Hot Pot Bangkok: 16 Shabu, Sukiyaki and Mala Hot Pot Restaurants

Hot pot in Bangkok: shabu, sukiyaki, mala and Thai suki explained

The words get used loosely in Bangkok, and the menu changes completely between them. Japanese shabu shabu is a light broth and very thin meat, swished for a few seconds and dipped in sesame or ponzu. Hitori, Nabezo and Ginza Shabu-Ten serve it this way, and Masa Garden’s shabu set uses a pork-bone broth. Japanese sukiyaki is sweeter and richer: beef simmered in soy, sugar and mirin, then dipped in raw egg. Masa Garden’s Kansai sets and Hitori’s sukiyaki broth are the examples here.

Thai suki is the local version: a clear or dark broth with glass noodles, egg and vegetables, finished with a red chilli and garlic dipping sauce. Hon Buffet’s old-style suki sauce and Mongkok’s dark broth come from this side. Chinese hot pot is the Sichuan branch, a split pot with mala in one half and something mild in the other, plus a sauce bar where you mix your own dip. Haidilao and Shoo Loong Kan are the reference points. If one person at the table avoids chilli, a split pot settles it at any of these.

Shabu buffets in Bangkok under 600 baht

The best value in this guide is not in a mall. ShabuBomb fills two floors inside Talat Chai Thit, a neighbourhood market in Bangkok Noi, and its price has barely moved in three years: a 2023 Lemon8 post quoted 219 baht without drinks or 276 with them, and a March 2026 Wongnai review still paid 276 net with drinks for a two-hour sitting. How many of the nine broths you can order depends on the size of your group. Reviewers single out a mala that tingles more than it burns and the Isan-style jaew hon. A 2023 post says checking in online earned a free crème brûlée.

Chu Grill Shabu, on Banthat Thong near Chulalongkorn, sells a different kind of value: shabu, tabletop grill and sushi on one ticket. Tier names and prices change often, so ask at the door. A post edited in November 2025 listed 249++ for the entry tier, 410++, a Royal set at 491 net and the Platinum at 791 net, which is the tier with unlimited sashimi. It opens at 15:00, there is a charge of 100 baht per 100 g of leftover food, and Wongnai reviewers say the mala broth costs 30 baht extra on some tiers.

Hon Buffet in Pinklao is for groups split between hot pot and Isan food. Each diner gets an individual sukiyaki pot, and the buffet line carries duck larb, corn som tam, grilled chicken and beef tongue. Richer broths such as thick tom yum cost extra. At the top of this price range, You&I on EmQuartier’s 9th floor charges 560 baht for 90 minutes on the standard tier; Hungry Hub describes meats up to Kurobuta pork, wagyu and Angus, and Klook’s 105-minute premium tier adds wagyu and seafood. For buffets that are not hot pot, from hotel lines to seafood, see buffets in Bangkok.

Wagyu and premium shabu shabu in Bangkok

For the best shabu in Bangkok measured by the meat, skip the buffets. Nabezo Premium at Siam Paragon is the one place in this list where a national newspaper names the beef: Thairath reports A5 Omi and X-Wagyu. The Standard’s review of the course menu lists three tiers for shabu or sukiyaki, Kurobuta pork at 890 baht, wagyu at 1,190 and Omi at 2,600, each opening with salmon-avocado tartare and beef tataki under sea urchin and ending with kamaage udon or ochazuke. That review dates from 2017, and the Japanese parent brand runs all-you-can-eat, so ask which format the Paragon room serves before booking.

Ginza Shabu-Ten at EmQuartier sits between the two worlds: à la carte, with a Kurobuta pork special course and Hida beef for diners who want a step up from sirloin, and an unagi rice bowl or wagyu don for anyone who would rather not cook. Masa Garden is the choice when the room matters as much as the beef. Its sukiyaki set includes rice, salad, miso soup, raw egg, vegetables and dessert, and the 450-baht bakudan, a sashimi mix of crab, fish and squid wrapped in seaweed at the table, makes a good starter for two. Yuzu Suki, at Mega Bangna and Central Ladprao, is the everyday version: Omi A5 and Iberico pork by the set, with no clock running. For the wider Japanese list, from omakase to ramen, see Japanese restaurants in Bangkok.

