There are two ways to eat at JBBQ & Shabu Shabu, the Japanese restaurant that opened recently in Smithtown.
The first is to barbeque the meat. Diners accustomed to Korean barbeques should be very familiar to this experience. For the uninitiated, unlike the hibachi places where a chef comes to your table, puts on a show of cooking the food right at your table (and ends the experience with a squirt of sake), the JBBQ way, you’re given your meats and vegetables and you cook them up yourself then dip your grilled to your liking meats in an array of sauces. Just as Korean barbeque places are shortened to text-speak like KBBQ, this Japanese style of cooking (called Yakiniku) has been abbreviated, JBBQ.
Photo: JBBQ & Shabu Shabu website.
If grilling isn’t your style then there’s still Shabu Shabu, the second half of this new restaurant’s style (and it’s name). Meaning “swish swish” in Japanese diners add ingredients into a hot pot of a your pick of flavored broths. The swishing comes from how diners use a small netted ladle or chopsticks to quickly cook the food. According to the restaurant’s website, cooking usually takes 30 seconds or less. Then you dip your food into your sauce.
This new location joins one already in Bay Shore and another is planned for Commack.
Location: 41 Route 111 Smithtown, (631) 656-0630.
