BOKKA is a newly opened French fusion restaurant with an industrial loft style, located behind Jiuguang Department Store near Jing’an Temple, at the intersection of Yuyuan Road and Jiaozhou Road. It has a very, very low-key storefront, right next to the highly conspicuous Mangosix. Basically, few passersby would just walk in without prior knowledge; the reservation list is always full. There aren’t many seats inside, and sofa seating is even scarcer—most are small tables for two. The advantage of these two-top tables is their flexibility, as they can be easily combined into larger tables for groups~~~

The overall decor shows that the owner put a lot of thought into it: minimalist industrial style featuring cement, solid wood walls, wire mesh, and tungsten filament bulbs. This style is very trendy right now, and I personally quite like it. The restaurant spans two floors in a loft layout, with the second floor being relatively quieter.

Rumor has it that Chef Joe interned at NOMA in Denmark for a few months. While this doesn’t guarantee the quality of the food, it certainly helps attract some buzz, and supposedly the chef has put considerable effort into the cuisine. Restaurants of this type nowadays love techniques like sous-vide and molecular gastronomy… Now, let’s talk about the food.

First up, the pre-meal bread.

Pan-seared Scallops with Black Truffle: Imported scallops served with Italian black truffle sauce and cauliflower cheese purée. The texture is fresh, tender, and bouncy with distinct layers, delivering a stunning first bite.

Smoked Squab: After being smoked, the squab is slow-cooked at 65°C and served with a molecular gastronomy foam made from smoked ham. Due to the 65°C slow cooking, the meat inside isn’t fully cooked through; although it should theoretically be tender, it was actually quite tough to chew. Ironically, the accompanying mushrooms were tastier than the squab itself..

Australian Beef Short Ribs: This is arguably the restaurant’s signature dish, slow-cooked for 12 hours with a sauce made from beef bone broth. The meat quality is excellent—fully cooked yet still tender. The portion of sauce was a bit insufficient, but the flavor was fantastic, and the mashed potatoes on the side were also delicious.

Black Truffle Lobster Risotto: Made with barley instead of traditional rice and loaded with lobster meat. The quality is good, the seasoning is spot-on, and the barley isn’t too hard, resulting in a very pleasing texture.

Double Temptation: A complex dessert featuring vanilla and chocolate ice cream, milk foam, cocoa powder, and crushed nuts. The taste is satisfying and not overly sweet.

Berry Berry: A mix of various fresh fruits including blueberries, strawberries, and mulberries, topped with strawberry ice cream and mint. As long as the fruit quality is high, this dish is a success—and this place nailed it. Absolutely delicious~~~

Overall, the chef clearly put thought into every dish, and the ingredients used are decent, making it well worth the price point. Of course, the seasoning tends to overshadow the natural flavors of the ingredients somewhat. The service isn’t quite professional enough for a restaurant of this caliber, but since it’s newly opened, let’s give them some time.

Back to the ambiance: it was a weekend night, and with the place nearly full, it felt a bit noisy and cramped inside. The tables are small—fortunately, dishes were served one by one—but sadly there was nowhere to put bags; they could at least provide a basket on the floor. Below is a group dinner for 12:

The entrance looks very serene; I love this light fixture.

Small flowers on the table.

Photos in this post taken with SONY A5100 + 35mm f1.8, post-processed in Lightroom.

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