Panda Restaurant: An Authentic Chinese Food Experience in Oamaru
When I was visiting Oamaru, I was in the mood for authentic Chinese food. I walked into Panda Restaurant at Oamaru because it looked like a small and homely place. There were bright pictures and paintings of pandas on all the walls. The place also sold western meals like fish and chips in addition to Chinese food. But I decided to order just Chinese food.
It was a small restaurant and there were only a few chairs and tables. On one wall, the restaurant owners had stuck pictures of the food that was available. I could see fried rice and fish and chips and all kinds of meals. Everything looked very bright, colorful and delicious.
The first thing that I had ordered was the hot and sour soup. It was a cold day and I thought some soup would warm me up. The soup had a rich flavor of soy sauce and I could see that they had added egg to it. The soup was just spicy enough without being too spicy. I quickly finished my whole bowl before the rest of my food arrived. It tasted very authentic, like it would really taste in China (you can also read my articles about Ancestral Restaurant and Shanghai Restaurant for more info about Chinese restaurants in the South Island).
I had also ordered hot spicy lamb. The lamb had been cooked perfectly. It had been cooked with vegetables like red and yellow bell peppers and green onions. There were also slices of chilies and red paprika in the lamb. They added some extra spice to the dish. It wasn’t too rich and oily and I really enjoyed it. The portions were just enough for two persons.
The last thing that I had ordered was the curry beef vegetable. This dish had carrots, cauliflower and broccoli along with beef. It had a little bit more sauce than the hot spicy lamb. The beef was soft and well-cooked and it tasted great with all the vegetables!
Menu
The staff at the Panda Restaurant was very quick. Since there weren’t a lot of people inside, they gave me a menu as soon as I sat down. The menu was bright red in color and had a picture of a giant panda eating a big bowl of rice with chopsticks.
The menu was quite varied. There were options for hot pot with seafood or lamb or fish flavored eggplant. There was even a vegan tofu option. They also had soups like egg drop or chicken sweet corn.
There were many meat options, like sweet and sour pork, Gong Bao chicken or beef with black bean sauce. Chinese steamed sides or steamed blue cod were some other options.
Even though I wasn’t hungry enough to eat rice or noodles, I liked that they had options for different kinds of fried rice and chow mein. And there were western meals like scallops or steak that were available.
Finally, I turned the page and saw the options for snacks like bacon egg and chips and hot dogs and desserts like ice cream sundae. For people who wanted a drink, milk shake and hot chocolate were available along with coffee, tea and sodas.
