Started this weekend off with some Japanese-style hot pot at the newly opened Daimaru Shabu Shabu. We decided on the regular "All-Day Premium AYCE Menu" and basically ordered everything. Started with the snack options — Hokkaido potato chips, takoyaki (which was surprisingly good — as close to authentic as it can get from frozen), deep-fried rice cakes, steak katsu, Nagoya-style chicken wings, and watermelon slices (random, but quite an excellent palate cleanser) — and then ordered all the meat, beef balls, beef tendon, dumplings, scallops, quail eggs, deep-fried bean curd skin, crispy bean curd rolls, nappa cabbage, winter melon, radish, corn, enoki mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, bamboo shoots...
Hokkaido potato chips
Takoyaki
Two-flavour soup base: Tom yum and sukiyaki
Ribeye
Premium beef chuck, selected sirloin, and pork belly
Ribeye and beef brisket
Quail eggs, deep-fried bean curd skin, crispy bean curd rolls, crab meat, mushrooms, and assorted vegetables
Fresh beef balls, dumplings, beef tendon, scallops, and watermelon
Compared to a typical Chinese hot pot place, Daimaru actually doesn't have as many food options, but their broth and dipping sauce flavours are quite different, which is where the Japanese style comes in. We decided to do a two-flavour soup base — one classic sukiyaki and the other with the new tom yum soup. The tom yum was decent, but the sukiyaki was excellent. It is a classic and distinctly Japanese flavour (soy sauce, sugar, and mirin), and it's so flavourful that I didn't find the need for any kind of dipping sauce. Sukiyaki is the one to get if you actually want Japanese-style hot pot. Desserts are also excellent here; they only offer three options, but the ice cream (available in vanilla and chocolate) comes in sealed (!) individual cups so there's no freezer burn on pre-scooped bowls like at most AYCE places, the Hokkaido milk pudding is actually milky with delicious bits of mango and mandarin oranges on top, and the crème brûlée is incredibly rich and luxurious with torched sugar on top that is actually crispy (sorry, but crème brûlée at Asian AYCE restaurants is usually really shitty, usually too gelatinous or liquidy, so this was shockingly good).
Not sure if it's because they just opened (quite literally two weeks ago), but Daimaru's new location is exceptionally clean with incredible service — unfailingly polite, efficient, and helpful. Including drinks (Coke Zero for me, peach soda for Minji, and lychee mint soda for Daniel) and after tax and tip, it was about $58 per person, which is on the steeper side but about average for a more upscale hot pot restaurant. Perhaps a bit too pricey to eat here regularly, but it's a great option for a treat meal or special occasion. In fact, I might just come back for Mid-Autumn Festival...
Daimaru Shabu Shabu
8333 Kennedy Rd., Unit 1073
Markham, ON L3R 4P8
(365) 536-0506
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