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We figure that it was time to do a post about our favorite Shanghai restaurant of them all. Assuming that the overarching criteria for "favorite" is how often one goes to eat at a certain restaurant, then Coco 壱番屋 (more lovingly known amongst its many fans as Coco Curry) towers above all the other establishments on our list (and apparently, we're not the only ones).
This Japanese import franchise (there are seven of them scattered throughout town) specializes in Japanese-style curry sauce, usually poured over a mound of fluffy white rice. For us, our mouth literally waters whenever we think of digging into our favorite combo: spicy curry over fried chicken chunks, always accompanied by an extra side order of curry sauce to make sure everything on our plate is seriously drenched. The sauce is the key to the entire magical equation: its consistency, texture, and blend of spices is pitch-perfect. Diners have the option of choosing between 5 levels of spiciness for their curry sauce, as well as extra portions of rice. Besides extra sauce, sides include an array of meats (pork and chicken katsu, grilled beef, prawns) and veggies, with our decadent favorite (melted cheese) falling into neither category. This flexibility is one of Coco Curry's great charms, and another reason why there are always eager lines during lunch and dinner hours at the Jing'an location (in the basement of City Plaza), which we think is just slightly tastier than its sister restaurants. Just make sure you hit it up between busy hours if you're looking to eat right away. At well under 30-40 RMB per plate, depending on how much stuff you add to it, it's one of the tastiest bargains in town, and why it's the first thing that pops into our head when people ask us what our favorite restaurant is. Enjoy!
Coco Curry - basement of City Plaza 1618 Nanjing Lu (南京西路1618号久光百货B1楼) Tel: 6288-5167. For details on other locations (Zhongshan Park, Xujiahui, etc), check out dianping here.
Eric Hu is Shanghaiist's Food Editor. Email tips, recommendations, and news and gossip about Shanghai's food scene to food at shanghaiist.com.
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Amen to that, been going there almost weekly since I got here.
here's a link to all the locations, if you have trouble finding it from Eric's link to the City Plaza location above.
http://www.dianping.com/search_b/12338
and here's the cityweekend listing, though they've only got 3 locations listed, compared to dianping's 7...
http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/listings/dining/japanese/has/jing-branch/
Oops, guess I put in the wrong dianping link. I have changed it now, thanks jenming!
Definitely one of my favorites. Working bit far from any of them these days but still one of my favorites!
Having never been there, I can't comment on the taste. But that is a yucky picture. I am sure it tastes better than it looks :)
Damn you! The line at the Jing'An one is already long enough without spreading to the rest of the expat crowd!
come on,
one day you are food snobs talking about the bad service when it's obviously really good, and the next you're praising coco curry!!!
where's the world going at?
My favourite is the Udon restaurant 20 yards away.
Bad service? Whatchoo talkin 'bout Shoppers?
I keep hearing good things about Coco but every time I get near the door I look at the menu and the food looks...well, like the photo.
Must bite the bullet and check it out.
Swiss - the pork chop curry is at least a once a week thing for me.
It's just your run of the mill Japanese style curry that you can get at thousands of other Japanese places around the city, with a variety of options. But other than the flexible options there's nothing remarkable about this chain at all.
Pure heaven to me -- I loved it in Japan, but could only afford once every two weeks due to the cost there. Here you can go all out with coke and salad combo just adding 10 kuai! I recommend: Asparagus and Tomato curry, 5 hot, add a Chicken pai, and if you can afford it cheese.
Japan is the best blessing that's happened to China in the past 10 years. I love going to Japanese establishments (unlike McDonalds, Carrefour, other foreign) because they actually train the employees not to be complete dimwits. (Like in McDonalds English Bandits or in Carrefour register bitches who just glare at me and then start making stupid sign language to get me to look at the grand total on the register while being to lazy to open their mouth and just SAY IT.)
I've been there as a result of this mouth-watering review, and honestly, what a disappointment. It was fast-food meat drowning in a sea of fast-food sauce. Not healthy, not tasty. Me and my girl agreed never to get back there again.
OMG. What do you mean, "fast-food meat drowning in a sea of fast-food sauce"? Whatever you were eating, it wasn't CoCo. No way. It's heaven on a plate for less than 40RMB, can't say no to that. Been going every chance I can.
(BTW- you can have it even cheaper; do like the Japanese guy I saw one time and order a plain plate of curry rice and buy the toppings separately- boiled egg and something else is always good)
If you dont like this place then you probably are not a curry fan. Either you love it or hate it. I have to agree though it doesnt look that attractive. I've been to a few coco's in shanghai and the service is better than most local restaurants, the staff works hard and as soon as you sit down they will ask you if you want cold or warm water (which is not boiled and comes from a water cooler) and its not too much of a hassle to get it refilled. Your bill is delivered rolled up and put in a small cup on the table. Very efficient.