Shanghai Popo at iSquare 上海婆婆

The newest restaurant to open in iSquare is modern Shanghainese restaurant Shanghai Popo. We had our first dinner there.

This restaurant took over the location of Kraze Burger on the 6th floor.

We were very hungry when we went to Shanghai Popo that’s why each person ordered what they wanted and that’s how 3 people ended up with 9 dishes. Thankfully all the dishes were small and I’m proud to say we finished everything except for some fried rice. Everything was good!!

We started our meal with a cold dish of fresh bamboo shoots in soy sauce. Surprisingly nice.

Shanghai Popo- bamboo shoots — bamboo shoots

I really liked the minced chicken with plenty of pine nuts which you stuff into a crispy sesame pocket. The flavor of the chicken mixture was mild so the pine nuts stood out.

diced chicken with pine nuts in sesame pie HK$78

Salty Yunnam ham stewed in sweet honey sauce is my dad’s all-time favorite dish. Here a thin sheet of crispy beancurd skin is added for texture. Get a steamed bun and add a slice each of ham and beancurd sheet for a delicious Chinese ham sandwich.

stewed Yunnan ham with honey sauce HK$92

The spareribs were a bit tough but I really enjoyed the sweet and sour sauce made with Chinese black vinegar.

stewed spare rib in black vinegar sauce HK$75

This small fried fish with lots of garlic is a staple in Shanghainese cuisine.

deep fried baby yellow fish with salt & pepper HK$38

I don’t know why mom loves rice cakes but she ate almost all of this.

I was soooo in love with this simple fried rice. I don’t even remember what’s in it but this is a MUST ORDER!!! I can eat this by itself and call it a complete meal.

The prices were very, very reasonable.

We enjoyed our dinner so much we went back for lunch the next day.

Unique to Shanghainese cuisine are cold dishes like these. From left to right: wuxi crispy eel, wheat gluten with bamboo shoots & bingo nuts, sweet & sour spareribs, pot jellied ham.

I made a mistake of ordering almost all similar items. The names led me to believe they were something else. One order of fried bun is good but 3 is too much. Let’s just say we enjoyed dinner much more.

barbecued corn cake with spring onion & sesame HK$36

Our dessert of sticky rice too so long to come out and when it did the rice inside wasn’t cooked yet so we returned this. Next time I go back I’m sticking to their specialty dishes and maybe the steamed dumplings and xiao long boa. I’m skipping the fried buns.