Kanpai’s exalted food, wine pairing delight
Taiwanese joint Kanpai Classic opened its door at Chi-Q’s old space at Three on the Bund a year ago and recently updated its concept into Kanpai Wine Club.
A high-end (Japanese grill) chain from Taiwan, the restaurant specializes in Australian Wagyu chilled beef with 10 different aging steaks on daily offer. The new concept as a “Wine Club” has been unveiled to challenge new territory: a combination of Japanese with wine.
Ricco Luo, regional wine director of Kanpai Group and manager of “Kanpai Wine Club,” is keen on leading guests to experience the food and wine pairing based on its top-notch beef collection instead of the normal form of with sake pairing.
A special wine menu is created with more options for “by glass” trials.
“We select the most food-friendly wine from all around the world,” Luo explains. “Among 120 references, those treasures have some features in common.
“They all use an indigenous grape variety to reflect their natural character and most of them are selected from boutique wineries with small allocations every year. In this diverse wine selection you can taste the most chic ‘on skin’ wine to a vintage Bordeaux like a 1978 Pauillac and a 100 percent grower champagne list.”
However, the mission is to maximize the dining experience and emphasize the essence of what Kaipei has to offer.
With guidance from Luo, I started my Kaipei experience with some items newly introduced — a New Zealand oyster platter pairing with a 2017 Sattlerhof Vom Sand Sauvignon Blanc from Austria. The refreshing and crisp characters of the wine worked superbly with the salty minerality of the oysters.
It was followed by a classic Australian Wagyu beef steak tartare and 5J Iberico ham with a persistent and intense flavor, accompanied by a glass of red Spanish indigenous grape variety, Alicante Bouschet, from the warm, central Almansa region.
The complexity of the ham paired well with the Spanish red. There was plenty of acidity and bold fruit.
However, the star of the evening was obviously the premium Australian Wagyu beef. And it’s hard to go wrong when selecting a cut from the menu. Every part of the beef I tried was perfectly grilled and delicious.