Review: Shabu-Shabu @ Koko, Crown Casino, Southbank Melbourne

After a few trauma-filled days (essays, hard-to-understand lectures, sleep deprivation, chem peel gone wrong), I've decided to give myself an assignment-free day. Okay, I lie. I did spend about 4 hours on my lab report. I cannot afford to abandon it but it's better than 10 hours facing that bloody 1500 lab report wondering why did Nederkoon et al. (2009) not use Townshend & Duka's (2005) effective methods although the latter is 4 years behind the former.

I digress. See how I talk about my assignments all the time? Sigh. Anyway, today was great. No, great is AN UNDERSTATEMENT. Today was FANTASTIC. I woke up to London in front of my eyes, minus sludgy rain and poor air. There was this fog, this park, fresh air, green grass... all right in front of my apartment. I stood outside for 5 minutes, took a deep breath and went into a state of relaxation. Right at that very moment, I nearly forgotten all the troubles that I am facing.


FoggyThen, I spent an hour watching one hour of Realm Beyond Conscience, a famous 2009 TVB drama, while savoring breakfast of wholemeal bread, cheese, alfafa sprouts, cucumber and organic leg ham. Life is swell I tell you. Following this, I finished drafting the very last of the four sections of my lab report and left home despite my domo (a new name for burnt bread) complexion for the King Tutankhamen exhibition. Although the exhibition was delayed, we nevertheless enjoyed looking at the strange artifacts that most Malaysians would not get to see.

After that, we went for a 15 minute shoulder massage at True Thai. It was so good and I felt that my st! raitlace d shoulders were unravelled one by the masseuse. 20 dollars well spent. An hour later, we were at Koko, which I previously declared as one of my favorites restaurants in Melbourne.




Chilled radish and carrot slices
This time, I did not do the lunch special. I forgotten that it was ANZAC day (see what uni did to me!), which explained why the restaurant was brimming with people. So, I ordered Shabu-shabu to save my wallet.

We started off with an appetizer of chilled radish and carrot slices, which tasted decent. I loved the slight bitterness of the radish amidst the sweetness that enveloped my senses.

Koko special roll (Unagi, nori, avocado) - Not that special but delicious nonetheless (28 AUD)

Because my sister cannot live without rice for lunch, we ordered the Koko special roll which had UNAGI (YES YES YES) in it. It was not explosion in the mouth or fireworks in the head but worked very well to kill the hunger in two starving ladies.

Shabu-shabu Koko style - Mushrooms, cabbage, spinach,
tofu (52 AUD for 2)

Speaking of starvation, even after this huge pot of shabu-shabu (swish-swish!- thanks poon!), we still managed desserts! See how hungry we were? Thanks to all that stress. My sister is stressed. I am stressed!

We opted for the Koko styled shabu-shabu so the soup based was dashi and not just plain boiling water. There were lots of greens, which was good news for us green lovers but shabu-shabu ain't shabu-shabu without seafood and meat. Thus, we ordered...


Slices of fresh Hokkaido scallops (30 AUD)

...fresh Hokkaido scallops, because I LOVE HOKKAIDO SCALLOPS andI feel that I am contributing to Japan's economy by ordering this.

I also ordered...

Victorian Scotch Fillet (37 AUD, 200 grammes) - wish I could afford the 180 AUD
wagyu
...the Victorian scotch fillet because my wallet cannot bear to order the wagyu.

The scallops were not a sensible choice to go with the shabu-shabu so we ended up eating most of nearly uncooked (I just swished it once or twice in the simmering stock). However, the beef. Oh my god. Beef. Seriously, I did not know that beef tastes better than lamb. I don't usually eat beef. In fact, I SHOULD not eat beef due to religious purposes but I decided to break it. Most Buddhists countries like Korea, Japan, China and Vietnam consume beef. So why is it wrong for me to eat it?

My dad would kill me if he hears this but thankfully, I'm 4000 miles away.

Anyway, the beef, albeit tinged with! a milky taste, was delicious when half-cooked and dipped into either two of these dressings:

2 dipping sauces - Miso sesame and Ponzu radishSheesh. THIS SOKOGI EXPERIENCE MAKES ME WANT TO COOK YUKGAEJANG.

My pretty dining companion

I was so glad that I had not only a pretty dining companion but also a good shabu-shabu "waitress". She did the swishing and ladling for me! I am very poor at doing these things. I can't even serve tea without dirtying the table! So, I was very thankful that she exists by my side. :)

Swiss chocolate, black sesame and rice pudding ice cream (15 AUD)As usual, we finished off with a dessert. I was so envious that other tables had two or more desserts but greed is a sin. So, one only. The ice-cream platter was superb. Flavors were authentic and not too sweet.

The bill came in 168 AUD but it was satisfying. Plus, I think I can spend this much because I will not be dining out anytime soon until after my exams.





After that, we went eye-shopping at Cha! nel, spi ed on some of the new mini caviars <3 <3 <3 and wallets. 15 minutes later, we were at the K-mart, browsing for Korean movies and buying ingredients for Yukgaejang. :D




Man, destressing is good. I think I will be able to sleep 8 hours tonight. Because I'm in a very good mood, I shall share this lovely song to you. My sister will be playing this next semester :).







I know is about Maozedong's hometown and possibly his greatness (Song is written in 1950s where music is subjected to censorship and can only be about the greatness of Mao or pro-China) BUT it's still very pretty.