Insight Q&A with the owners of GyuButa Shabu

1. Q: Who are the owners of GyuButa Shabu?
    A: There are four owners: Vithavin Srisukson,  Pitchayut Wattananon, Numpop Kulasopon and Punthanun Thanayupong.

Vithavin Srisukson

Pitchayut Wattananon

Numpop Kulasopon

Punthanun Thanayupong

2. Q: Who are you?
    A: We are senior students of Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, Thammasat University.

3. Q: How did you get together?
    A: Pitchayut answered that we are friends in the same faculty since the beginning of freshman year. We have a lot of things in common for example we like to eat shabu and Japanese food and want to start our own business. We also have different ways of thinking that can support our business philosophy.

4. Q: Why did you choose shabu buffet business?
    A: Vithavin spoke with confidence that it is because shabu is a popular trend nowadays. People, especially students, always love eating buffet as a group activity for friends and family because it's fun!!! Thai people also have a taste for Japanese food, so we think it is an interesting business to start off, even though some of us have never been to Japan.

5. Q: How did the business get started?
    A:  Vithavin said that at the time when we think of doing shabu business, we heard that there is a new dormitory named J-Park and also its community mall which is the first community mall around Thammasat University where we all study. We think that this is a good oppotunity that match with our desire, so we talked to the owner of the dormitory and asked for a rental shop. We are so lucky that the owner likes to support student activities, so they accepted us as an tenant.

6. Q: How did everything work out?
    A: Numpop explained that we divided works into four parts for each of us to be in charge of which are human resource management, raw material, finance and building maintenance. Even though we have our main responsibility, we still help each other when it comes to decision making. We work together as a good partner.

7. Q: How can you deal with the disagreement in the ideas? 
    A: Numpop answered that we talk with reasons. We use those reasons to persuade one another. The most reasonable argument wins. As we talk, we understand each other more and more, so we think that those disagreement cannot make us misunderstand each other.

8. Q: How do you feel so far about your business?  
    A: Pitchayut said with smile on his face that we are very proud of ourselves. Our business is going well. There are new customer coming to try everyday and our old customers also come back. Now we try to build customer loyalty in order to maintain our sales and try to have a well thought out strategy plan for our customers and business.   

9. Q: What did you get so far from this business?
    A: Punthanun proudly answered that we get to work together in real life situation where we need to deal with real employees, spend the real money, and serve the real customers. It is not like a group work in class. It is totally different. We get to feel the sense of working in the real world which is not always easy. We learn to adapt ourselves and our strategic planning to be survive in this business. We learn from our real experiences. 

Here They Come

It is raining today, so the staff of Secret Flavor by Lipon F Show visits us late. But it's still a good day for our restaurant to step in the powerful media like television. This stratergy will help us promote our restaurant to many people especially those who watch GMM Music and Ken's fanclub. After the program is on-air, I promise to post the full version of the program especially the interview part on this blog for you guys.

Here are the photos while they are shooting.

We also introduce another dish which is Gyu Don or Rice with fried Beef on top. This is also recommented. Lots of people come to eat this menu, so we decided to also promote this through the program, because we want other to try our new, fresh and delicious food. At least we have a guarantee from consumers saying that our meat is soft and about to melt when it comes into their mouth.

This is Niku Teriyaki Don.

How to slice those meet??

We use a slice meat machine which can be adjusted to cut a piece of meat in lots of different sizes. You can see the process in this video.

This is behind the scene of those veggies in shabu menu.

Good News

Hello everyone. We have a good news for those who like a pop and rock band named Zeal. Prajya Meebumroong or Ken, the drummer of this band will visit our GyuButa Shabu as a host of Secret Flavor by Lipon F, a television program. His show will come to review and interview us about our main dish from a la carte menu, Salmon Steak Set.

If you guys are interested in being broadcast, please come to join us on the shooting day which is on October 8 at 2:00 p.m. 

We will tell you as soon as they get here on our Facebook fanpage!!! http://www.facebook.com/gyubuta

Here is what our restaurant looks like.

Our customers enjoy eating.

How to Eat GyuButa Shabu??

After you get your seat, order your drinks and your soup. We have two kinds of soup for you to choose. First is a pork bone soup with special mixture called Shabu soup. Second is Suki soup. The taste of Suki soup is more tasty and it is best recommended. You can also choose both soup, because we can provide you with a divided-in-half pot like a picture below.

