The Golden Panda bun is the pick of the desserts at Phat Panda. Photo: Martin Conway.
When Region first met Luke Leung, owner of Tuggeranong’s Phat Panda, back in 2019, he was in his first 12 months in business and on a mission to bring people happiness through fun, festival-style Asian fusion food.
Fast forward to 2026, and in an unexpected turn that began with a significant revamp of his Southpoint shopping mall location, the festival came to him. These days, he’s now very good company when it comes to delivering the good vibes to southsiders.
“The revamp of the area now called The Point happened around 2 years ago. Fricken Chicken moved in, Brodburger moved in, and we have a cafe and arcades here now, and we all work together to make it a fun environment for everyone,” Luke explains.
He’s not exaggerating.
The multi-use space, partially open-air but sheltered from the elements, has a communal, precinct-like feel. Each venue has its own shopfront, but they’re all connected by a shared public area, complete with a kids’ playground. It means you can grab a beer from Brodburger, settle in wherever you like, and mix and match your meal across venues.
Grab a beer from Brod and mix and match your meals across the venues at The Point. Photo: Tenele Conway.
I recently arrived at The Point on a Wednesday night with the sole intention of eating a laksa from Phat Panda. Given the location, I was expecting a standard shopping mall experience. Within minutes, I found myself with a beer in hand, downing a delicious laksa while DJ Bingo revved up in the background. I quickly realised this was far from the shopping mall experience.
Although the popular burger joint hosted DJ Bingo, the MC encouraged anyone within the space to join in the fun, and the overall vibe was more cruise ship than shopping mall, with people roaming, eating and kids playing.
“It’s a really family-friendly atmosphere. On Wednesday, Brod has DJ Bingo, on Thursday there’s a live band and on Friday a DJ; it changes each night, and it’s good vibes,” Luke says.
Luke explains that the Phat Panda menu has slowly evolved along with the space.
His mission of bringing joy through fun food remains his primary goal, but he now knows much more about what people want from his menu, and he’s refined it to reflect that.
His current best-seller is karaage chicken, served as a rice bowl, and he says his laksa has remained popular throughout the 8 years, with the most popular being the BBQ pork laksa.
The BBQ pork laksa is the most popular variety on the menu. Photo: Tenele Conway.
He’s also expanded into stir-fried noodles and ensures he always has plenty of choices for vegetarians, vegans and those who are gluten-free. There is also a nice range of dishes for the health-conscious, including vermicelli salad bowls, grilled chicken bowls and tofu-based Buddha bowls.
Luke also has a dessert bar at Phat Panda, and tucked quietly among the sweet teas and ice creams is something that Luke says he hasn’t pushed hard yet, but in my books, it’s a total winner: his Golden Panda Buns.
It’s essentially a hot ice cream sandwich made with a bao bun that’s fried till golden and then filled with a scoop of ice cream. I tried the coconut ice cream, which paired beautifully with the bao bun and complemented the Asian-fusion theme. It’s about the size of the palm of your hand, making it the perfect finish to a laksa or bowl without being overwhelming.
The whole space and all the cohesive tenants feel really settled in now, and the development couldn’t have gone in a better direction for Phat Panda, which now has an array of neighbours delivering the fun vibes that he set out to do all those years ago.
Phat Panda is located at The Point at Southpoint Tuggerangong. It’s open seven days a week from 10:30 am to 8 pm..
Original Article published by Tenele Conway on Region Canberra.
