Red Kappo 赫·割烹 @ Shanghai

A dinner treat from a business partner, and knowing that I love yakitori, he brought me to this secluded spot for some high-end yakitori.

Red Kappo 赫·割烹 is a yakitori-ya located in a luxurious service apartment in Shanghai near Xintiandi. It’s on the second floor, and to get up, there’s an access card that you can swipe the lift with to gain access. And one you get there, you will be greeted with a modern Zen-like frontage that would transport you to Ginza.

Everything used in this place is luxurious, from the sake dispenser on the counter to the bottles of Maotai laying around, to the expensive dinner plates that were used.

If you are into these things, the dinnerware they used are from Hermès and Christian Dior. Not that things served on them would immediately tasted better. It’s more likely because the owners of this restaurant needed to hit the quota of the luxury brand so that they can land their hands on their coveted Birkins.

The omakase consisted of 10 cooked dishes, 13 yakitori items and fruits for dessert.

Pigeon Consomme 鸽子鸡汤

There’s a special item on the yakitori list – grilled pigeon legs – we now knew where the rest of the body went to. They have been used to make this delicious consommé.

Squid with Ants 枪鱿鱼蚂蚁

This first appetiser was want shot them to fame in the first place. I would say that this appetiser is one of the most bizarre food I have ever eaten, and I have eaten many bizarre stuff that would make Andrew Zimmer squirm.

These are farmed ants and are lightly blanched and tasted a bit sour. If you feel squeamish about eating inserts, which many scientists predicted to be the main source of proteins in the future, they can leave the ants out. What you have left is just a normal appetiser of lightly poached ika (squid) and okra dressed with ponzu sauce.

Hokkaido Uni and Snow Crab with Vinegar Jelly 北海道海膽松葉蟹醋冻

Although Hokkaido is the most famous producer of crab in Japan, Sakaiminato in Tottori produces the most crab in all of Japan. Adult male snow crab is known as Matsuba kani 松葉蟹 in Japanese. Matsuba crab is so delicious because of the plankton-rich seafloor environment of the region, resulting in crabmeat packed with flavour.

Now we are loaded with those useless trivial, this was an appetiser that was full of sweetness of the crab meat, umami from the sex organ of the Hokkaido sea urchin and balanced with the refreshing ponzu vinegar jelly.

Seasonal Sashimi 季节鱼生三种

The sashimi was not fantastic. I could not remember what I ate, but it had Himi kanburi 冰見寒鰤 (winter yellowtail from Himi, Toyama), mikan tai みかん鯛 (sea bream fed with mikan) and medai (Japanese barrelfish). Very gimmicky as I could not taste the difference between the normal buri vs the winter buri, which is supposed to be fattier and more intense in flavours. Same with the mikan tai that is from seam bream fed with mandarin orange skins; the fish was supposed to have a faint taste of the fruit. Both, btw, are heavily promoted in Hong Kong and Taiwan, not so much in Japan.

Sea Bream with Foie Gras Mousse 鯛鱼鹅肝慕斯

They froze a piece of pâté of duck foie gras and shaved it on top of two pieces of tai (sea bream) sashimi like a piece of parmigiana. The foie gras shaving was a delight when eaten with the fish.

Ankimo Liver with Mountain Yam and Stewed Radish 安康魚肝山藥泥白蘿蔔

This appetiser hit the spot for me as it consisted of three items that I love in Japanese cuisine. Ankimo (monkfish liver) was the foie gras of the sea and often featured in an izakaya or yakitori-ya as an amuse bouche.

一 Yakitori 烧鸟一

The yakitori course included 13 varieties of grilled items and not everything was presented on a skewer.

We were presented with the stuff that we would be having tonight for yakitori, a visually appetising sight indeed.

pigeon Leg 肥汁鸽腿

To kick start the yakitori section of the meal was a succulent piece of perfectly grilled pigeon leg served a lime. I did not appreciate that they left the claws on.

The skin was crispy and well seasoned. As a final touch, it was sprinkled with a bit of colourful sesame seeds.

chicken thigh with perilla lead 紫苏梅肉

sunagimo 雞胗

tiger prawn wrapped with chicken skin and perilla leaf 黑虎虾鸡皮紫苏

Next a trio of skewers served together. The first was momo もも (chicken thigh) grilled and topped with a generous serving of julienned shiso しそ (perilla leaf) which gave it a citrusy, refreshing flavour. I rather liked the tiger prawn wrapped with chicken skin and perilla leaf, which was a novel way to serve kawa かわ, (chicken skin); I always order sunagimo (chicken gizzard) and they have provided a skewer of very small cuts which was nicely grilled but not much volume.

cherry tomatoes 聖女果

One of the two vegetable tonight, decently roasted.

flambe octopus 火焰章魚

They didn’t really cooked it in front of you, just the final touch of flambé the octopus leg. The chef tried four times before finally getting the alcohol lighted and poured on the already BBQ tentacle.

