Best budget Japanese

Recommended: AQ Shabu Shabu (aka A Jiu Shabu Shabu)

Dip and go at AQ Shabu Shabu. But brace yourself for the wall of steam that hits you as you open the door. It's a doozy.

Shabu shabu, Japanese hot pot, requires good beef the way Beijing hot pot requires good mutton. AQ provides unlimited thinly-sliced red Australian beef and strips of milky beef for just RMB 90 per person, excluding drinks. These prices are why you need to make a reservation in advance. (Be warned -- they only take reservations for parties of three or more.)

On weekends, AQ is packed with people hovering over bubbling individual pots of beef, shiitake, cabbage and charred tofu. The milky beef has the perfect fat-to-lean-meat ratio.

Local foodie Zhang Hong says, “I love the Australian beef. And I appreciate how clean AQ is compared to other hot pot restaurants.”

For starters, food critic Peipei Yang recommends sheng kao niu. “These are slices of beef, thicker than carpaccio, that are seared on the outside. The quality of the meat is immediately apparent.”

Once you're well into dunking and eating your dinner, the next thing on your mind should be a cold beer. The delightfully dirt-cheap prices for suds (RMB 9 for draft Asahi, RMB 20 and up for sake) will ensure that you keep both orders of food and drink coming.

As you find yourself ordering more plates of beef, this time cook the meat sukiyaki-style, dipping the beef into a velvety raw egg to finish. Then order more beer. It all comes full circle.

AQ Shabu Shabu, Bldg D1, 351 Wuyi Lu, near Dingxi Lu 武夷路351号D1楼, 近定西路, +86 21 6233 3000, hours: 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

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