream and coconut-chocolate sauce --- otherwise you might leave hungry.