The Smoking Panda

Smoking Panda has been on our list for a while, after all who could resist the temptation of Asian style eats and western drinks? Not to mention they have jellyfish to boot!
The place was relatively quiet for a Saturday night, though we decided it would get busier, especially on weeknights. Staff were friendly, almost over familiar and level of service was good.
Cocktail menu is impressive, with a quality updated range of aperitifs, classics and creations.
Food was quite good too, we all had our favourites but it wasn’t exactly substantial for three hungry individuals.
Overall, Smoking Panda was good. The food and drinks were excellent and reasonably priced. A great place to add to your evening and from what I hear they’re open ’til late.

A tight squeeze but a good array of cocktails. The crowd seems a bit lacklustre and the DJ is misplaced. They should just get Spotify and save the space. Most of the bar staff are great, though there is one twerp at the bar. A little pricey — but the jellyfish are mesmerising.

Came here for a Baiju tasting class with Moutai (China’s national drink).
By golly Moutai is preeeettty strong! Holy moly! I tried it in a cocktail called the Golden Dragon spritzer and it made it very easy to drink.
A few food samples were also provided so i got to try the chicken dim sum, salt & pepper calamari, the spring rolls that were massive and the pork dumplings! All food was soo tasty and hot! (oven hot)
The interior of the place has a bright neon lighting in the ceiling which almost makes me think i’m in a club in Hong Kong.
Knowlegeable bar staff with tasty cocktails to boot!
Also they have jelly fish! YES! Jelly fish! So different to any other bar i’ve been to!

Great spot in the middle of the city! This cocktail bar and restaurant is a fabulous addition to the CBD. Large selection of cocktails and a smoky feel with jelly fish aquarium. Stop by and have a cocktail! Fun place!

So this place is weird… when I first walked in here, I thought I was going to hate it. The layout of the place feels strange and slightly disjointed. But then you try their cocktails and everything changes.
Firstly, the staff here are awesome! Super friendly, super attentive. Even though the place was extremely busy, they kept coming up to us letting us know how far our food or drinks are.
If you come here you have to try the whisky sour — because it comes out on a smokey dish. Yep your drinking is smoking. And the wait staff do a bit of a strange little ceremony when that drink comes out. Saying that it is actually quite tasty. The only problem is I don’t have a sweet tooth, and the majority of their cocktails were on the sweet end. However, the staff were accomodating and made some concotions to benefit me.
They serve ‘nibble’ food. We ordered the soft shell crab sliders, and even though they looked small — they were extremely filling. All the food here was delicious and tasty. So it is worth coming here, but they only do small foods — no mains.