Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, I wanted to try a kappo restaurant for the first time. It's a style of Japanese cuisine that's a bit less formal than kaiseki, and more varied in cooking techniques than sushi joints. My search in Taipei came up with Yu Kapo. (without wanting to delve into anything political, as a former Japanese colony, Taiwan tends to still value many things Japanese).
The restaurant takes reservations through the inline.app website/app. There are at least 2-3 front-of-house staff that can speak English well enough, and the chef and cooks can also explain the dishes in English. The atmosphere in the restaurant is very serene, and welcome from the loud, bustling street outside.
We went for lunch, where they offer a 4500NT lunch menu, or a slightly more expansive 6000NT menu which is their dinner menu. We went for the lunch menu, which we felt was enough.
Salad. Tempura brassica, zucchini, grilled asparagus, marinated-smoked tuna, miso vinegarette
perilla leaf + hokkaido uni tempura. One of their signature dishes. Sea salt on the side was a welcome addition.
soup: a "meatball" of sorts made from ground yam and red snapper. Clean broth.
Halfbeak (sayori), plum jelly, shiso flowers. Very cool cutting prep. Plum jelly worked well with the sayori.
Sashimi 1: shima aji from Kyushu. The platter included 2 different pickled prep. Each has a slightly different pickling liquid which I unfortunately forgot =( The first is a quick pickled daikon, the second is a pickled peach which was our favorite. On the right hand of the platter was a nice daikon garnish which was peeled (katsuramuki) with a knife, shiso leaves were placed on the sheet, then rolled back up, then sliced into thin rounds.
sashimi 2: kyushu yellowtail
sashimi 3: hokkaido oma chu toro
sashimi 4: squid ( I forget the origin)
sashimi 5: shrimp from Yilan Taiwan.
Red throat fish (rosy seabass, akamutsu) with lantern fruit.
palate cleanser of Lian Wu fruit (wax apple/java apple) with ginger and lime juice.
chawanmushi of crab and seaweed. Forgot to take a photo oops! was enjoying myself too much
eel rice. Another of their signature dishes. Eel skin is fried to be very crispy. Koshihikar rice, a light soy-based sauce that is cooked (partially) with the eel. Nice presentation too. served with a cup of miso soup.
dessert: shiso granita, diced plums, sorbet.
Favorites included: the soup, sayori, shima aji, pickles, red throat fish, and the eel rice.
by capedether