Travel Food Tuesday - Nupo

Nopo

First review of the year, and it starts off with disappointment.

I was initially super hyped for this restaurant based solely on their cocktails named after anime characters. Yes. I am a big nerd. Now that everyone knows, I can live my life freely.

When arriving to Nupo I was just stunned by how small the space was, I felt like it should’ve meant good things to come, like a great restaurant experience with great food…..despite looking like a drab hotel lounge. 

For our first round of drinks, I had ordered the Ponyo #2 that had coriander & white tea infused Aviation gin, Cocchi Americano, yellow Chartreuse, and Verjus lime. My friend had ordered the Wizard Howl that consisted of white & dark rum, peach rooibos syrup, yuzu, shisho, and orange blossom water. Both of these were delicious, very light, and not too sweet.

Our first dish to come out was the Omakase Sashimi which was just a selection of the selection of fish curated by the Chef. It wasn’t great at all. For a plate of market price sashimi, nothing about the sashimi was special at all. I was hoping for a knee-slapping experience but it wasn’t here. Felt like I needed a brush of Nikiri or maybe a squeeze of lemon. Just fresh cold cut fish.

Next up were some pieces of scallop and mackerel nigiri which were somewhat a little better, as the addition or rice gave some dimension of flavor but rice crumbled so fast. The major disappointment was the sablefish where the portion was so small but I couldn’t taste the fat content in it whatsoever. Just nothing was going right at this point.

Ordered a few more drinks which were excellent, the Calcifer and the Princess Mononoke. Chef’s kiss…errr mixologist kiss.

Calcifer

Princess Mononoke

Tempura Parsnip Roll’s sole purpose was to stop my stomach from grumbling. This vegan dish had wild mushroom, vegan truffle aioli, and freshly grated horseradish. The tempura itself wasn’t crispy, and you guessed it…wasn’t too flavorful. I could barely taste the truffle aioli. I’m just scratching my head at this point if any vegan had eaten this and thought it was delicious.

Up next was the Shigoku “Ultimate” Butter Poached Oyster. The oyster had Chinese rice wine, ginger scallion salsa, fresh cilantro, and lemon. These Kusshi oysters were fine but felt the ingredients really overpowered the brine taste I do appreciate. 

At this point, I’m still starving as portions were small and coming out slowly, felt like it was a ploy just to drink more. So I had ordered the Shellfish “Hot Pot” which was a candlelit warmed pot with spot prawn, mussels, seasonal fish, gochujang & red yuzu kosho “rouille”, accompanied by a house-made baguette. This is spewing with flavor, although it is on the super-salty side. I appreciated all the ingredients in this dish and probably the only thing I could recommend.

For good measure, we also got the dessert which I can’t remember what it was but was delicious. This was only ordered to fill our stomachs and not make a trip to McDonald’s afterward. So good consolation to a Big Mac I guess.

Overall, Nupo is too overhyped. The prices don’t warrant any pieces of the fish. My fave dish was the hot pot and it was 45 dollars for soup half the size of a small pho. There is no value here or any dish I’d come back for unless it was the anime-inspired cocktails. So I’d recommend this spot only for drinks and for food?......I’d go anywhere else for sushi. The Uni from Newfoundland is selling for the price of Hokkaido Uni, it’s criminal. Not impressed by the plant menu, and disappointed by the fish menu.

Sal says: Just Skip It (2.7/5)

@traansee says: Really fresh and high-quality fish. Cocktails are creative and will be especially enjoyed by those who know the references. Would recommend for a special occasion if you are willing to splurge on small portions of sashimi and follow with the slightly less impressive plant menu to feel more full 👀