Hippot: New new shabu shabu in Chinatown
Now in the space of less than a year, we have two spots: Simply Shabu, a BYOB, opened in January at 1023 Cherry St., and much more recently, there's Hippot Shabu Shabu, a mod-looking spot that replaced Mixx around the corner at 1002 Arch St.
To think, we in Philadelphia lived hundreds of years without a restaurant specializing in shabu shabu - that Asian cook-your-own noodle soup concept.
Now in the space of less than a year, we have two Chinese-run spots around the corner from each other: Simply Shabu, a BYOB that was awarded two Craig LaBan bells, opened in January at 1023 Cherry St., and much more recently, there's Hippot Shabu Shabu, a mod-looking spot that replaced Mixx at 1002 Arch St. (One key difference: Hippot expects its liquor license shortly.)
At Hippot, you sit at tables with cooking surfaces that accommodate group-size or individual pots of broth (pork or "hot and spicy"). You get a choice of beef, lamb, pork, chicken or seafood, assorted vegetable garnishes, and a choice of fish-meat noodles, potato noodles, Shanghai noodles, udon, bean vermicelli, vermicelli, or ramen.
Figure on $22.95 at dinnertime, plus add-ons including a la carte vegetables, dumplings and meatballs. Servers keep pouring on the broth, which gets richer as it bubbles on your cooktop.
Hippot also has a bar set up with about two dozen dipping sauces so you can further customize.
It's open daily from lunchtime through late night.
I had trouble scoring a dinner menu, which was not online yet.
The lunch deal (below) is a positive steal.