Everyone has been talking about Goga, and rightly so. This is a great little eatery- good food, accessible prices, and no stick up its jacksie like so many fancybundfinediningwehavemichelinstarsinourowncountrybutherewekindasuck places (coughjeangeorgescoughpourcelcough) or certain franchise-happy local restaurateurs who tend to spend more time promoting themselves than checking on their food quality.

This isn't food to build your face, nor is it even remotely apropos for a business dinner. I'd even be a little dubious about bringing a first date here, unless you KNOW that you are dating a foodie, at which point Goga makes a happy ending a shoo-in, because this place is all about the food.

Other writers and reviewers have done Goga to death, though, so I'll just say this:

It's fantastic, the food is phenomenal, and I think it is a beacon of hope for all of us who like to eat great food without a heaping side of snobbery and pretension. I cannot recommend it enough.

OK, with that out of the way, lets talk about the philosophy of restaurants for a bit. Shanghai is a restaurant-y town, and one look at the size of the average kitchen demonstrates that people here obviously aren't that into cooking for themselves. However, in Western cooking there is a huge gulf- at one end we have crap food ranging to edible with caution (McD/KFC etc. up to the Saizeriya/Babela type joints) and a big jump up to face-building dining emporia where the wines are nosebleed, the views spectacular and the portions tiny, and a bunch of places where the (always slightly more than it warrants) cost is somehow not reflected in the food or service.

Previously, between these two poles was a barren wasteland of broken culinary dreams and unfulfilled expectations, until Brad Turley struck out on his own and launched Goga.

I caught up with Brad at Goga over the weekend, by the simple expedient of blocking the door and not letting him outside until he told me why he decided to buck the Shanghai restaurantrepreneur trend.

His rationale? "I created a restaurant for people who live in Shanghai, a neighborhood spot that represents some real American/California style. It's definitely about the food and giving meaning to the term 'smart casual'"

Damn tootin', Mr. Turley. Anywhere where two people can have a fantastic, intensely flavorful and genuinely interestingly prepared meal with 2 apps, 2 mains and a bottle of decent vino for less than 900RMB wins my vote for best Shanghai food concept ever.

There are a lot of little pickable nits surrounding Goga- it's small, it's got no toilet in the restaurant, it's not 'classy' enough, it's too warm- and while all of these are legitimate comments, they are also totally irrelevant. This place is about the food, and only the food. Brad's there, in the kitchen, every night, cooking dinner for his guests. The dude loves his food- I mean, just look at him. He does special dishes by request, chats to everyone, and generally seems to really enjoy being right there in his kitchen.

This isn't a restaurant that was launched to make someone rich by capitalizing on Shanghai's restaurant boom. It will never be franchised out into Goga by Turley, The Pink Go, BistroG or La Maison Tûrleé like so many other Shanghai 'institutions' It's a restaurant for people who love food, run by a guy who also loves food.

Go to Goga, chat to Brad, eat his food, be happy. Think of it as a contribution to making Shanghai dining a better place for all of us in the future.