19 year old university student, Jackson He has warded off an attempted axe robbery at his family's Panda Chinese Restaurant in Monash on Saturday night - the latest in a spate of robberies in the suburb.
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Mr He was alone, tucking into a bowl of chow mein prepared by his dad the restaurant's chef, when three caucasian teenagers dressed in hoodies and bandana face masks raced in just before the closing time around 9pm
One of the men, who was doing the talking was carrying a short axe and waved it at Mr He demanding cash.
Mr He said he hesitated as he was unlocking the cash register not wanting to give over the cash, which led one of the attackers to grab his hand, breaking the key in two.
Mr He said the commotion prompted the two other men to seemingly abandon their co-attacker and flee.
The main man then grabbed the cash register, but as he was struggling under its weight, Mr He kicked at his heals, which saw it drop to the floor spilling coins.
"I kicked at him and he fell over, and he got back up and swiped his axe at me. He took a quick swing just to get me to back off," Mr He said.
"At that point I wasn't thinking, I was just trying to get the money back," Mr He said.
Forced to leave it behind, the man fled and was last seen heading onto the greenbelt towards Isabella Drive.
This is the second hit on the Cantonese takeaway this year after a Feburary break in saw the whole restaurant trashed, according to Mr He who is studying commerce at the University of Canberra.
In June, just next door at the Monash SPAR Supermarket, a man threatened the store's supervisor with a rifle and demanded he handed over cash from the safe.
Abhi Sharma, another SPAR staff member who was present at the time, said the supermarket "had been done three or four times in the past two years".
Mr Sharma said the supermarket was not open at the time of the robbery but will give police access to their CCTV footage on Monday which may contain images of the Panda Chinese Restaurant robbers.
ACT Policing have said the men were slim builds and about 178cm (5'10") tall.
Orders of mongolian lamb, sweet and sour pork and garlic chicken rang through again on Sunday night as the family put on a brave face, but Mr He said his mother who also works there was shaken by the incident.
Anyone with information which may assist the investigation are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
