Restaurant Review: Kappo Tsan, a Kappo style fusion restaurant
- Deliciously Judgmental
- Jan 12
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 20
At a Glance:
Restaurant: Kappo Tsan
Address: 11815 Glass House Ln #110, Orlando, FL 32836
Parking: Free parking
Summary: Kappo Tsan opened to the public in January 2026, with the goal of "blending Japanese craftmanship with Taiwanese soul" in their seasonal dishes. While Kappo Tsan offers classic Taiwanese dishes such as Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Fried Chicken) and classic Japanese dishes such as handrolls and sushi, they also offer fun fusion twists such as the Crab Croquettes filled with taro cream and the Yuzu Cheesecake.
Vibe: Trendy and elevated tapas-style menu, good for sharing with a small group. If you are seated at the counter, you can enjoy an intimate dining experience and watch the chefs prepare the dishes in the open kitchen.
Reservations: Reservations are not currently required and walk-ins are still welcome. However, the restaurant only seats 30 and the tables at the booths are quite small. If you wanted to be seated at the counter, you may need to specify in your reservation. As of publication of this post, Kappo Tsan will begin introducing a 9 course tasting experience on Thursdays and Fridays, which is by reservations only.
Our Favorite Items: We agree with our Kappo Tsan server's recommendation; the best dish is the Taiwanese Cabbage. We also really enjoyed the shiitake mushroom, crudo, and all of the sushi. Click the link below to get our inspired recipes!
What We Ordered at our Most Recent Visit:
Taiwanese Cabbage (spicy tobanjan soy, crispy garlic and shallot)
Crudo (shiromi, onion miso jam, grilled pear vinaigrette)
Chawanmushi (shrimp, chicken, fish cake)
Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese fried chicken thigh and five-spice)
Crab Croquette (taro cream, yuzu mayo)
Grilled Shiitake Mushroom (soy butter)
Grilled Gyu Teriyaki (5 ounces Creekstone ribeye, ginger, soy, sake)
Donabe (cooked to order fresh claypot rice 45 minutes, shiro dash, napa, carrots, gobo, shirataki, crab, ikura)
Sushi:
Sake (King Salmon) with truffle cream
O-Toro (fatty tuna belly) with soy
Hotate (Hokkaido Scallop) with Doubanjiang and aioli
Dessert:
Yuzu Cheesecake
Kombu Soy Ice Cream
Menu:
KAPPO TSAN REVIEW:
We visited Kappo Tsan during their first week of opening, as such, they were not able to serve alcohol yet nor did they offer their namesake Kappo-style dining experience when we made our reservations. Guests can currently enjoy the Japanese and Taiwanese fusion a la carte menu, the brainchild of Executive Chef David Tsan (Norigami, sushi counter and recipient of Michelin Bib Gourmand) and Chef de Cuisine Toshi Kishimoto (Hanamizuki, a former Orlando Japanese restaurant).
Our party was happily surprised when we were seated at a booth instead of the counter due to our larger group. The promotional materials for Kappo Tsan focused only on the counter seats, so we did not realize the restaurant also offered dining booths as a seating option. However, we would not recommend Kappo Tsan for large groups due to the limited seating options. The dining room layout was narrow. Although our table was all the way at the back of the restaurant, we still felt cramped, because a lot of foot traffic passing by our table.
According to our server, the menu items are served tapas-style and meant to be shared. Some of the dishes were easier to share than others like the fried Crab Croquette balls, the buttery Shiitake Mushrooms, and pre-sliced 5 ounce Gyu Teriyaki (ribeye). The Crab Croquette was much smaller than expected and relied heavily on being paired with the yuzu mayo.
The Chawanmushi is a single-person serving savory egg dish. Kappo Tsan's Chawanmushi may taste nostalgic to fans of Hanamizuki and has a silky smooth texture. However, if you do not like chicken, shrimp, or fish cake in your savory steamed egg, the ingredients in the fillings will change seasonally with the menu according to our server.
Kappo Tsan's most popular dish was the Taiwanese cabbage, which was crunchy and savory. This is one of the few dishes all of us enjoyed during our visit.
The food came to our table surprisingly quick. If you're hungry, that's a boon. However, in our case, some of the food seemed to come out too quickly. The service felt a bit rushed during our visit during Kappo Tsan's first week. Multiple dishes came out around the same time, causing the servers to hastily explain each dish to us before another dish would come out.
In fact, our final dish, the donabe, a traditional claypot rice dish, arrived at our table in about 20 minutes instead of the 45 minutes the menu said it would take to prepare. It was disappointing to get claypot rice without the okoge (scorched rice) texture at the bottom that we expected. It had a slightly sweet taste thanks to the crab, but after trying all the other dishes we ordered, the donabe felt underseasoned and a bit of a let down as our final main dish.
In addition to the cabbage, the best dishes of the night was definitely from the sushi and raw menu. We were all impressed with how fresh the Crudo and our a la carte sushi orders were. Every bite was truly amazing. Fans of Chef David Tsan's work at Norigami would not be disappointed.
The a la carte menu that we tried during our visit introduced fans of Japanese cuisine to Taiwanese dishes and flavor profile. Although we loved the Taiwanese Cabbage, the texture and the seasoning of the Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese popcorn chicken) didn't quite reach our expectations. On the other hand, the doubanjiang aioli on the Hokkaido Scallop nigiri was a delightfully unexpected pairing.
Our dinner was finished off with our server's dessert recommendation: Yuzu Cheesecake paired with Soy Kombu ice cream. The richness and creaminess of the burnt basque-style was balanced by the sourness of the yuzu. However, the taste of the yuzu in the cheesecake may get overpowered if paired with the soy kombu ice cream as recommended.
In Closing: The tapas style menu and limited seating at Kappo Tsan is better suited for a smaller party or a date night dinner. We only tried the a la carte dining menu at Kappo Tsan but we look forward to trying the namesake intimate multi-course tasting experience in the future and the other seafood dishes on the menu. We were impressed by the highlights of the night, such as the Taiwanese Cabbage and the sushi, but we also had a few disappointments, such as with the donabe and crab croquette.
Afterwards, we tried our hands at making dishes like the ones we tried at Kappo Tsan. Check out our inspired recipes from Kappo Tsan by clicking the button below! (Coming soon!)
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