Panada Cafe

I was so excited to have found a 100% vegetarian Indonesian restaurant in my hood. Panada Cafe is located on 1608 West Passyunk Ave. The restaurant appears to be family owned with the husband working the register and the wife managing the kitchen. For fast food restaurants and food court stalls, you usually ordered the food first and wait for your order to be called to pick it up. When an establishment that appears to be a seat down restaurant follows the process mentioned in the latter, it can be confusing. Obviously when I walked in I was uncertain on how to proceed (do I sit and wait to be served or do I order and pay at the front first). Luckily, the owner directed me to counter and pointed to the sign that says order and pay here. After that it went smoothly, I ordered my food and took a seat. When the food was ready, it was actually bought to me which was nice. Another interesting observation is that they use disposable dish ware, cups, and utensils. I guess it is a cost saving move on their part because they don't need to hire waiters or dishwashers. Now enough with my ordering experience. Let's get to the food.

I ordered vegetable spring rolls as an appetizer. It came out hot and crispy and with homemade sweet and sour sauce. I am familiar with veggie spring rolls filled with mostly cabbage and carrot but this vegetable spring roll was special. It had a piece of bamboo shoot in it. I am not sure if I like it because the bamboo shoot has such a different texture than cabbage and carrot aka it's harder and chewier than the tender carrot and cabbage. The homemade sweet and sour sauce was tasty. It went well with the spring rolls.

Veggie Spring Rolls

For my entrèe, I got koloke ("chicken" with onions and red pepper cooked with house special sweet and sour sauce). The dish came with rice and topped with fried radish. The rice was a little dry but seitan chicken was great. The texture tasted close enough to chicken for me. The house special sweet and sour sauce tasted like the sweet and sour sauce for the spring rolls. It was good. This meal definitely satisfied my craving for unhealthy Asian take out. I will be back for sure to try more items on the menu. 

Koloke