A new interactive Japanese-style hotpot restaurant has opened its doors in Flushing, providing an all-you-can-eat experience featuring premium cuts of wagyu steak.
Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House launched with a soft opening at 135-41 37th Ave. in mid-August and became fully operational in September.
The restaurant is part of the Chubby Group, a restaurant and hospitality group operating 30 locations across the US, including 12 dining concepts. Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House is Chubby Group’s first location in New York City.
The new Flushing location specializes in an all-you-can-eat Japanese shabu (hotpot) experience. For 90 minutes, guests can enjoy premium cuts of wagyu beef from around the world, including American wagyu brisket, Japanese A5 wagyu chuck ribeye, and Australian wagyu shoulder cuts.
Mikiya boasts four menu sets, ranging from the basic wagyu set at $45 to the diamond wagyu set at $98. All menu sets come with seasonal vegetable platters, while the more expensive sets also feature seasonal seafood platters that can also be cooked using Japanese shabu.
The restaurant offers four different types of broth for hotpot cooking, including tomato, spicy miso, Japanese sukiyaki, and house broth. Set menus also include a variety of special side dishes, such as bone marrow, wagyu tartare, grilled lobster tail, and sweet shrimp.
Although Mikiya represents Chubby Group’s first foray into the New York market, the new Flushing location has been a decade in the making.
David Zhao, who co-founded Chubby Group nine years ago, said the new restaurant has a deeply personal connection. Zhao was living in Flushing ten years ago during a gap year in college, where he met his future business partner Harby Yang, who was interning at a hotpot restaurant.
The pair went into business together and launched their first restaurant in 2015 with the opening of a Las Vegas hotpot restaurant. Last year, they signed a lease at the site of the former 96 Favor Taste Restaurant in Flushing, the same restaurant where Yang was interning when they first met.
“It truly is something that now we have a Flushing location,” Zhao said. This is 10 years in the making, so it definitely has emotional value in the fact that Flushing is one of the most vibrant and probably the biggest actual Chinatown in the US.”
Zhao said Mikiya differs from other hotpot restaurants around the world by offering premium cuts of wagyu steak, stating that Mikiya offers a twist on the traditional concept of a hotpot restaurant by incorporating elements from American steakhouses.
Mikiya offers an interactive and engaging experience for guests, allowing customers to cook their own food in a broth of their choice and experiment with different meats and sauces. Zhao believes the concept provides an entertaining and fun experience for customers.
“You get to have a communal experience,” Zhao said. “It’s very customizable. It’s a great time with family or a romantic date. It’s a great time with friends because you’re eating together, and we’re taking care of all of the tedious parts of cooking – the dishwashing, the setting up, the prepping. You’re dipping and eating and having fun together, and we take care of the rest.”
Zhao said Chubby Group is set to open two more New York locations before the end of 2024, including another Mikiya location on Second Avenue and 52nd Street in Manhattan, which is scheduled to open sometime this month. Meanwhile, Chubby Group will open a Chubby Nori restaurant in Korea Town near 35th Street in November, which will specialize in Temaki-style sushi – more commonly referred to as hand rolls.
He added that Chubby Group aims to open 40 new locations across the US by the end of 2025, including six more New York locations.
Zhao additionally emphasized Chubby Group membership options, stating that the company aims to reward customer loyalty.
At present, Chubby Group offers the Chubby One membership program, which can be redeemed at a particular brand under the Chubby Group umbrella, such as Mikiya. The company is set to launch a new Chubby Plus membership program in mid-October, which can be used at all Chubby locations.
“In the food and beverage space, we feel the customers are not getting properly rewarded,” Zhao said. “It’s a huge empty space.”
He said Chubby aims to give perks to loyal customers to use across a variety of brands under the Chubby umbrella.
At the Mikiya restaurant in Flushing, for example, Chubby One members can enjoy $10 discounts on the three most expensive menu sets and a $7 discount on the basic Wagyu set.
“We want to deliver a lot more value to the food and beverage space, which is not really there yet in the US.”
Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House is open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. until 2 a.m. Click here to make a reservation.
