Shojo Boston has spent more than a decade proving that a restaurant on Tyler Street in Chinatown can feel brand new and deeply rooted at the same time. The modern Asian bar and bistro at 9A Tyler St., opened by Brian Moy in July 2012, pairs graffiti-splashed walls with bao, dumplings, noodles and craft cocktails, and it remains one of the neighborhood’s most recognizable spots for a casual dinner or a late night out.
What Shojo Boston Brings to Chinatown
Moy grew up inside Boston Chinatown’s restaurant world, working at his family’s landmark China Pearl, the dim sum house that shares Shojo’s building. When he opened Shojo, he told Boston Magazine that his long-term goal was to help revamp Chinatown the way the North End built a destination around Italian food. Eater Boston reported at the soft opening that the name comes from a mythological figure searching for an endless river of sake, a story painted across the back wall as a mural.
The idea was to take the street-food traditions found across Asia, from Chinese and Japanese to Korean and Thai, and serve them with a contemporary, playful edge. That approach puts Shojo in conversation with other modern Asian kitchens in the city, such as Myers + Chang in the South End, while staying firmly tied to its Chinatown address.
Menu Highlights: Bao, Dumplings and the Shojonator
Bao are the heart of the menu. Shojo’s current bao menu lists a pork belly bao with smoked barbecue sauce, kimchi, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeño, a fried eggplant bao with fermented black bean and yuzu citrus salsa, a Chinatown-style garlic salt-and-pepper chicken bao, and a Sichuan ribeye bao with fried onion and a green chili-peanut condiment. Prices on the site run roughly $12 to $14 per order.
The dish most regulars point to is the Shojonator, a quarter-pound Angus beef patty on a house-made sesame bao bun with sriracha aioli, smoked barbecue sauce, bacon, fried shallots and “KimCheese,” the restaurant’s kimchi-cheese topping. A chickpea-edamame garden burger is the vegetarian alternative. Duck fat fries with sriracha aioli are the go-to side, and the “Shadowless Fries” pile on spicy beef mapo tofu, KimCheese and scallions.
On the rice, noodles and dumplings menu, look for Wagyu beef dumplings with sweet soy and black pepper, Kurobuta pork and kimchi dumplings, edamame dumplings in truffle corn chowder, and a kimchi fried rice topped with a sunny egg. Those plates are listed between about $14 and $18, with vegan Thai veggie spring rolls at $11.
Atmosphere and Cocktails
The room is small and loud in the best sense. Exposed brick, reclaimed wood, metal stools and a concrete floor give the space an industrial, downtown feel, and Time Out notes that in warmer months the tall front windows fold open onto Tyler Street. Music plays throughout service, and the bar program leans on inventive cocktails, sake and tiki-style drinks, which makes Shojo as much a pre-show or after-work stop as a dinner reservation.
Groups tend to order a spread of bao, dumplings and fries to share, the same way diners approach a small-plates spot like Toro in the South End. If you are comparing Korean flavors around the city, our look at Somaek Korean restaurant is another useful reference point.
The Chinatown Neighborhood Around Tyler Street
Shojo sits a short walk from the Chinatown Gate and the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and it is close to the Theatre District, the Boston Common and South Station. The Chinatown stop on the MBTA Orange Line and the Silver Line is a few minutes away on foot, which makes the restaurant easy to reach without a car. A meal here pairs naturally with a walk through the neighborhood’s bakeries, tea shops and longtime family-run restaurants.
Practical Info: Address, Hours and Prices
- Address: 9A Tyler St., Boston, MA 02111 (Chinatown)
- Phone: (617) 482-8887
- Hours: The restaurant’s website lists an 11:30 a.m. opening every day, with closing at 11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, midnight Thursday through Saturday, and 9 p.m. on Sunday and Monday. Confirm before visiting, since hours can change.
- Price range: Moderate. Bao and dumplings are listed from about $12 to $18, the Shojonator at $15, and fries add-ons at $5.
- Second location: Shojo also runs a Central Square outpost at 425 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge.
For first-timers, the simplest plan is a Shojonator, an order of duck fat fries and one or two bao to share. It is the quickest way to understand why Shojo Boston has stayed a Chinatown favorite since 2012.