Little Panda Bar & Kitchen

Little Panda Bar and Kitchen has only been open since about October 2011 but is already becoming popular, at least withsome of my friends who work in the Valley. They head there for after work drinks, Panda beer buckets and $ 25 cocktail jugs — they do like a drink or two… I haven’t seen the place in full swing but had a couple of after work drinks here recently; it’s friendly and hip — can’t wait to try more of the Asian food, as my friends also rave about the finger food and karaōke nights.

One of the staff dropped in to our office with a stack of mini flyers one day to tell us about their after-​work drink specials. The artwork was hilarious, a mish mash of retro Kung Fu photos and colourful patterns in a kitschy découpage style.
This venue had been a number of different bar/​food combinations over the past couple of years, none of them lasting too long. It’s just down the road from China Town under Cathedral place. It opens up onto busy Wickham Street, and while we were there for after work drinks, the traffic was pretty noisy. But with their Asian theme and décor, it made me think of the busy little bars and street food in south east Asia.
The after-​work special is bring 4 or more people and everyone buys a drink and get a free platter of dumplings and Asian style nibbles.
Our platter didn’t really have any dumplings (not of the steamed variety which I’m used to), but had a variety of deep fried spring rolls and dim sum, which always goes down pretty easily. It wasn’t a huge serving, but would be enough to keep you around for a couple of rounds.
By 5:45pm, the live musician had started. Just a guy on a guitar, singing covers, but it gave Little Panda a nice atmosphere. The place is only small, but with all the couches inside it is quite cosy. They also sell jugs of cocktails for $ 25, so I can imagine after-​work drinks could easily turn into an all night thing.

Little Panda is quaint little bar/​cocktail lounge with an Asian influence that recently opened up in the Valley. With its red tables, bamboo trees and Panda drawings on the wall, this place sure is cute. Overall, I think ‘Little Panda’ has great potential but certain factors may hinder its success.
I came here for a friend’s birthday drinks and enjoyed myself very much. Little Panda is fairly easy to get to as its only a block away from China town and 2 blocks away from Brunswick street. The place is not very large but was perfect for our party of 15 or so people. We ordered a few sharing platters which included some very tasty spring rolls, san choy boy and dim sims– much better than your generic sausage rolls and mini pies that other bars will serve. The bar had a nice selection of beers, ciders and wines as well as a nice looking cocktail menu but don’t expect to see any beer on tap here.
One downside to this place would be the location. Being a couple of blocks away from the main «Valley scene» may not seem like it would be a big deal but it kind of is. Unless I had been told of the place, I would not know it existed. If ‘Little Panda’ want to start serving to a bigger clientele, they may have to invest some money into marketing as relying on word-​of-​mouth may not be enough.
Overall, I think ‘Little Panda’ has great potential. So far, most things seems to be going well; the place is looks nice, the food is good and the drinks are tasty. The location may be a little bit of a downside but as long as the owners work their ways around it, I say this place has a bright future ahead!