Nabe AYCE Hot Pot

FOOD

The food program is organized around the hot pot first, but Nabe gives that core meal more company than a standard shabu-shabu setup. Six broths cover distinct directions: Nabe Signature is a spicy pork broth; a pork broth is labeled Tonkatsu; beef broth is built around brisket; miso brings bean-paste depth; seafood is a mildly spicy garlic-shellfish option; and sukiyaki supplies the sweeter soy-based choice. Because each table can choose two broths in one divided pot, contrast is built into the meal before the first tray of meat arrives.

Beef carries most of the protein selection. Premium ribeye, Angus short rib, Angus brisket and Angus beef belly sit alongside premium shoulder tender, premium pork belly and boneless lamb shoulder. The cuts arrive thin enough for quick cooking and for repeated small rounds, which fits the restaurant’s five-orders-at-a-time system. The useful distinction here is not sheer meat count but the ability to move between fatty belly, brisket, ribeye and lamb without changing the pot or the price.

The self-serve bar supplies the other half of the hot-pot work. Vegetables, noodles and sauces can be gathered in whatever quantities make sense for the next round rather than arriving as fixed platters. That makes it easy to change the pot as the meal develops: more greens after a meat-heavy start, noodles once the broth has picked up flavor, or a different dipping sauce for the next plate.

Sushi is not a side note. The main list spans familiar rolls and more elaborate combinations, including Spider Roll with soft-shell crab, Lemon Salmon Roll with sliced lemon and ponzu, No Name Roll with shrimp tempura, salmon and eel, and Be Happy Roll with soft-shell crab, spicy crab, salmon and tuna. Tempura and deep-fried rolls widen the cooked side of the selection; Popcorn Lobster and Golden Tiger push in a richer direction than the simpler tuna, salmon, avocado and California rolls.

The all-day menu expands that program further. Nigiri includes tuna, salmon, albacore, yellowtail and freshwater eel, plus yuzu- and truffle-finished salmon or yellowtail. A one-per-AYCE premium list adds salmon, yellowtail and albacore carpaccio, seared bluefin tuna, a Korean sashimi rice bowl, seafood salad, a creamy sashimi bowl and deep-fried buttered scallop. Those items make the higher-priced tier meaningfully different rather than simply extending the same roll list.

Appetizers can easily become their own round. Gyoza, takoyaki, shrimp tempura and chicken karaage cover the familiar Japanese side, while bulgogi nachos, honey fried chicken, baked green mussels and deep-fried soft-shell crab bring a broader pan-Asian mix. Seaweed salad, cucumber crab salad and the house’s “Addicting Cucumber” give the table cooler breaks between broth, fried dishes and sushi.

Dessert is compact and practical: one ice cream order per AYCE, with ube, coffee, Thai tea, green tea, strawberry and cookies-and-cream flavors. At Nabe, that small finish makes sense. The meal has already moved through broth, meat, the ingredient bar, sushi and fried appetizers; ice cream closes an unusually broad AYCE format without turning dessert into another buffet.