Our Story
Panda's Pantry was started by Sarah Pon, a third-generation South African whose grandparents emigrated from Foshan, in China's Guangdong province. She grew up between two worlds, South African by birth, Cantonese by kitchen. She spent years doing what her grandparents had always done: making do with what was on the shelves, and missing what wasn't.
Everything in the shop is chosen by Sarah, personally. We only stock the products we'd actually use at home. The same goes for the snacks we bring in from Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and China, and for Mr. Ma's char siu bao, which we're proud to be the sole Cape distributor for. Sarah spends as much time talking to customers in Somerset West as she does sourcing stock, swapping recipes, explaining how to use an unfamiliar ingredient, or just hearing what people are after next. That's the part of the business she cares about most, and it's reflected in the reviews we get: not just about the products, but about the way people are looked after when they walk through the door.