Located near No Name Lane, Wild Panda serves a variety of Sichuan and Taiwanese dishes. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Since Wild Panda opened near No Name Lane in late 2018, they’ve been through a lot.
They navigated the pandemic by relying on takeaway orders, they’ve been cut off from passing traffic with the closure of London Circuit, and now they have a large construction site bordering one side of the restaurant (in addition to what is happening on London Circuit).
Yet this casual and affordable eatery endures, and rightly so. In a climate of crippling costs to hospitality businesses, their prices remain affordable, with mains available for under $20. On my recent visit, it felt as though they were throwing out all the stops to bring the vibes, despite the obvious challenges on their doorstep.
It may have been the $6 Asahis, it may have been that the windows were open and spring was in the air, or it may have been that I brought with me the appetite of one who has been on a long-running diet … Whatever it was, I was really digging my recent visit to Wild Panda.
The expanded dumpling menu is delightful. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Did I mention the $6 Asahis? Well, let that be your first reason to head over to No Name Lane. The second reason, and some may argue the most important reason, is the food.
Wild Panda specialises in Sichuan-leaning Chinese cuisine with a smattering of Taiwanese influence. With a wide range of fun dishes designed for sharing and plenty for those who prefer not to share, nothing is boring about the menu.
Wild Panda expanded their dumpling menu in August this year, and it’s an excellent place to start. I had to try the eggplant dumplings because I have never tasted eggplant in a dumpling before, and I know my husband well enough to be assured that by ordering eggplant, I would get the full serve of five dumplings to myself.
At $9.90, these pillowy, well-filled dumplings were a real treat. Dipping them in the soy-vinegar dipping sauce provided gave them a nice pop, and dunking them in the help-yourself chilli oil provided on the counter was even better.
Wild Panda is bringing the vibes despite challenges in the area. Photo: Tenele Conway.
To complement the vegetable theme, we also ordered the zucchini salad with fermented garlic and chilli, which was a little too cold when it first arrived but improved as it warmed up. This is another $6 bargain.
To finish up the snacking portion of the meal, we got the salt and pepper tofu, and no, I haven’t gone vego; I just love me some tofu, and when it’s deep fried and smothered in a crunchy, salty, peppery crumble of shallots and garlic, you can’t go wrong.
To balance the meat-to-veg ratio, we opted for the stewed pork trotter with peanuts and rice. Served as a set, the pork comes on top of the rice, with a claypot of brothy soup on the side and two slices of orange to wrap up and cut through the fatty mouthfeel that may linger after the meal.
The snacky sharing dishes are a great place to start at Wild Panda. Photo: Tenele Conway.
The pork trotters are served on the bone and with the skin on, which makes for an interactive eating experience. In this case, the flabby skin and fatty bits are definitely meant to be eaten, and while they may not be to some people’s taste, they are absolutely the whole point of this dish. At $18.90 for a generous serve, this is more exceptional value.
As we extract the bones from our trotters to create a graveyard-like pile on a sideplate, I notice the couple at the table next to us is bopping away to the jazzy rendition of the Jackson 5 classic, ‘I Want You Back’.
As I said at the start, the place was really vibing that night, and it felt like a subtle middle finger to the chaos the city has brought to their doorstep, and that’s reason enough for me to head here more often … Oh, and did I mention the $6 Asahis?
Wild Panda is located at 40 Marcus Clarke Street and is open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.
