Chicago's Panda Fest 2026

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Panda Fest Chicago: Asian Food Truck Feast, Thai Milk Tea, and Festival Lessons | We Should Move Here Travels

Brittany and Josh recap their opening-day visit to Panda Fest in Chicago, a traveling Asian food festival with hundreds of vendors. They describe the long drive, a huge but fast-moving entry line, and how the event felt warm and overstimulating, especially with intense Chicago traffic and witnessing an accident. With only a three-hour ticket window, they sampled a limited set of foods—hot honey Korean corn dog, tuna-mayo onigiri, tornado potato, veggie bao with tofu and eel sauce, Thai milk teas (favorite from Coffee and More), a strawberry chocolate-cream fruit sandwich, and Biscoff mochi donuts—then discuss pricing ($14 tickets, ~$15 parking, most items $10–$15). They also visited H Mart for Turtle Chips and sensory spoons, reflect on a year of podcasting milestones, and plan future local Asian-food episodes and possible Christmas market travel.

00:00 Welcome to Panda Fest
00:38 Getting In and First Impressions
01:28 Asian Food Favorites and Dream Trips
03:47 Game Plan vs Full Stomachs
04:09 Top Bites Korean Corn Dog
05:44 More Favorites Onigiri and Tornado Potato
07:41 Drinks and Sweet Treats
10:38 What We Missed and Festival Tips
11:42 Costs Value and Local Alternatives
12:24 Planning an Appleton Food Crawl
13:49 Panda Fest Verdict
14:16 Chicago Weekend Plans
14:38 Pizza Tour Memories
16:19 Food Spots Wishlist
17:22 Traffic And Overstimulation
17:58 H Mart Haul
19:55 Podcast Year Recap
21:47 Next Trips And Wedding
22:24 Christmas Market Itch
23:02 Travel Balance Talk
25:04 Poland And Packed Schedule
26:16 Restaurant Recs Request
27:42 Final Panda Fest Recommendation
28:04 Subscribe And Goodbye

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