IT'S the name, cleverly cute logo and perhaps because I watch too many children's movies, but I'm half expecting to see Mr Ping, the noodle-making duck, when I walk into Fat Panda.
For anyone who hasn't seen Kung Fu Panda, he's Po the panda's dad and hopes his food-obsessed son will follow him into the business.
But Fat Panda isn't a Chinese restaurant, it's modern Asian with a strong preference for Japanese, including a sushi bar. Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef and owner Viet Dinh is the Fat Panda. When he opened three years ago, this smartly contemporary restaurant was almost ahead of its time for Canley Heights, and has since been joined by the excellent Thai-Laotian, Holy Basil and Golden Harvest Chinese.
The Fat Panda team is typical of Sydney's cultural smorgasbord. Viet is Australian-born with Vietnamese heritage. His wife, Jenny, who runs the floor at night, is Chinese-Cambodian.
Sushi chef Som Maly hails from Chicago. His immaculate knife skills make this more than just another sushi joint, as the eight-piece assorted sushi set, $16, attests. Alongside the salmon and kingfish belly and prawn, there's intricately carved scallop and salmon sushi, smoked from scorching with a blowtorch.
A sushi train chugs around the small open kitchen where you can watch the theatre of everything being prepared - a whole kingfish is filleted with the skill and speed of a samurai. The train rolls past with up to 30 different sushi, from rolls to nigiri, priced between $3 and $5 a plate. Weekday lunches feature $10 bento boxes.
The a la carte menu leans towards Japan with sashimi, hand rolls, teppanyaki, salads and udon noodles, but little differences emerge, such as chilli pork teppanyaki, ($16) which looks a bit like a pub meal with the sizzling plate of thinly sliced belly meat on bean sprouts, accompanied by a scoop of mashed potato, green beans and carrot slices. Gochujang, the fermented chilli paste coating the pork, gives the dish a Korean flavour.
Among the nibbles, there are bar snacks such as gyoza, edamame, and takoyaki, octopus dumplings (all $5).
The dozen or so hand rolls ($4-$5) range from eel to soft-shell crab and a fine teriyaki chicken with avocado ($4).
A generous and pretty salad of deep-fried soft shell crab ($15) is covered with a zigzag of their own chilli mayonnaise.
When spring gave up hope last week and it was cold and rainy, a udon noodle soup hit the spot, the broth nourishing and slightly sweet, filled with satiny noodles and seaweed, with crisp nori sprinkled over the surface. There's a grilled salmon version, $13, while other accompaniments are fried. The ebi ($10) appealed most and three large, battered king prawns with a dollop of mayo are presented on the side.
The room is as neat as a pin, with a few CaesarStone tables towards the front with alternating chair styles. And there are plenty of fluffy pandas decorating the place.
It's not exactly a drinker's paradise, with just two wines they change regularly.
At the moment, it's a Lost Turtle sauvignon blanc and Peddlars Creek merlot, $8.50 glass/$32 bottle, alongside a few sake: Australian-made Go Shu and Japanese beers by Kirin and Asahi.
For dessert there's "Pandacotta", in this instance using white chocolate, but I'm happy with a scoop of lychee ice cream, $4.50. I'll save the others for the sequel.
HOW IT RATED: FAT PANDA
Food 13/20
Staff 7/10
Drink 3/5
X-factor 3/5
Value 8/10
Total score 34/50
Address: 233C Canley Vale Rd, Canley Heights: ph 9755 4888
Food: Japanese
Drink: Licensed; no BYO
Hours: Lunch Tue-Sun, noon-3pm; dinner Tues-Sun, 5.30pm-10pm
Wheelchair access: Yes
Parking: Free street parking
Price guide: Entrees: $5-$8
Mains: $10-$16
Desserts: $4.50-$8
Snapshot: This small, breezy and very affordable Japanese sushi bar is another bright spot on the increasingly impressive Canley Heights restaurant strip
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