We’ve been obsessed with Sukiyaki ever since we tried it at a little Japanese restaurant, Katana-Ya Ramen, up the street on San Pablo Ave. A very popular but tiny place. I dare you to try it on a weekend.
So, with 238,473 conflicting online recipes we decided to wing it and try figuring it out ourselves.

We picked up the sukiyaki steak at the Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley, 1/2 pound was perfect for two hungry beasts.
We picked up a shallow 10″ pan and we already had a fondue setup. We then went from one end of the 99 Ranch Market to the other. We gots green onions, enoki mushrooms, mung beans, napa cabbage, fresh spinach, medium tofu, silver bean thread noodles, Mirin sake, bonito flakes, dried kelp, et al.
The point is to get a little bit of everything into the pot, arranged attractively in little bundles. The silver noodles go on the bottom, everything else stacked up and around.
I made a little fish stock using dried bonito flakes and dried kelp. Added beef broth, soy sauce and Mirin Sake & regular sake until it tasted like the broth from the restaurant. Fill up the pot with vegetables with the broth and heat til just before bubbly on the stove, let simmer a bit so mushrooms etc have a chance to soften. Move to sterno setup on table. When it is bubbly place the meat in slices on top. The heat from the broth begins to cook the meat. You can start to poke and eat the bits that are done. You need a big bowl of sticky white rice to eat it with.
This was so awesomely yummy I wanted to die. Except it cost like $50 to get ALL ingredients from scratch. But it sure was a festival of fun.