But here's the thing: It's actually good.
"Is this place opened by foreigners?" a lady walked in and asked the counter.
Unlike their previous chains (and the majority of baozi stands) that only do takeaways, this branch is one of their "third generation stores", designed by local architect firm , whose projects include and .
The decor evokes a trendy cafe shop. It's airy, clean and bright, with an open kitchen taking up almost half of its space. This is one of ten BAOBAOs in Shanghai. Three are up near Tongji University, where the founder Tong Qihua (童启华) graduated in the '90s. a video of him explaining how BAOBAO business grew by being attentive about quality control and employee training.
Thanks to Tong's engineering background, BAOBAO is famous for being punctilious in making every steam bun almost exactly the same. It's the little things...
On each window, there's a sticker tells you the age, employment date, skill level, specialty and motto of their staff.
BAOBAO promises to throw the baozi away if it's not sold within an hour after it's steamed. We were dubious about that at first, but on both our visits (both before 1pm), there's always one or two flavors sold out. And we didn't even have the chance to try their new macadamia and cheese flavor.
Speaking of macadamia and cheese, it's the least conventional and the most expensive baozi here: 7rmb. More expensive, sure, than the average neighborhood shop, but not unreasonable. Options are few, which is a good thing. These include the most common flavors such as pork (3.5rmb), veggies (3rmb) and red bean (4rmb), and creative ones like sour & spicy lotus root (4rmb). The menu changes by seasons. Reasonable-priced soy milk, juice, tea, and coffee (6rmb to 12rmb) are served as well, all freshly made on site.
Baozi is served in a paper wrap or on a tray, and wet wipes are generously provided. Their recycled bag costs 1rmb, and all the profits are donated to charity. Again, it's the little things...
One of the most difficult and time-consuming aspects of making a perfect baozi is fermentation, and the skin is essential to your first impression -- whether it's puffy and bouncy, or thick and dry. The dough BAOBAO used is a mixture of all-purpose patent flour and whole wheat flour. Certainly way better than the pre-frozen baozi you find in convenience store freezers, but it misses a little sponginess quality that my Shanghainese taste buds prefer. Still, closer to the latter than the former.
Also quite different from what you find in the roubao I grew up eating is the baozi juice you get at BAOBAO. Dubbed "free range black pork", BAOBAO claimed they source only shoulder meat from the well-established Chinese brand Jinluo (金锣), and the filling has a 70% portion of lean meat. Seasoning is subtle, and the 30% fat contributes to a hot, clear, oily juice that hardly gets absorbed in the skin even if you let it sit for a couple of hours. A lot of people might be find it off-putting, although it's something that once you get used to keeps you coming back for more.
We also like that BAOBAO is not afraid of putting their ingredients under the watchful eyes of their customers. You can see diced (rather than minced) shiitake and bok choy, and quite a few complete beans in the rose and red bean paste. The crunchy and savory lotus root can totally be served as a simple appetizer. See the jars on their shelves? Each one contains the ingredient, the seasoning, and flour they use, attached with a detailed information tag.
Staff are friendly and knowledgeable, if you have any question with the oil or the ingredient you can ask, and they'll reply with real information. Some of them are from Hangzhou and very enthusiastic about sharing their brand story. They seem genuinely enjoy what they do, despite the fact that they've been working since 4am in the morning. Apparently, Tong assigned one ayi for each chain to make sure the staff eats healthy...
BAOBAO is currently doing a really good job expanding their business, even crossing chopsticks with Shanghai's most prolific baozi chain, Babi Mantou. BAOBAO just opened their first chain in Harvard Square in mid-January, which is a real slap in the face to Babi Mantou, whom once formed a short-lived partnership with Tong in 2005. It might have something to do with their business models -- the former only opens chain stores and declines franchising offers while the latter has long been suffering from their own inconsistency and countless copycats.
Maybe the jury's still out for locals, like the lady mentioned above, but it seems BAOBAO has already built a solid expat following. The place opens from 6:30am to 10pm, sells clean, non-MSG, delicious traditional steamed buns and fresh juice one-third of the prices of Wagas'.
What's not to like? A place to tame your inner Kungfu Panda for sure, and a welcome modern variation on a classic.
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There's BAOBAOs all over the place but the one we stopped in to was their central Shanxi Nan Lu venue, at Fuxing Lu. .
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