Shabuzen Shibuya

In Tokyo’s Shibuya district, about eight minutes on foot from Shibuya Station, Shabuzen Shibuya occupies the basement floor of the Shibuya Creston Hotel in quiet Kamiyamacho. For guests seeking Japanese cuisine in Japan built around wagyu, this premium restaurant is devoted to two of the country’s most cherished hot pot traditions: shabu-shabu and sukiyaki. Below street level, the dining room carries a calm Japanese sensibility. Seating ranges from spacious tables to private rooms, including sunken horigotatsu rooms and tatami zashiki, suited to family celebrations, business dinners and larger gatherings. Since its founding, Shabuzen has shaped its approach around letting guests enjoy carefully selected beef to their heart’s content, in an all-you-can-eat format. Each course is enjoyed as shabu-shabu or sukiyaki, and the dipping sauces receive particular care. The sesame sauce and ponzu are prepared fresh at each restaurant from more than a dozen ingredients, with the head chef adjusting the balance as the seasons change. The beef selection moves from lean Kuroge wagyu to marbled sirloin and ribeye, reaching A5-graded Omi and Kobe beef, two of Japan’s most celebrated wagyu names. A thin slice swirled through simmering broth turns pale pink in seconds, its fat softening into a gentle sweetness. Courses open with a small appetizer and include domestic vegetables, grilled rice cake from Niigata, and a finish of Niigata kishimen noodles made with funori seaweed, or rice when sukiyaki is chosen. Seafood such as snow crab and abalone can also be added. When the last noodles are lifted from the pot, the evening settles into an unhurried close, just beneath the streets of Shibuya.