Definitely a crowd pulling item. Despite having read some really "blah" reviews about the food here and knowing this to be a tourist trap, we still decided to walk into it and get the too-cute-to-resist panda pau to try.
Since this was just newly released when we went, we tried this first. The panda pau here are designed to imitate the face of a panda and they are served up in bamboo containers dim-sum style. Unfortunately, the chocolate custard pau we got was a flop. The bun was too damp and felt too sticky and clammy. The chocolate custard filling is actually quite decent, but there is too little of it and its flavour could not redeem the rest of it enough.
This is way better than the chocolate custard pau. The texture is soft and spongy and not damp or sticky like the chocolate pau. The red bean filling is also quite decent and not too sweet. This made us wonder if the failed chocolate pau was a one-off and we were just unlucky enough to get a bad batch. Unlike the chocolate pau, we enjoyed this. But some may find the price tag of $2.90 to be a tad tough to swallow.
Unlike the cute panda pau, presentation is so-so for this. Even so, this is among one of the lower priced items on their menu. The spring rolls are quite crispy though, with a nice crunch to the skin, but we find the grated filling to be a tad mushy for our liking.
The mango pudding here is rather creamy, not very smooth. It feels more like mousse to us. You can taste the mango flavour easily enough but unfortunately, I am not really that keen on it overall.
Many will probably baulk at paying $3.90 for just a cup of run-of-the-mill lemon tea. But wait! The soft drink here comes in a plastic panda-print souvenir cup with straw which you can bring home as a keepsake or to reuse. You can choose from a selection of Coke, Coke Light, Sprite, Soya Milk, Ice Lemon Tea and Fanta Grape. For $3.90, it is indeed pricey for a drink but certainly one of the cheapest and decent Panda related souvenir around that you can get in comparison to the other items at the Panda souvenir shop!
Long story short, the food at Mama Panda are really quite over priced especially for the mains like the Shanghai Wanton Ramen Set ($15.90) which is really quite pricey even with the extras it comes with. I'd recommend just going for the snacks instead. Items not to be missed are the panda pau. The pau may be pretty much standard tasting and is also pricey to boot, but seriously, what the heck, everyone is still going to get it to try anyway, so just get it. Resistance is futile when it comes to adorable looking panda pau that look up at you with doleful eyes when you open the container! That, and get the soft drink in souvenir cups for a "decently priced" souvenir!
Recommended Dish(es):
Panda Pau,Soft Drink in Souvenir Cup
Date of Visit: Dec 20, 2013
Other Ratings:
Taste
3 | Environment
4 | Service
3 | Clean
4 | Price
3
Keep it up!Looking Forward
Interesting
Touched
Envy
Cool Photo
Recommend
0