I’m very late discovering Panda Panda… but what a great café!

I was in Deptford, London SE8 and tweeted for suggestions of places to eat. @Sarahluv81 suggested Panda Panda, and she’s spot-on.

It’s a small café on the busy main road of Deptford Broadway – the main A2 out of London to Kent, close to Deptford Bridge DLR station. They’re famous for their Vietnamese baguettes, but we both had noodles. My pork noodles were delicious and hugely filling – £4.95 a bowl. My companion had Mushroom and Tofu noodles which were almost as nice. We were the only customers when we arrived for an early lunch but it soon started filling up, and our food arrived almost before we’d ordered it. You can have optional nuts and chillis on your noodles – we had both. Chillis were pretty hot, but on a cold day that’s no bad thing.

The thing that really has me hooked is the bubble tea, though – amazingly-textured concoctions served with a big fat straw through which you suck velvety balls made of tapioca. I love South Korean Aloe Vera drink, so this was very much up my street, but they have plenty of other healthy fresh juices without tapioca if you don’t fancy silky balls slipping down your throat…

A very filling lunch for 2 including fresh drinks came to £15.10.

Rather frustratingly it’s only open from 10.30 am to 6pm, so the free local delivery isn’t that useful, and it’s closed Sunday. I hear they visit Brockley Market in Lewisham too.

I don’t really do ratings, but I’d give it 9/10. They probably deserve an extra point for restraint – I almost certainly would have called the place ‘Panda! Panda!’ and would have been much more in-your-face with the panda motif all round.

I will be back – with my Oriental-food-crazy kids.

Website: http://panda-panda.co.uk/