TBA
Shabu shabu
Rainy day before board games meant a perfect excuse to go to hot pot, this time at Shabuya in k-town. They're nothing fancy, but they do understand scale, with a large buffet under a brick structure in the middle of the restaurant with massive piles of food. They are also very affordable, and of their six cuts of beef, two of them (#2 and #4, ribeye and prime beef belly) are very good. Seafood is decent enough and the veggies are all fresh enough-- one area where being such a busy restaurant definitely helps with freshness. The fish was definitely better than the fish balls or the lobster balls to me, and paired up with spinach or bok choy was a good combo in addition to all of the sliced beef.
The building they sit on is also a bit odd, with an unexpectedly large garden before the entrance and a constantly busy valet who is probably wondering why they don't bulldoze the garden to add more parking.
Got in one session of Dune: Imperium before 4M came over. Sue and Ophelia battled it out for the top as I'm still figuring this game out. Basics like spice and water are obvious but how to actually gather those efficiently and transition your deck building engine to more capable cards efficiently eludes me...
Dinner at 4M was a quick trip to Pho Fever, where the pho is adequate (at least by west LA standards) and then it was back home for dessert. Michelle hit up The Spoon in Stanton and brought over two of their best known desserts, a lychee mousse bunny and a strawberry jam mousse (filled with red bean) pig that had Maisey very intrigued. They were a fun break from the usual desserts at the least.