With ‘fast casual’ the food buzzword du jour, it was only a matter of time before the humble baozi, or Chinese steamed bun, was elevated from street food staple to stylish snack.
Enter Tong Qihua, an established restaurant entrepreneur who has charged Chinese studio Linehouse with creating several slick baozi restaurants, the first of which is located on the leafy campus of Tongji University campus in Shanghai, the owner’s alma mater.
Mirroring the restaurant’s superior ingredients and ethical ethos, the architects have installed a transparent greenhouse-cum-kitchen in the airy dining room, where patrons can watch chefs roll, pinch and steam each bun. The space’s maze of two-tone wooden beams provides a counterpoint to hand-glazed green tiles and bluestone cobbles lining the floor, recreating the memory of a garden path.
While time-honoured classics like pork and broth buns set the standard, innovative fillings like sweet and sour lotus root and apple barbecued pork have made the eatery a firm favourite with regulars.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
65 Chifeng Road
-
In Wales, Michelin-starred Gorse celebrates the country’s abundant larderGorse is the first Michelin-starred restaurant in Cardiff, putting Welsh cuisine on the map. We speak with chef and founder Tom Waters about the importance of keeping culinary traditions alive
-
Ludmilla Balkis’ organic, earthy ceramics embody the Basque countrysideThe sculptor-ceramicist presents a series inspired by and created from found natural objects in a New York exhibition
-
At this secret NYC hangout, the drinks are strong and the vibes are strongerFor People's bar, Workstead serves up a good time
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
-
Enjoy heritage views and contemporary brews at a new Beijing caféJM Café, White Pagoda Temple by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio nods to the history of the Xicheng District while injecting a shot of vitality
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designThere’s more magic to the movies at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s ‘flying’ roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillityAlila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Travel back to the Ming dynasty at Beijing’s new Mandarin Oriental hotelMandarin Oriental Qianmen merges traditional culture with contemporary needs in a 600-year-old historical building complex
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotelPalazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
