It’s never a dull time living in Orlando, not just for the theme parks just a drive away, but all of the other festivals and events that come to town throughout the year. One such event is Panda Fest, the biggest Asian food festival in the U.S., which made its Orlando debut this past weekend.
During its Orlando run from February 27 through March 1, 2026, Panda Fest offered over 80 Asian food vendors, more than 20 artisan market vendors, live cultural performances, and even a giant panda character meet-and-greet.
To say that we were overwhelmed with choice on what to eat and enjoy is an understatement, but we were able to try several items! Check out our thoughts on each below:
Panda Egg Waffle
This was our first stop once we entered the festival grounds, drawn in by the cute waffle molds shaped like pandas. Each serving included five tiny panda-shaped waffles made of flavored batter: honeydew, strawberry, taro, chocolate, and original.
Unfortunately, we could not tell the flavors apart. None of them were strong enough to notice if one was strawberry and the other was honeydew, for example. Not to mention the single serving was also very expensive at $15 for just the five pieces.
Thai Tea from Moo Moo Panda Land
Next up, we stopped at the Moo Moo Panda Land booth to get a quick drink, opting for their Thai Tea for $9. This definitely hit the spot and helped wash down the waffles! It was a little on the thinner side for a Thai Tea in comparison to others we’ve had in the past, but it was still sweet and delicious.
Chili Garlic Beef Sauce Noodle
We had enough of the sweet and jumped right to the savory with our next dish, the Spicy Chili Garlic Beef Sauce Noodles with all the toppings for $15. These noodles were indeed VERY spicy! Thanks to the chili oil, the noodles themselves were very slippery and easy to eat. We especially loved the crunchy texture provided by the onions in the dish. This was a great start to our festival experience, but it was a huge portion to be a “festival food.”
Handmade Saucy Bao
Our next savory dish was a trio of bao buns from a nearby stand. We ordered the beef, pork, and chicken bao trio for $15. The beef bao was stuffed with a giant meatball rather than the shredded beef as pictured above the stand, and came dressed in a very garlic-heavy sauce. In hindsight, we should’ve asked for it without the sauce.
The pork bao was much larger than the beef, and tasted like sweet pork barbecue. The chicken bao was also stuffed with a meatball; we think this meatball would’ve been good on noodles with sauce, but not stuffed inside a bao bun.
Watermelon Lemonade from Rich Tea Shop
After all that food, we decided to take another drink break and opted to try the Watermelon Lemonade from Rich Tea Shop for $11. Despite what we had anticipated, it was made with artificial watermelon flavor and definitely tasted like watermelon candy rather than watermelon juice. We still enjoyed it, though!
Mini K Dogs from Crunchy Dog
At the Crunchy Dog booth, we decided to go for the mini dog trio box for $25, which included three mini K dogs: Classic Crunch, Potato Crunch, and Ramen Crunch. You can order them with ketchup, honey, or sriracha for dipping, but we opted for none.
These were delicious, with excellent cheese pulls all around!
Matcha Parfait Ice Cream
At this point in our evening, we stuck with desserts and sweet treats, like the Matcha Silky Paste Parfait from Hello Yam for $12. This was made of crumbled waffle cone as the base, vanilla ice cream, matcha-flavored red bean paste, and a cute panda marshmallow on top.
If you love matcha, you would love this. You have to be okay with red bean as a flavor and texture, though the matcha does a lot to disguise it. The cold vanilla ice cream was also a nice and refreshing treat in the Florida humidity. This was among our favorite items we had the whole night!
Tangulu from Chan Bai Mei
Next up, we tried tanghulu from Chan Bai Mei, a traditional Chinese snack of fruits covered in a hard sugar shell, all stuck on a skewer. This may very well have been the winner of the night, as it was a hit among our entire group. Each skewer was served warm, which was a surprise to us but not unwelcome! The fruit was especially fresh and had a satisfying crunch, thanks to the sugar coating. Each skewer was priced at $12.
Nutella Boong-Uh-Bbang
Our last item of the night was a Nutella Boong-Uh-Bbang waffle for $9. Boong-Uh-Bbang is a popular Korean street snack consisting of a fish-shaped pastry with a sweet or savory filling. For this, we chose to try the Nutella-filled option, and sure enough, it tasted like a Nutella waffle. Not much else to this treat, but it did end up being Tim’s favorite of the festival!
Even though we tried several different dishes and drinks, there were still so many that we didn’t get the chance to try (like grilled whole squid!). With Panda Fest, there is truly an overwhelming amount of options to enjoy, and certainly something to suit every palate in your group. Though some things we tried were on the disappointing side because of the price or flavor, we enjoyed the festival overall.
Other upcoming cities for Panda Fest include Nashville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Charlotte, Philadelphia, San Diego, Indianapolis, and Boston. For more, watch our vlog above and visit PandaFests.com.
