The restaurant debuted in Shanghai in 2014 and won many awards as a dark horse. Winner of "Best European and American Restaurant" in 2014 Modern Weekly, "Best Restaurant in Shanghai" by Tatler in 2015, "Best Restaurant in Shanghai" by 2015 City Weekend, and "Best Restaurant in Shanghai" by 2015 Shanghai WOW! "Best French Restaurant of the Year" and many other honorary titles. The restaurant was also named in the Michelin Guide Shanghai in 2018.
The restaurant was founded by John Liu, as was the Italian restaurant Scarpetta next door. Joined in 2015 by partner Jason Oakley, who is currently serving as Head Chef at Goquille and Scarpetta. Jason Oakley has worked at 58 Degrees Steakhouse at Mandarin Oriental and has played a key role in many of the world's most prestigious restaurants, including French Laundry in San Francisco.
Goquille means small shell, and as the name suggests, this is a French restaurant specializing in seafood. With a unique Asian twist, Goquille is a must-see for its signature seafood dishes. Shellfish include New Zealand mussels and red shellfish. The seafood here is cleanly processed, such as the huge New Zealand mussels, which are plump and unmistakably unfishy, with Thai-style lemongrass chili peppers that are sour and spicy. Similarly, cocktail prawns, smoked salmon mille-feuille, crispy ham octopus balls, clam cheese puffs, and more are all umami flavors that are not to be missed during the season.
Among the main dishes, the secret grilled Dungeness crab is a major signature. The live Dungeness crab is flown in from Canada every day and roasted with butter, garlic and other secret Indian spices until golden brown, and the crab meat has an endless sweet and spicy aftertaste. Crab paste is used to cook pasta with yellow oil, garlic and black pepper, and it is extremely rich in layers in a single dish. Boston lobster, classic steak with fries, French seafood platter on ice, foie gras rolls, lemongrass ginger snails and more are just some of the most popular dishes.
The Wellington steak, which was popular due to the domestic TV series "Yes Mr." is available in limited quantities every day and requires advance reservations. The dish is served like an enlarged version of puff pastry, and with the permission of diners, it is brought back to the back of the kitchen to be cut and plated. Originally filled with food, it has been cut into thick slices when it is served again, and the golden plump pastry surrounds the medium-rare filet mignon, and is also filled with fatty foie gras, Italian ham, black truffle mushroom puree and other toppings. A steak of Wellington can be eaten by 2~4 people, and a unique combination of food has established the status of this dish as a town store.
The interior design of the restaurant is Luk Studio's first restaurant project, and the designer Luk uses the height of the existing plants and corridors on the outdoor walkway to cleverly avoid any non-French leisurely streetscape on the road. However, being on Mengzi Road, a slightly noisy and chaotic street, is destined to be unable to have the high style of being on the Bund or a hotel-type Western restaurant. Coquille has two floors, with a custom-made Zinc bar and metal elements such as rebar, giving the dining area on the ground floor an authentic French restaurant. The dining area on the second floor is relatively private, providing guests with dinner, cocktail parties and other activities, and the overall atmosphere is relatively relaxed and free family dining. The restaurant does not need to charge additional service charges, and the service level is in the middle, although it cannot be compared with the high-end professional level of the Bund high-end Western restaurant, but it also has a good attitude of active cooperation.
