Shanghai Bun Chinese Tapas Bar

While Mitch's trades on whatever the boats brought in and BOPJO wraps Korean beef into burritos, Shanghai Bun keeps its focus narrow: steamer baskets, family-style plates, and a format borrowed straight from dim sum halls in actual Shanghai. The move here is the bun sampler—pork, chicken, or vegetable—where you get a survey of what the kitchen does best without committing to a full order of any single thing. Scallion pancakes come up in nearly every review for good reason: crispy enough to shatter, layered enough to pull apart, exactly what you want before soup dumplings arrive.

The space itself is quieter than you'd expect for a Chinese spot on Rosecrans—small dining room, back patio that's now dog-friendly, the kind of setup where solo lunchers and groups both find a rhythm. Singapore fried rice noodles show up loaded with shrimp, pork, chicken, and egg, the kind of plate that feeds two even when you order it for one. Spicy wontons aren't actually spicy, which disappoints some and relieves others, but the chili oil still carries enough flavor to justify the order.

Service swings inconsistent—some shifts you get attentive refills and genuine recommendations, other times you're forgotten on the back patio and charged twice for iced tea. The lunch specials are the real value play here, especially mid-week when the rest of Point Loma is queued up at marina counters. It's not trying to reinvent dim sum or fuse it with something trendy. It's just the neighborhood's go-to for soup dumplings, scallion pancakes, and fried rice that doesn't make you choose between speed and actual flavor.