Hip Chinatown Spot Shōjō Is Expanding to Cambridge

Hip Chinatown restaurant Shōjō is headed to Cambridge. The stylish, late-night spot is expanding into a second location in Central Square, at 425 Massachusetts Avenue, that is slated to open in mid-April, according to the restaurant team.

Shōjō fans can expect the same hit dishes that put the Chinatown location on the map — including the Shojonator burger and an array of bao stuffed with ingredients like pork belly and bulgogi beef — mixed with some new Southeast Asian-influenced dishes from the group’s culinary director Jason Hua. A shaking beef bao and beef curry mazemen are among the eight new dishes that are debuting with Shōjō’s Cambridge location, according to the restaurant’s director of business development Blaise Sato.

The restaurant is located in the same building as another Central Square newcomer, chef Michael Lombardi’s canotto-style pizza shop Si Cara. The team aims to position Shōjō as a fun late-night stop in the neighborhood, Sato says, and they plan to eventually keep the bar open and slinging cocktails until 2 a.m. during the later part of the week.

Owner Brian Moy first launched Shōjō in Chinatown in 2012, where it quickly built a reputation as a cool spot for ambitious cocktails matched with modern, playful pan-Asian fare. Moy also runs the equally hip noodle shop Ruckus steps away from Shōjō on Tyler Street, as well as a Logan Airport outpost of Shōjō, and swanky newcomer Nomai in Hingham, Massachusetts. Moy’s family has long been embedded in Boston’s Chinatown community as the owners of neighborhood dim sum institution China Pearl, which temporarily closed down during the pandemic for renovations.