Kappo Yu, the best Japanese restaurant in Shanghai, started to layer a rich content experience into their meals a couple of years ago. Atop watching a highly skilled professional preparing some of the most divine mouthfuls in the world, came an almost too-wacky burst of video and costume mini-peformances matched to the theme of the evening. We've sat through the beauty of sea urchin, temperature of winter and red-ness of love... and laughed along every time.
Is it necessary? No, the food is already good enough. Head Chef Taneda San thinks differently. Now open along the new "G-ART Pedestrian Street" at 381 Panyu Rd, is his new restaurant Anthologia, dedicated to putting those too-wacky performances centre-stage.
What follows is a three hour foray into the mind of a phenomenal Japanese Chef. A curved projection screen covers a wall which our tables, arranged in tiers, are all facing. Vignettes of deep water creatures, fresh water shrimp and Kobe cattle ranches are displayed alongside their corresponding courses whilst the head waiter presents their contents in a mock-performance that even he can't help but giggle at.
It's the same echelon mouthfulls as Kappo Yu interspersed amongst slight explorations of other senses. The result is a slower release of the goods and an experience not to be missed but a clear reason to return to Kappo Yu. The crown is still over there.
Those echeclon mouthfulls... (white radish, hokkaido tuna, wagyu beef)
