Sukiyaki Shabu Shabu Tsukada KITTE すき焼 しゃぶしゃぶつかだ (Osaka, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

We started this trip the same way we typically do on any visit to Japan, with a shabu shabu dinner on our first night. Our dinner venue tonight is Sukiyaki Shabu Shabu Tsukada KITTE (すき焼 しゃぶしゃぶつかだ), a popular solo hotpot restaurant where each person gets his or her own pot.

The restaurant is conveniently located inside KITTE shopping complex which is directly connected to the train station and other major shopping malls in Umeda. To ensure that we have ourselves a table, I have already made an online reservation via TableCheck with just a few clicks.

I would love to sit at the bar tables but with the amount of clothes and personal items we were carrying around, the private room was the easy choice.

Our dinner set started off with a small tomato salad. 

It was immediately followed by a Japanese monaka filled with minced black beef and pate.

The main event tonight, sliced Kobe beef shoulder loin (神戶牛肩) and Matsusaka beef sirloin (松阪牛) were next. We are talking about two of Japan's "top three" wagyu brands — Matsusaka, Kobe and Ohmi beef. 

Of course, some seasonal vegetables with one set per person. We also get to choose between udon noodles and steamed rice.

Most of us have chosen shabu shabu and got off to a fast start.

I was the only person picking sukiyaki and before I could get started, I was asked to read over this detailed instruction. 😅😅

I didn't realize it but I was supposed to prepare the sweet soy sauce based broth myself.

When the sugar was nearly melted, I placed a couple of these thinly sliced beef on top before pouring the broth on top. This broth was a mixture of soy sauce, sake, sugar and dashi.

After all the hard work, I was finally ready to taste these beautifully cooked beef!

Dessert was a couple scoops of ice-cream for little guy.

For me, I elected to go with this matcha creme brulee. 

This guy was so happy about the shabu shabu dinner tonight, he couldn't stop talking about it (until he found his phone).

Sukiyaki Shabu Shabu Tsukada was only a handful of restaurants inside KITTE with a lineup when we were ready to leave. That speaks volume about its popularity.

Food Rating: 6.4/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: Shop 501, 5/F, KITTE Osaka, 3-2-2 Umeda, Kita Ward, Osaka 530-0001, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Umeda 

Tel: +81 (0)6 6867-9479

Website: https://lit.link/sukitsukaosaka

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 11:00pm daily