Though he spoke no English beyond "Hello," the fellow outside who sized me up sizing up Bao Luo signaled that yes, this was the place. Since I was dining on my own, the hostess steered me away from the boisterous large tables on the ground floor and directed me up the spiral staircase to the cozy upstairs room, where I received a menu translated into reasonably useful English. I expected a corn cake baked with bee honey (Y18) to be the size if not the texture of an arepa; I received a crisp, lacy, Frisbee-sized disk that was otherwise underwhelming.
Instead, keep your eye on the balls, in the guise of pot-stewed clam meat and minced pork (shown; Y18) in a thick, sweet sauce. You wouldn't go wrong ordering the greens on their own, either, though I opted for fried kale with "olive vegetable" (Y18), sliced into oily irregular pyramids that delivered a firm, almost crisp bite whenever they didn't slip from my chopsticks. Many interesting menu choices; beware of overordering.
Bao Luo
271 Fumin Lu, Shanghai
