Shabu shabu hot pot Kuma-chan
I’m at the “Hokkaido Menkoi Nabe KUMACHAN ONSEN, a restaurant specializing in one-person hot pots. Here, the visually “kawaii” (cute) bear sitting on the pot is hugely popular on social media. The restaurant is named after “Menkoi” which means cute in the Hokkaido dialect as this popular store has its origins in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Kuma-chan which looks like a stuffed animal is actually solidified soup stock with dietary fiber and collagen.
When the “onsen” soup is heated, Kuma-chan starts melting and the soup which has the effect of beautifying your skin is completed! Kuma-chan rolls over and starts melting as soon as the pot is heated so take pictures before you light the fire.
How to order
You order the soup and ingredients of your choice from the menu at this one-person hot pot restaurant. Choose bear (soup) →main ingredient →finishing ingredient and your order is complete.
Of course, you can try all the sauces
In addition, you can choose all you want from the wide variety of sauces and spices.
6 Kuma-chans
There are 6 basic Kuma-chans (soups) as well as seasonal varieties of bears (soup). It’s fun to choose from the different onsen names but it’s hard to make up your mind from such a fun selection of bears in different flavors and colors.
- Beautiful skin onsen (chicken collagen)
- Healthy onsen (miso- bean paste)
- Healing onsen (soy milk)
- Rejuvenating onsen (Korean kochujang – red chili paste)
- Longevity onsen (Chinese tantan – sesame paste and chili oil）
- Golden onsen (Katsuo – bonito flakes broth）
Main ingredient
There are 5 choices of meat to choose from all of which comes in combination with colorful vegetables. Being a restaurant with Hokkaido roots, mutton meat is also available as mutton is popular in Hokkaido. Recommended is the “Tokusen (Special) Menkoi Set” which is a set dish with various meats and vegetables. Unfortunately, they do not offer any seafood ingredients.
Finishing ingredient
Traditionally, finishing ingredient refers to rice and noodles to soak up the leftover soup in the pot. At this restaurant, you can choose from a combination of boiled gyoza (meat dumplings), ramen, toppogi (Korean-style rice cakes). It’s cute that they instruct you to enjoy the finishing ingredient “after taking a bath”.
Side Menu
There is actually a wide variety of side menus to choose from: Hokkaido beef and mutton steak, Hokkaido-style “zangi” (fried chicken). They also have curry, salad, fried potatoes, edamame (green soybeans), and rice so you will have plenty to choose from even when dining with small children.
Access
1-8-10, Shibuya Shibuya-ku Tokyo
Go up Miyamasu-Zara, past the post office and you’ll see the restaurant
Kuma-chan cafe and goods store on 1F. There’s also UFO catcher for stuffed animals.
How to make reservations
It’s possible to make reservations from 30 days prior to your visit. No extra fee for canceling on the reserved date but notify the store if you’re canceling. It’s difficult to get a seat so be sure to make a reservation when you find out the date you want to go.
Written in English so easy to make reservations.
English
コメント
So cute! Will definitely have to try when I go to Japan!