Not sure if the flambé added any flavour to the chewy octopus. This course was more a show than for its taste.

chicken wing 手羽先

And the must have in yakitori, tebasaki 手羽先 (chicken wing) grilled to perfect crispiness albeit slightly under salted.

chicken thigh with wasabi 芥末雞腿

The momo (chicken thigh) made another appearance, but in a more traditional fashion, grilled with salt and served with freshly grated wasabi.

chicken heart 雞心

Hatsu ハツ (chicken heart) is difficult to grill properly but they nailed it. Crunchy and yet properly cooked through, the hearts were not chewy.

okra 秋葵

These okra and the cherry tomatoes were the only veg options for this yakitori.

chicken lantern 雞提燈

Chouchin ちょうちん literally means lantern in Japanese, because it looked like an orange lantern when you hold it up. But it is actually unlaid egg yolk still attached to the fallopian tube of the hen. It sounded bizarre but it was one of the best (and rare) yakitori that you can have, and I recommend you try it when you have the chance. The yolk burst in your mouth with this wonderful creaminess followed by smoky, crunchy fallopian tube; all brought together with a sweet soy glaze.

yakimochi with cheese filling 烤芝士年糕

Grilled rice cakes are probably one of the most rustic and traditional ways in which plain traditional rice cakes are enjoyed. When done, they’re chewy and soft with a delicious toasted flavor.

A very popular style of enjoying Japanese mochi is known as “isobeyaki.” It generally involves seasoning warmed, toasted, or grilled mochi with soy sauce and then enjoying it wrapped with a piece of dried seasoned seaweed (ajinori).

pineapple 鳳梨

A palate cleanser of grilled (normal) pineapple, a page taken from the Brazilian BBQ as the acidity of the pineapple would help with taking away the greasiness of the yakitori. And with that ended the yakitori part of the meal. And then we moved on to more main courses.

Tai Matsukasa Yaki 甘鲷立鳞烧

Matsukasa yaki refers to the way the scales of the fish is cooked along with the flesh and left standing on ends like pine cones (matsukasa). A proper difficult technique to master, and they nearly got it. The fish was over cooked along the way though.

Hotate Chawanmushi 帆立贝茶碗蒸

I liked that they grilled the hotate (scallops) before placing them on the traditional chawanmushi (steam egg custard). Otherwise it was a rather good steamed egg with the usual trimmings.

Wagyu Uni Donburi 和牛海胆飯

The main course was a limited edition wagyu uni donburi 和牛海胆飯. The sea urchin in this one was slightly off, and the nori sheets were not crispy. Luckily the wagyu was delicious.

Bracken Shrimp Ball Clear Soup 莼菜虾滑清汤

One more soup to go along with the donburi. I love the texture of brackens which turn slimy when cooked.

Maotai Melon 茅台蜜瓜

The Chinese has managed to plant these delicious melons from Japanese lineage in China, allowing many more to enjoy the sweet, intense flavours of the husk melons that once was the privilege of rich. As the price of the melons drop, the chef has to spray Maotai liquor on them to luxe them up. A totally unnecessary step, just pure gimmick like the ants before. In fact I think the Maotai totally destroyed the taste of the melon, so I opted for Yamazaki whisky instead.

Costa Rican Pinkglow Pineapple 哥斯大黎加粉紅鳳梨

These are genetically modified pineapples. The company that makes them, Del Monte, has a patent, and the fruit is only grown on one particular farm in Costa Rica. The Pinkglow pineapple has been modified to produce lower levels of the enzymes that convert lycopene to beta carotene, allowing the fruit to become naturally pink. Lycopene is the same pigment that makes tomatoes red and watermelons pink, so it is commonly found in many fruits and vegetables and totally safe to eat.

However, the gimmick did not rub off me, as I still prefer the Sarawakan pineapple.

Afterthoughts

Strictly speaking this is not a yakitori-ya or a kappo, but we are not strict when the food is this good. The place is quite small and you will smell of yakitori when you leave. And the seats were really uncomfortable. Other than those points, this is one of the better yakitori I had in Shanghai.

Red Kappo 赫·割烹yakitori ya
济南路九号公寓大堂上二楼
Tel : +86 18601766209

Visited Mar 2023

#yakitori #Shanghai