PanDa Fresh Bakery

PanDa Fresh Bakery
1300 Pacific Boulevard
Vancouver, BC

I will not hesitate to give credit to where/whom is due. In this particular case, Derek Ip who is related to/operates PanDa Fresh Bakery (from here on “PanDa”) has been quite active in the blogosphere, not only by promoting their own food cart but also spreading the word of other food carts in town. In other words, your good neighbour. However, that also meant that, since I have been going to a couple of food carts here and there, I would eventually visit PanDa. Well, today might have been as good as any day…

Now, I arrived at what seems to be an off hour already so things were slow and business winding down. As a result, some details mentioned here might not be necessarily applicable in the overall perspective if you were to visit during, say, lunch time. Still, like in any restaurant business, there is a method/process behind the food being prepared so, still, I believe it shouldn’t be that far from the products at prime time.

First of all, what does PanDa sell? Well, you have “pan”, so something “bread”-y ought to be, specifically, croissant. But not any croissant but filled croissants (but they will still sell you a plain one). Now, I will admit, in terms of bread, croissants are not necessarily something I will go crazy about. In fact, if I am in a supermarket looking for something “bread-y”, I will be getting some baguette, sourdough, rolls, rather than croissant (or its equivalent found in the freezer section). Sure, if it is on the table, I might eat it but, if given the option between a sourdough bread and a croissant, chances are I will go for the sourdough. Still, pretty much any place that sells sandwiches have a sourdough in a way or another so, why not break that routine? With that in mind, I was more than willing to give their goods a try.

When I arrived, I already knew what NOT to order, namely, the mac and cheese croissant. While I might not be the best person to talk about diet and nutrition, sorry, carbs on fat on carbs does not work for me. Granted, I will make my own Mac-n-Cheese at home any day I want; however, that combination inside the butteryness and flakiness… No, sorry… Instead, I went for the next item in the menu which happened to be turkey dinner.

OK, this is literally a turkey dinner in a bun. You got some stuffing, mash potato, cranberry “sauce” and turkey. What else is missing? Well, probably some gravy (if there was, it might have been mixed with the mash). Again, I will give them some credit for putting all that in a bun… I mean, a croissant. Was it good? It was good in it’s own ways but there were also room for improvements. For one, I wished some components were a bit warmer, specifically the mash, to give a bit more of that turkey dinner sense. Of course, not pipping hot, as it could burn somebody’s tongue. I will keep in mind again the time of the day so, during prime time hours, it is possible it could have been different.

Next, I also ordered one which I was actually curious about their execution: their chocolate banana croissant. Unfortunately, I must have to say this felt short in my expectations. In a nutshell, it is croissant stuff with a cold banana and chocolate shavings. Nothing else, nothing more. Simple, yet I thought it could have been executed better. For one, the chocolate shavings didn’t really “mix” well with the cold banana. Now, this could have been an experiment of sorts: by using shaved chocolate rather than, say, a Hershey chocolate syrup, they can mimic the melting effect of the chocolate inside the croissant either due to the warm croissant or the body temperature. However, that didn’t happen to me, as the croissant might not have been warm enough or, in my case, I “detected” the shavings before it started to melt. It is a good try, just that, due to the circumstances of timing, it didn’t work out as expected. I wonder if, rather than chocolate, Nutella had been used (to create similar to the crepe I had in Et Voila!)

As for the croissant themselves, it had a crispy exterior, yet not extremely buttery. And, while I saw some croissant in the oven, they weren’t warm enough which I assume had an impact in the products served to me. And that brings one point I will have to call sideways: price. At $6, for the savoury one and $4 for the dessert one, I won’t necessarily call it street food cheap, though, at the same time, Eli’s Sausages which recently open next to it, offers hot dogs (though not you regular type wiener type hot dogs) at about the same price. As for myself, the concept is good, execution has some gaps, price is slightly an issue. As for me coming back, well, unlike other bloggers, I am seldom in this area so that will be a big factor, not to mention I still have to visit Eli’s Sausages for sake of completeness first. Until then, it is undecided for me.

Tagged under: Food Cart • Street Food • Vancouver • Yaletown