Best Restaurants For Sukiyaki in Shanghai

Sukiyaki is one of my favorite meals! High-quality beef roasted in a pan with a sweet-savory sauce, then dipped in egg. It’s especially enjoyable during the cold winter months. Here are my top three restaurants for sukiyaki in Shanghai

What is Sukiyaki?

Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish of sliced meat, primarily high quality beef, that is roasted in a pan, usually a cast iron skillet.

It is served with high quality raw egg, which you beat and then use to dip the meat, coating the cooked slices with creamy, rich egg. It usually comes as a set with vegetables, mushrooms, konjac noodles, and udon or rice, which are cooked in the same pan to soak up residual flavors.

A5 sukiyaki Japanese restaurant Shanghai. Photo by Rachel Gouk @ Nomfluence

It is not hotpot. That one’s called shabu shabu, a type of nabemono, or Japanese hotpot, where meats, veg, etc., are cooked in a simmering broth.

Sukiyaki tends to be sweeter and more robust, while shabu shabu is savory and soupy. Both come with the same accoutrements. Restaurants that serve them usually have both options available.

For sukiyaki, there are two styles: Kanto (Tokyo) vs Kansai (Osaka).

Differences in the two are mostly in the warishita, a seasoning sauce traditionally made with soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar. Broadly, Kansai style tends to be sweeter and more concentrated, and sugar is added while cooking, while Kanto style uses dashi to dilute the warishita and is less sweet.

All three restaurants below use high-grade wagyu with marble scoring standards starting with A’s and M’s. There are a lot of technicalities with marble scoring, but to simplify: A5 > A1, M8 > M5. (Japanese beef is still banned in China, so the A’s are used as a reference point.)

The dish is typically cooked by staff at your table. Here’s a tip: If you feel like they’re going too fast, it’s not uncommon to ask them to slow down.

Motoya 别邸

Motoya is a Japanese restaurant that specializes in Kanto-style (Tokyo) sukiyaki, located within a complex opposite Laowaijie in Minhang district. They’ve been serving up sukiyaki in Shanghai for over a decade; the brand was established in 2012. There’s an open dining area on the ground floor and private rooms upstairs. Private rooms can be extended to hold up to 20 people.

Their sukiyaki set for two to share is ¥588 for 280g of meat, vegetables, choice of egg fried rice or udon, and ice cream for dessert. It comes with two portions each of A6, A5, A4, and A3 Australian wagyu. (There isn’t A6 in the Japanese marbling system, so again, it’s just for reference.)

The meat quality is superb, and the service is excellent, formal but fun.

I recommend adding an extra plate of A4.

The set used to be ¥688, but they’ve brought it down in recent months to give diners added value.

Signature egg fried rice, included in the set for two.

They also have small selection each for sashimi, cold appetizers, grilled dishes, tempura, kushiage (fried skewers), noodles, and rice dishes.

To those who say that it is “too far,” I say, “hush, you!” Of the sukiyaki I’ve had in Shanghai, I found Motoya to be the best value for the quality. It’s 100% worth the trek.

Motoya
Click here for the venue listing.

Ri He Sukiyaki 日和寿喜烧

Located in Arch Walk mall, Ri He is a highly popular sukiyaki restaurant that does the Kansai (Osaka) version with high-grade wagyu. Though, they don’t add sugar. Seating at the restaurant is mostly private rooms with a tatami layout, the comfortable kind with leg room under the table. There’s also outdoor seating, but the private rooms are much nicer.

Menus at Ri He are all handwritten in Chinese. The set for two is ¥788 and includes A5, A4, and A3, plus veg and udon. Or a sharing set for three people, ¥1,680 for 600g worth of A5 and A4, veg, and udon. Add on A4 is ¥298 for 150g. Exceptional quality of beef. Service is formal and reserved.

Other dishes available include a curated selection of sashimi, grilled dishes, tempura, and cold starters.

Ri He
Click here for the venue listing.

Sushi Ren 鮨蓮

Sushi Ren & Shabu Shabu (鮨蓮) is part of the Ren (蓮) group, a Japanese-focused brand that operates restaurants that serve unagi (eel rice), tempura, izakaya, shabu shabu, sukiyaki, and sushi. This location is on Yuyuan Lu, and does shabu shabu, sukiyaki, and sushi and has a sushi bar, a few booth seats, and comfortable tatami rooms. It is not to be confused with its older sister restaurant, a sushi-only place also called Sushi Ren on Xinzha Lu.

They do Tokyo-style sukiyaki here and it is pretty good. The set is ¥680 for one person, which includes starters, hot dishes, sashimi, four cuts of wagyu (M9+, M9 M8), iberico pork, vegetables, rice or udon, and dessert.

Compared to Motoya, Sushi Ren’s is a much lighter and soupier version of seasoning. Again, it’s good, but I prefer my sukiyaki with more concentrated flavors.

Also, it’s hard not to notice the “downtown tax,” i.e.: when not in Gubei, some Japanese restaurants do feel extra pricey. If you’re looking for sukiyaki in a pinch, this is a good one. Though, it is a small restaurant, best to book ahead.