Ichiriki Japanese Nabe Restaurant made use of pandemic downtime to create a VIP tatami room at its Piikoi location, now put to use for its new seiro, or steamed nabe experience.

It’s a festive way to greet the holidays, with seafood, meat and veggies impressively presented in foot-square, tiered wood boxes stacked over the same portable burner that a hotpot would sit on. A base of boiling water steams the ingredients until ready to eat in 12 to 15 minutes.

Three box options are available, with minimum of two orders per party: kurobuta pork ($40), USDA prime rib-eye ($55), or a Tokujo Kaisen seafood box ($69) with sweet Hokkaido scallops, Tristan lobster tails, Alaskan king crab, snow crab, blue shrimp and prawns.

Each set comes with a platter of vegetables, meatballs, arabiki sausages and shumai, one jumbo grilled octopus leg per guest, ramen to finish the broth, and dessert of green tea or vanilla ice cream.

The VIP room can accommodate two to 12 people, but while we’re in Tier 2, seating is limited to 10.

Ichiriki is at 510 Piikoi St. Call 589-2299.