All-You-Can-Eat Japanese Hot Pot and Barbecue Comes to Convoy

A new all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant has opened in the Convoy District. Kanpai BBQ & Shabu slots into the same strip mall as Mekong Cuisine and Izakaya Sakura, replacing Boiling Passion, a Chinese hot pot restaurant that opened in 2016. Kanpai specializes in shabu-shabu, a Japanese version of hot pot that features thinly-sliced meats and other ingredients cooked in broth and dipped in customized sauces. The operating team behind the establishment also runs RakiRaki in Mira Mesa and Rancho Penasquitos as well as the nearby Taste of Hong Kong.

Diners can select two soup bases from options such as the popular sukiyaki, tonkotsu, or spicy mala mix, which are brought to the table in a partitioned metal bowl and kept bubbling on individual hot plates at each seat. Meat options include three cuts of wagyu as well as Angus chuck eye and pork belly while seafood selections ranging from shrimp and squid to fish fillets, can also be ordered to the table. Customers can help themselves to a buffet bar stocked with noodles, vegetables, and condiments.

Kanpai BBQ & Shabu

From a separate station, diners can indulge in unlimited jasmine milk tea and fruit tea along with a variety of ice cream flavors. A popular add-on is the beer tower or soju, reinforcing the restaurant’s name which loosely translates as “cheers” or “bottoms up.”

The all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu experience is priced at $39.99 per person with a maximum dining limit of 100 minutes.

Kanpai BBQ will introduce all-you-can-eat yakiniku, its Japanese barbecue option in a couple of weeks when customers will be able to grill their own meats at the table.

Kanpai BBQ and Shabu

The restaurant is currently open from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.