Hot pot for one: single-pot shabu counters

Solo hot pot is easy in Bangkok, mostly because of one brand. Hitori Shabu seats everyone at a counter with a personal pot, so one diner gets exactly the meal a group would. You choose the broth first, clear shabu, sweet sukiyaki or truffle, then a meat and vegetable set, and finish with ice cream. No branch in this guide publishes its set prices. The nearest guide is a Wongnai photo of the menu at the chain’s Chic Republic Ratchaphruek branch in November 2025: a pork set at 295 baht and a wagyu set at 395, each before 10 percent service and 7 percent VAT.

The branches differ in what they are known for. Siam Paragon’s original is the Kurobuta pork collar room. Central Rama 9 leans on Akita A5 wagyu and suits an after-work dinner straight off the MRT. If Paragon has a queue, the CentralWorld branch on the 3rd floor’s Japan Avenue zone, rated 4.9 from more than 1,700 reviews, is reached along the skywalk. Two people can sit side by side with separate pots, which many couples prefer because each controls how long the beef stays in. Yuzu Suki’s smallest pot size and Hon Buffet’s individual pots are the other ways to eat hot pot alone.

Mala hotpot in Bangkok, and hot pot after midnight

Haidilao is the default answer for mala hotpot in Bangkok, and its hours are the other reason people go. All three branches here list closing at 03:00, which makes them some of the few full sit-down meals available in a mall after midnight. The format is the same at each: tablet ordering, a split pot (four compartments at CentralWorld) and a self-serve sauce bar charged per head. At CentralWorld and Pinklao the queue comes with free snacks and manicures. Time Out notes the hand-pulled noodles, stretched at the table. Central Rama 9 suits a group coming off the MRT, and an August 2025 Wongnai reviewer found no queue there on a weekday. At Central Pinklao, one reviewer walked in on a Monday evening without waiting.

For more heat, Shoo Loong Kan at ICONSIAM is the specialist. Its butter mala is cooked in beef tallow and carries real heat, with pork bone, tomato or mushroom as the mild halves. The menu reaches past beef to lamb, pork and duck intestine, tiger prawns and minced squid, and bingfen jelly from southwest China cools things down at the end. Prices are not published, and the closing time is unclear: 03:00 at launch, midnight on Google. Phone first if it is late.

Mongkok Sukiyaki on Ratchadaphisek is the Chinese suki for tables that want soy rather than Sichuan pepper: a dark broth for the table to share, ordered à la carte, with a house dipping sauce that GrabFood singles out. It has under a hundred Google reviews, so treat it as a neighbourhood option.

Hot pot by area: Siam, Phrom Phong, Rama 9, Pinklao, Bang Na

Siam has the densest cluster. Hitori and Nabezo are both on Paragon’s G floor, Haidilao is on CentralWorld’s 7th floor and Chu Grill is one BTS stop away at National Stadium; the rest of the area is in Siam restaurants, Siam Paragon restaurants and CentralWorld restaurants. EmQuartier’s Helix holds Ginza Shabu-Ten on floor 8 and You&I on floor 9, with Masa Garden a short motorbike ride up Soi 39; more in EmQuartier restaurants and Phrom Phong restaurants. Central Rama 9 has Haidilao on the 7th floor and Hitori on B1; see Central Rama 9 restaurants. Mongkok is a short drive up Ratchadaphisek, covered in Huai Khwang restaurants.

Across the river, Haidilao at Central Pinklao, Hon Buffet and ShabuBomb are all within a short drive of each other; Pinklao restaurants and Central Pinklao restaurants cover the rest of that side. Shoo Loong Kan’s mall is covered in ICONSIAM restaurants. East and north, Yuzu Suki and a Hitori counter both trade at Mega Bangna, listed in Mega Bangna restaurants, and Yuzu has a second branch in Central Ladprao restaurants. If you would rather grill than boil, see mookata in Bangkok.

Booking and what the price includes

Book Haidilao in its app before Friday or Saturday dinner at CentralWorld, where one reviewer waited one to two hours at peak. Book Masa Garden for dinner; Time Out’s article and its info box disagree on a Monday closure, so call 02-123-8581 first. Hitori takes walk-ins only, and You&I is worth booking for weekend evenings.

Read the price before you sit down. Buffets run on a timer: 90 minutes at You&I’s standard tier, 100 at Chu Grill and two hours at ShabuBomb, and Chu Grill charges for leftovers. À la carte hot pot has no timer, but it adds per-head charges: Haidilao’s sauce bar was about 50 to 60 baht a person at CentralWorld, with refillable drinks at 39. Mall prices marked ++ add 10 percent service and 7 percent VAT. Ask You&I about card surcharges before paying, and check Hon Buffet’s hours before planning lunch, because Google and Wongnai list different opening times.