ONE of my patriotic friends who wanted to eat Japanese food undertook careful research into the candidate restaurants to find out whether the owners were Chinese or Japanese. She discovered that Uminosachi, a hot all-you-can-eat Japanese chain restaurant had been opened by a Shanghainese.

I did not know the place was so popular until making a reservation and found that the Lippo Plaza branch was already completely booked, even though it was only 3 pm. We had to move to another outlet near the Jinmao Tower, where a few seats were still left.

There were cracks on the stone stairs leading to the eatery on the second floor - evidence of its popularity.

For 150 yuan (US$18), each diner can order anything listed on the menu, from sashimi and tempura to teppanyaki, while also enjoying a free flow of sake, refreshing plum wine and other Japanese beverages.

It's something of a common assumption that all-you-can-eat restaurants sacrifice the quality of some ingredients to ensure themselves a decent profit. That was also true of Uminosachi.

Japanese food is typically rather expensive, using relatively higher-priced ingredients, for example, for sashimi. Therefore, the owners pay more attention to controlling their prime costs while also hoping to tempt their customers. Uminosachi seems to have managed this balance quite well.

All the sashimi was fresh, tasting slightly sweet and succulent, though only two thin slices were offered each time they were ordered. In some Japanese restaurants the sashimi is soaked to make it look bigger.

At least five chefs cut sashimi in the open kitchen - none of them were Japanese. Others made teppanyaki at a corner of the restaurant. Other than the two small Japanese dolls placed on the counter and the simple kimonos worn by the waitresses, few things in the eatery contained much Japanese flavour - nobody cared whether their chopsticks were placed vertically pointing impolitely to those sitting opposite them and women diners ate as much as they could without feeling too worried about appearing inelegant or about the calories.

The owner was pretty shrewd - people could easily tell the sashimi was fresh, but with the grills and tempura this was not quite so. Even though the tempura shrimp were large and appealing to look at, the meat was less succulent, as were the crab legs.

My personal favourite item at Uminosachi was the grilled cod fish with butter. The glistening juice on the surface of the fish with its intense creamy aroma tantalized my tastebuds. I could not stop myself from eating two portions.

Two more things that should be recommended are the fruity plum wine and the yogurt pudding - the former made us half drunk and the latter gave the dinner a perfect end.

Uminosachi (four outlets available)

206 Huayuan Shiqiao Lu, Pudong

Tel: 5888-1010

B1, Lippo Plaza, 222 Huaihai Zhonglu

Tel: 5382-2727

169 Xinle Lu

Tel: 5403-0303

2890 Yan'an Xilu

Tel: 6262-5777

150 yuan (US$18) per person