Orange Chicken in Yeouido — Panda Express at IFC Mall

Walk through the basement dining area at Yeouido’s IFC Mall and the options come all at once. Korean and Japanese restaurants, snack counters, bakeries and cafés share the same floor. Then there is one storefront that feels a little different. The sign is red and there’s a panda on it. It calls to mind an overseas mall food court. This is Panda Express.

In Korea, Chinese food often brings to mind jajangmyeon, the black-bean noodles, spicy jjamppong and sweet-and-sour tangsuyuk. The food at Panda Express comes from another tradition: Chinese cooking as adapted in the United States.

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A Different Starting Point from Korean-Chinese Cooking

Chinese cooking has taken on different forms in different countries. Noodle dishes became staples in Korea, while Chinese-influenced rice bowls and ramen took on local forms in Japan. In the United States, one branch of it found a home in fast food.

Panda Express is one of the familiar names in American Chinese food. Both the dishes and the way you order feel like an American mall food court. A staff member explains the choices and serves whatever you point to straight onto your plate.

It feels like putting a meal together at the counter, one choice at a time.

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A Store That Explains How to Order

There’s now a large sign explaining how to order, perhaps because so many customers are there for the first time.

Start by choosing a size.

• Bowl — one base and one entrée
• Plate — one base and two entrées
• Bigger Plate — one base and three entrées

Then choose a base. Fried rice and chow mein are both available, and you can split the serving between them. Finish by choosing your entrées.

The sign makes it look more involved than it is. You can pick from what you see in front of you without studying a menu. The setup is somewhere between a fast-food counter and a buffet.

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Half Fried Rice, Half Chow Mein, and Orange Chicken

I split the base between fried rice and chow mein and went for the signature orange chicken.

Orange chicken is the dish most closely associated with Panda Express. A Korean diner might think of kkanpunggi, another fried chicken dish, but the seasoning goes in a different direction. The fried chicken is coated in a sweet orange-scented sauce. The citrus and sweetness come through ahead of any heat.

On the first bite, it struck me as far removed from the Chinese food I knew. It began to feel familiar on the second. Against the salt and spice of Korean-Chinese cooking, the sauce can taste almost like dessert. The fried rice is mild and the chow mein has a richer, oilier aroma. Together they balance the plate, which is why I liked the half-and-half order.

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Somewhere Between Fast Food and a Restaurant

There is little wait once you place your order, and you can start eating right away. Taking a tray and finding a seat feels familiar from any fast-food restaurant.

Watching someone serve the cooked dishes in front of you makes the meal feel a little more immediate. What lands on your plate also depends on how you put the order together.

You can eat quickly or take your time. For a break while shopping at IFC Mall, it fits either way.

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Why It Works in a Mall

People come through IFC Mall’s dining area for a quick office lunch, dinner after shopping or a bite before a film. Tables turn over fast.

Panda Express suits that pace. The choices are visible, the order is easy to put together and the wait is short. It is an easy place to eat alone, and I saw quite a few people doing just that.

The menu and the counter service also make it feel like a meal in a mall abroad. For someone used to a Korean-Chinese restaurant, the way the meal comes together is part of the experience.

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A Meal That Sticks Because It Is Unfamiliar

Some will find it too sweet. Others will remember it as a new flavour. Either way, it comes from a different line of cooking than Korean-Chinese food.

For me, the appeal was in trying the format. One meal helps explain why the chain fits so easily into an American mall.

When I want something a little different from the options I usually turn to at IFC Mall, this is one I can see myself remembering.