Shabu soup on the left and Suki soup on the right

Order everything you want to eat from the buffet menu. While waiting for the food, you can prepare your own sauce by mixing chopped garlic, sliced chili, sliced spring onion, mashed radish and lemonade.

When all the food is ready, it is time to eat and have fun around the Shabu pot. Put some Japanese spring onion into Suki soup first to let the sweet taste of it come out.

For pork or beef, you can soak a very thin slice of meat into the pot and wave it back and forth for several time. At this point the history of the name shabu shabu was created. According to Wikipedia, the name shabu-shabu is derived from the "swish swish" sound of cooking the meat in the pot. But to be honest, I myself never hear that sound before. You may want to try to carefully listen to the sound when you visit us sometimes :))

After the meat turns to pink, take it out and dip it into prepared sauce. There are three kinds of sauces; Ponzu sauce (the black one giving sour taste), Suki sauce (the red one giving sweet taste) and fresh egg (giving smooth taste).

Here is the picture of meat dipping into a fresh egg. It looks very yummy, doesn't it??

Then put it in your mouth and enjoy the meal. You can add other fresh vegetables into the pot.

*Today Tip*

Once the meat and vegetables have been eaten for awhile, you can put rice or udon into the pot. It will become delicious boiled rice with the taste of meat and vegetable soup. For this tip, don't trust me, but try it yourself. I have seen our Korean customer made it, so I try and the result is not bad.

Here is our Korean customer. Thank you for the recipe!!!!!

We open everyday from 11.30 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. For reservations, please call 086-980-2583.

The link to our location is below.

Our First Review!!!

You can know more about us by visiting this website, http://nokkadas.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11%3A2012-09-14-23-07-46&catid=2%3A2012-09-16-13-41-22&Itemid=6&lang=en

Have a Look at GyuButa's Menu!!!!

We proudly present you our menu for shabu. First, let's know a brief history of the word "shabu-shabu". Shabu-shabu is a Japanese hot pot similar to Sukiyaki that uses thinly sliced meat and many kind of vegetables and is usually served with dipping sauces and egg. It is considered a winter dish, but is eaten anytime throughout the year. It was introduced in Japan in the 20th century with the opening of a shabu-shabu restaurant in Osaka named "Suehiro". Suehiro later registered the name of shabu-shabu as a trademark in 1955.

Here is our menu for GyuButa Shabu!!!!

For our beef, we provide you rib eye and chuck eye.

Rib Eye

It is a cut of beef from the rib section and is considered to be one of the best cut due to the muscle that gets lots of exercise during its life. Its marbling of fat also leaves the taste of softness in your mouth.

Chuck Eye

It is a cut of beef from the chuck section. Its balance of meat and fat gives you the richness of flavor. Its tendon in the middle also makes another good taste for your dish.

There are three kinds of pork; pork fillet, pork shoulder and pork belly for you to choose.

Pork Fillet

It is a cut of pork with little fat. It is recommended for those who is on a diet. 

Pork Shoulder

It is a cut of pork with fat. Its combination of meat and fat makes the cut soft and smooth.  

Pork Belly

It is a cut of pork with plenty of fat which can be easily melted in your mouth.

We also provide you chicken breast and dolly fish.

Chicken Breast 

Dolly fish

Now let's take a look at some veggies!!!!

As you can see, there are three kinds of mushroom; eringii mushroom, shimeji mushroom and golden needle mushroom. There are also Chinese cabbage, morning glory, carrots and Japanese spring onion.

Cooked meat and veggies are usually dipped into ponzu or suki sauce or even a fresh egg before eating to get the great outcome. 

The menu above have already consisted of Proteins, Lipids, Vitamins and Minerals. Now let's talk about Carbohydrate in our menu.

We have Japanese rice, garlic fried rice which can find no where else, trust me!! and udon (a japanese noodle).

Japanese Rice

Garlic Fried Rice

Udon Noodle

We also have snack for you to eat while the soup is about to boil. There are seaweed salad, pan-fried pork dumpling, Japanese soybean, okonomiyaki (a Japanese savoury pancake) and potato salad. Those snack will be changed every two months to make it interesting for you to enjoy our dish.

Seaweed Salad



Pan-Fried Pork Dumpling

 

Japanese Soybean

Let's get the real taste of our fresh and delicious dish at GyuButa Shabu. We open everyday from 11.30 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. For reservations, please call 086-980-2583.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabu-shabu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribeye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_steak