PanDa Fresh Bakery

I came here in September, when they didn’t have that many choices. I want to go back, now that I’ve read Richard S.‘s recent review that they have a chili one!
The croissant they feature in every item is very flaky and good!
I had the cheese and ham sandwich. The ingredients were normal, but the croissant made it very good! But if I am paying $ 7 for a sandwich, I wish I had a comfy couch and maybe warm fireplace that I can sit and spend time at. That’s why it’s 3 stars…
BUT I just saw a recent photo of the menu, and it seems they are priced at $ 5 now! More incentive to go back (or maybe I remembered the price wrong).

Just finished my PanDa meal. In fact I’m standing a few paces away as I draft this review.
PanDa Bakery is an interesting concept. I don’t often eat much in the way of bus prepares food, let alone food this decent. I had the veggie chili stuff croissant. $ 5 tax in. The guy manning the bus even offered advice on how to eat it. «First you want go at it with the spoon to eat some of the chili, then eat the croissant once the chili has soaked in and it’ll be really good.» He was right. The only advice I would add is to eat with the wind at your back. The croissant is super flakey so it’ll blow all over your clothes as it crumbles. Use the wind to your advantage.
Other than that, tasty chili, tasty croissant.

On what is my first of hopefully many Vancouver’s new food cart consumables to come, I embarked on PanDa’s croissant with mac and cheese.
The croissant had good flake and the mashup of crunchy and gooey hearkens a gratin. Points for this good foundation and quirky concept. Where things got sticky was the mac and cheese (I don’t mean sticky in a good way). It was bland and mushy; the bright orange colour (coincidentally matching that of the school bus) had pulled the wool over my hunger-​induced eyes. Without seasoning to elevate this $ 6 novelty carb fest, it lost altitude and veered into the 99c pizza territory. Upon discounting the extra dollars I’ll gladly spend to try something new and unexpected, this offering failed the basic test of seasoning.
On the bright side, however, service was good and the internet buzz over PanDa’s sweeter side means I plan on giving it a second chance.

* Welcome addition to our limited street food *
This little converted «short school bus» (you know the kind) is now operating as a croissant bakery on the corner of Drake and Pacific right next to David Lam Park.
Everything on the menu is built around their freshly baked croissants.
Considering the small operating space they are doing a pretty good job of baking off the pre-​made croissants. These aren’t incredible gourmet handmade croissants by any means. But what you get is a nice freshly baked standard one (likely bought in bulk). It has a good crunch, nice flakiness, and is served warm from the oven (key!). It reminded me of the type you get in a good train station bakery stand in Europe.
Where they shine is in interesting croissant fillings.
I had a savoury one, which was filled with a nicely sliced ham, marbled cheddar, a very ripe tomato, and nice crunchy lettuce. Everything tasted very fresh and went well with the flaky croissant. The fresh baked warm croissant was key to highlighting the fresh ingredients.
They offer a large variety of sweet fillings, which I will have to try on another day. The one I’m likely to try first is the matcha ice cream and black sesame ice cream stuffed inside of the croissant with some smashed red beans and dusted lightly with powdered sugar. I saw someone getting one of those, and it looked good!
They also have S’mores variety, cheesecake filled, shaved white chocolate with matcha icing sugar, among others. Seems like they are getting playful with the fillings, and that they are open to ideas from customers too via their Twitter feed.
Clever wordplay, by the way, with the Japanese name — meaning either «It’s Bread» or «Chinese Bear.» Somehow I don’t think that was an accident since the two guys running it seem to be Chinese and a lot of the fillings seem to have Japanese influence.