Happy Hearts Day Everyone!
If you still don't have any plans with your special someone for today, or even if you just want to hang out with your single friends, then I would recommend this new restaurant to you guys. It's the latest restaurant from the Hatch 22 group, which includes Erwan Heussaff. Honestly, I haven't tried the other Hatch 22 restaurants so I can't really compare so this post will be all about Pink Panda and the food I have tried.
So where is Pink Panda located? It's just beside the A-venue Mall in Makati so it's easy to locate. Just park your car in the parking lot of A-venue and cross the street to get to Pink Panda.
Address: Ground Floor Y2 Residence Hotel
4687 Santiago St. corner B. Valdez St. Poblacion, Makati City
Phone: +632 224-3000 loc 3057Price Range: P400-P600/head
No, the place is not entirely in pink and not bombarded with pandas if you're thinking about that haha.
Once inside the restaurant, you will see that the interiors are nicely done. It is kinda quirky, as the decorations are a fusion of different stuff like plants hanging on the wall, lamps suspended from the ceiling, chopsticks in cups serving as table decorations, a bike stuck to the wall, and small knick knacks like teapots and dolls displayed on the shelves. I guess this totally fits what the restaurant is all about. A fusion of Southeast Asian food choices that consist mostly of Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Thai cuisine.
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| Interior of Pink Panda |
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| There's a private room (left side of the photo) where you can see the chefs cook through the window |
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| Table decor with candle to ward off mosquitos |
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| Tables with sofa seats are also available |
Our orders were 1 appetizer, 1 salad, 1 main dish, 2 rice dishes, and 1 drink. We couldn't order so much as there were only 3 of us.
Our appetizer: VC Spring Rolls (P240)
rice wrapper/ trio of mushrooms/ spiced pork/ grilled shrimp/ pickled jacama
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| VC Spring Rolls with sauce |
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| VC Spring Rolls - steamed and fried |
I really like spring rolls and this has been one of the best I've tried. There was a combination of 2 steamed and 4 fried spring rolls in the plate. I just wish they had done 3 steamed and 3 fried rolls so that all of us would get equal shares. There were 2 types of sauce for this, one is the peanut sauce and the other is the vinegar sauce. The peanut sauce is a delight as this is not the sauce that you would normally combine with this.
Our salad: Mango and Papaya Catfish (P360)
trio of mangoes/ green papaya/ shredded catfish/ golden shallots/ chili lime dressing
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| Mango and Catfish Salad when served (with dressing in separate container) |
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| After salad was tossed |
I would totally recommend this dish because I really like the taste. It's like the mango and pomelo salad in Thai cuisine, but I liked the taste of this one better because there was a medley of different flavors all at once. The salad was served in a banana heart, and the dressing was put in another small bowl. The waiter then tossed the salad and put it in another plate for us.
Our main dish: B&B (P480)
black angus rib eye cubes/ stir fried broccoli/ mushrooms
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| B&B |
I love the different selections of mushrooms in this dish, but this was quite a disappointment for us since the beef was cooked rare and there were a lot of fat meat used. It was as if we weren't able to eat any of the beef in the dish. Try to request them to cook the beef well if you want to order this.
Our rice dishes: Vietnamese Crab Fried Rice (P190) and Pink Panda Rice (P185)
yellow rice/ crab meat/ green peas/ broccoli/ peppers
Chinese sausage/ green peas/ peppers/ fried shallots/ garlic/ crispy wontons
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| Vietnamese Crab Fried Rice or Pink Panda Rice - looks the same |
The Vietnamese Crab Fried Rice is what I would recommend as it tasted better than the Pink Panda Rice. The crab meat is more worth it I think. The Pink Panda Rice consisted more of Chinese sausage. Both rice come in a small bucket topped with crispy wontons, and if you're not a hardcore rice eater, one bucket can serve 2 to 3 persons already.
Our drink: Pink Panty (P110)
raspberry flavor
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| Drink with the weird name - Pink Panty |
The waitress said it was their bestseller so we all went and ordered it. This is a raspberry drink and to be honest, I was all acckkk at the first sip as it tasted like watery medicine. I tried shaking the drink and still the same taste. When I got to sip the bottom of the drink though, I tasted the sweet syrup which made the drink taste a lot better but after a while it went back to tasting like medicine. I guess I drank all the syrup in a few gulps woops, I will not be ordering this anymore as it's too expensive just for a drink. I'd rather have their service lemonade water which tasted really nice.
Our total bill came out to P655/head, and this already includes the 10% service charge. Service was nice and the staff were very friendly. Our only complaint was that there were so many mosquitos that my friend got lots of mosquito bites after our dinner. Not sure what was causing this, but I hope they do something about it soon. The candles on the tables are not super effective either booo.
Have you tried this restaurant before? Kindly share your experience as well in the comments!
Ciao!
Kat <3
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