In writing this I had to speak to a Japanese friend to make sure I have everything correct: GoKoHai is a Japanese Shabu Shabu restaurant, and for anyone who doesn't know, Shabu Shabu is the Japanese version of what everyone here calls Hot pot. The literal translation for Shabu is "in and out" --a term also associated, incidentally, with Japanese porn. One doesn't have to stretch the imagination too far to discern what’s about to happen when kinky Japanese men ask their partners for a "Shabu Shabu," but I digress...

GoKoHai is quaint little restaurant and perhaps one of the best Japanese Hot pot places I've have been to without having to pay an arm or a leg. It's situated right next to what was once the Argentinean Steakhouse and is now a China Mobile store on Huaihai Lu at Wuxing Lu.

There's nothing glitzy or glamorous about GoKoHai, nor can it be classified in the other end of the spectrum: cheap, nasty all-you-can-eat-and-drink Japanese sushi restaurants. Instead, GoKoHai meanders somewhere between the middle and low roads of Japanese options in Shanghai. The sign board outside and decorations inside are similar to many other Japanese restaurants that can be found on Changle Lu or Zhenning Lu, so there's nothing about the restaurant that draws you in if you don't know how to read Japanese or if you don't know much about Japanese food. Thankfully, however, the blandness stops at the presentation.