Guys, we’re going to cut straight to the chase: we tried pizza baozi and it’s really good. No jokes about ambitious crossovers, no arguments about it being a neither pizza nor a baozi, we’re just here to tell you that Baozza has set up its first pizza-baozi shop in Shanghai.
Originating in Beijing, Baozza is the brainchild of Californian entrepreneur Alex Cree in collaboration with Kentucky native Loren Heinold. Its first brick-and-mortar Shanghai shop (at Pacific Fresh City Mall in Yangpu, three stops past Tongji University on Line 10) is very much grab-and-go with one small table just outside for customers to stop and eat. Now, we know what you’re thinking: is it really worth going all the way out past Wujiaochang for a baozi stand?
Initially seeing it just as a novelty snack (baozi with pizza toppings inside it), we were pleasantly surprised when we bit into our first Baozza. The current menu – that we’re informed is still being tweaked – has five flavours: margherita, pepperoni, Italian sausage, spinach and Hawaiian, each stuffed with gooey cheese.
You can also pick how you want it prepared: steamed traditional style, toasted, or ‘cheesy’, which is basically having your Baozza smothered with melted cheese for an extra 3RMB. Pair your pizza bun with pumpkin soup (15RMB) or a chocolate cookie (10RMB), while matcha soy milk, regular soy milk and cold brew coffees are also available.
At the moment, one baozza is 15RMB; it’s two for 25RMB; four for 45RMB and eight will set you back 88RMB. There are also combo meal options such as the Meat Lover’s – one Italian sausage, one Hawaiian, one pepperoni and one regular drink for 46RMB. Hopefully, Boazza will open some more central locations over the course of the year but for now, if you want to see what all the fuss is about, you’ll have to head to Yangpu.
