The Giappo Sushi Bar is located in the heart of Chiaia, Napoli. At the very heart of Napoli’s nightlife area in Vico Belledonne a Chiaia the tiny restaurant serves sushi 7 days a week. As part of a chain, It is one of 11 similar sushi restaurants in Italy, 9 of them in the Campania region, and seems to be a uniquely designed and well managed restaurant. The interior has a unique look and attempts to provide an authentic Japanese sushi bar flair with a tiny bar and only very few regular seats in the back. Compared to many other Japanese restaurants, it certainly seems visually appealing.
Basic Sushi Options
The menu at the sushi bar seems vast at first glance. But after studying it in more detail, it only has a very limited variety of sushi options. Only maguro (tuna), suzuki (sea bass) and sake (salmon) are offered as sashimi. For other fish the restaurant focuses on maki and nigiri sushi. The menu offers ama ebi (sweet shrimp), hotategai (scallop), ika (squid) and tako (octopus). All things considered, this still seems to be a more than average variety of fish to choose from but still a little disappointing.
Since I was only looking for a quick bite and came 15 minutes before the regular kitchen opens for the night, I opted for a nigiri bento box with sake (salmon) and ebi (shrimp). Unfortunately the restaurant had no fresh wasabi but other than that, I was surprised. While I don’t fancy ebi (shrimp) that much, I was surprised by its taste. Even more so, the sake (salmon) was of very good quality. It almost seemed like salmon belly, was rather fatty and had a very intense taste and texture.
I decided to stay longer and sample some of the items mentioned above. I was particularly interested in hotategai (scallop), but unfortunately it was unavailable. I had a plate with sake (salmon), Suzuki (sea bass), maguro (tuna back) and ika (squid) nigiri, sake (salmon) maki and sake (sashimi) as I really liked the quality and taste of the salmon.
Sushi Guide Verdict
Giappo Sushi Bar is a visually unique sushi restaurant in the heart of Chiaia, Napoli, with a tiny sushi bar and nicely designed interior. Still it is obvious from many details that it is part of a chain, making it less appealing. From the outside it looks very cozy and stylish, after walking inside the restaurant looses some of its flair. The menu options are better than in most basic sushi chains, but still rather limited. The quality and taste of the fish was good, although only a very limited part of the menu was sampled. The drink variety is very limited and offers no specials worth mentioning. The service was nice but able to make the visit a unique experience. I might come back for another quick bite but would not recommend the restaurant for a nice dinner.
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Average
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Review date: November 11, 2017
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