October 12, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mt. Airy ‘Panda’ delicious, definitely not endangered
by LEN LEAR

The logo on the menu at Panda Garden, the Chinese takeout restaurant at 275 W. Mt. Pleasant Ave. A caller said Panda Garden is so good that he orders food to be delivered at least three times a week.

A long-time faithful reader, Robert Rubin, called last week to rave about a takeout restaurant in West Mt. Airy which he called “the best bargain in the area, by far.”

“I have lived in this area my whole life,” said Rubin, who is 52, “and I am telling you that Panda Garden at 275 W. Mt. Pleasant Ave. (just east of Lincoln Drive) is the best food bargain you will find. I order takeout from them three times a week on average, but I never get tired of it because there is so much to choose from, and everything is so good, and the prices are so amazing. I urge you to call and place an order, and I’ll bet anything you feel the same way.”

When I called Panda Garden, owner Neng Shen Zheng (everybody calls him “Zheng”) told me he delivers to homes and businesses all over Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy, so there is no need to drive to the restaurant, which is across the street from a CVS pharmacy. Those who do drive there to pick up an order can park in the CVS lot.

On the advice of the caller, I ordered wonton soup ($1.30 a pint, $2.50 a quart), which was bursting with flavor, as good as I have ever had. A large platter of bourbon chicken (Rubin’s favorite dish) with pork-fried rice and egg roll was a complete, delectable dinner and quite a bargain at just $6.55. A second dinner was an equally savory platter of sweet and sour pork, pork- fried rice and egg roll for a ridiculously low $5.95.

For more than 20 years Zheng’s family has been preparing dishes from Hunan, Szechuan, Cantonese and Mandarin provinces, and they use no MSG in their cooking. Prices of lunch specials are almost unbelievable. There are 30 lunch specials; every one includes pork-fried rice or steamed rice and either won ton or egg drop soup or soda, and every one is less than $5.

As low as the prices are at Panda Garden, there are coupons on the takeout menu that offer even more savings. For example, with the purchase of three platters, a fourth one is free. Or the purchase of two egg rolls, a quart of chicken corn soup, a quart of chicken fried rice, a quart of beef with broccoli and a quart of General Tso’s chicken, which is normally a total of $27.45, is just $20.95.

What shocked me as much as the prices and the quality of the food was the fact that prior to Rubin’s phone call, I never knew Panda Garden existed, although I found out it has been at its current location since March, 2004. Prior to that, Zheng, 40, a native of a southern province in mainland China, was a partner in a Chinese restaurant in Upper Darby for seven years, and he worked in restaurants while in his native country.

Panda Garden is open every day of the week for lunch and dinner takeout. For more information, call 215-753-9040 or 215-753-8989.