Panda Fest at Waterfront Park
Debuting for the first time in San Diego, Panda Fest is set to transform Waterfront Park on Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26 into the nation’s largest Asian food festival. The two-day event brings together a celebration of global flavors, cultural artistry, live performances, and larger-than-life panda-themed fun. Guests will get the chance to sample over 200 dishes from 80-plus food vendors, showcasing flavors from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and beyond.
Notable bites include viral favorites like Tanghulua, a Chinese street food featuring fresh fruit dipped in a hard glass-like sugar, to Asian classics like Japanese Onigiri. To satisfy all cravings, Panda Fest has curated a list of national and local vendors to bring the highest quality line up of Asian food to San Diego’s waterfront. Traveling vendors like Saucy Bao and Yumday will be serving pan-fried bao and dumpling options while WobbleBake will have Japanese soufflé pancakes. To continue the panda themed fun, Softbite and Mumu Sweet will have their menu items shaped and decorated with pandas creating the perfect photo-op.
Find local gems from San Diego also sharing some of their fan favorite menu items at this year’s festival. Na Tart, located in Clairemont, will share their lineup of Portuguese egg tarts infused with Asian-inspired flavors. College Area coffee shop, ESSNTL Coffee will have a menu of unique flavored coffees and matcha including banana Vietnamese coffee, biscoff matcha and more.
General admission tickets are priced at $15, with VIP tickets available for $35 to attend the largest Asian food festival in the country. For more information on Panda Fest, visit www.pandafests.com.
Launched in 2024, Panda Fest is one of the largest outdoor Asian food and culture festivals in the United States. In its first year alone, the festival produced 13 events across 11 cities, welcoming over 500,000 attendees, with attendance continuing to grow. Featuring experiential activities, tastings, market fairs, and live performances, Panda Fest brings communities together to celebrate the richness of Asian American and Pacific Islander cultures. Pandas serve as a playful central theme, appearing throughout the event in inflatables, games and activities, merchandise, and food offerings. Originally created as a one-day event called Panda Day by founder BiuBiu Xu, Panda Fest.
Category: Culture, Entertainment, Events, family, Food, Life Style, Local News
