The taxi driver stops and tells us we have arrived. Looking around it’s pretty hard to spot the entrance of Shintori Restaurant. I see a big grey wall but.. hey there is an opening.
Wandering inside reveals a small garden with bamboo at the end of which a door slides open once approached. One more slide and we see the inside of a former factory hall. Modern and very open, including the kitchen, is the best word to describe it.
But in the end a location can be grand, small, modern or passé, the only thing that matters is the food.
We ordered a medium plate of Sashimi (200 Rmb), a plate of Tempura, some Beef Teriyaki as well as some small fusion dishes. The sashimi was very fresh, the tuna perfect, the tempura not bad at all but that said, for me it’s always hard to taste the difference between anything that is deep-fried.
Quality wise definitely good, taste wise also good.
Is it better than the many revolving band Japanese restaurants? Yes, but the portions are definitely too small and slightly over priced. Service was average. Not bad but they had to be reminded of some of our orders while it wasn’t that busy.
The non-food highlight was the option to pee against the window. (Men toilets only I guess).
Shintori Restaurant
803 Julu Lu / cross street Fuming Lu
Tel: +86–21-5404-5252
Open daily: Mon-Fri 5.30-11pm
Sat-Sun 11.30am-2pm 5-11pmHow to get there:
Metro Line #2 Jing An Temple (15 minutes walk)
Disclaimer: All opinions are biased, based on non-existent food knowledge and influenced by the mood of the moment
Shintori is pretty but the food is unexceptional. The standard Japanese expat oriented all you can eat and drink places which charge 120-200 are about the same quality and a much better value. For fresh sashimi flown in daily from Japan, check out Ninsei (Renqing) on Nanchang Lu near Ruijin Lu; though coming out a bit of a rough patch, the food remains good (for Shanghai).
Comment by Russ — January 7, 2006 @ 4:13 am