“It will be pioneer travellers who will tell the rest of the world what Panama is,” says Annie Young, my tour guide. I’m trying to listen intently as she talks about what she calls “authentic” tourism in Panama. But my frontal lobes are abandoning me as my taste buds are seduced by the yuca tostada that I’m eating – my mind reeling to figure out the explosion of taste.
What’s that sauce? Ah, I think it’s garlic mayo (it was, we confirmed with the chef) smeared on the house-made tostada, paper-thin slices of tuna lovingly placed just-so and sprinkled with scallions. It sounds simple, but the flavour profile strikes that perfect umami balance.
We’re at a little hole-in-the-wall fonda or cafeteria, called Lo Que Hay (roughly translates to “what there is”) on a busy side street in Panama City’s old town centre, Casco Antiguo. If there wasn’t a small sandwich board out front, you might miss it as you walk by on the narrow sidewalks, distracted by the pedestrian bustle and the noisy, brightly painted diablos rojos, traditional Panamanian buses with blingy hood ornaments and splashy mural-style paintings of folklore and religious icons on every spare inch.
Lo Que Hay is small, and the daily menu board only offers six or so dishes, featuring what’s fresh and available that day – elevated Panamanian dishes with a twist. It’s run by Chef Jose Carles, who also operates an award-winning fine-dining restaurant called Donde Jose, which takes reservations months in advance.
Panama is sinking money into this trendy, touristy neighbourhood, which is where you can find a lot of the cool new boutiques, breweries and cafés in the city. Casco Antiguo is also where to head for lively nightlife and rooftop bars. I’m sure I’m not the only one to predict that in a few years, Casco Antiguo could be giving Cartagena’s (tourist-filled) Casco Viejo a run for its money.
Unlike some Latin American cities, where tasty street food is plentiful, it’s rare to see street food carts in Panama. In certain neighbourhoods, though, los fonderos or food shacks, are still a big part of the city’s cultural identity. Like at Cuara y Cuara on Avenida Peru, where you can get traditional Panamanian foods like warm patacones (fried plantain) or carimanolas (shredded meat wrapped in dough and deep-fried) served in brown paper bags.
At the Mercado de Mariscos, the seafood market at the foot of the Casco Viejo, there are also a dozen or so outdoor food stalls, with cheap plastic tables and upbeat Latin music, serving killer seafood dishes like ceviche, paired with Balboa beer or a freshly made mojito, for a reasonable price.
I’m staying on the other side of the city at the Santa Maria Hotel & Golf Resort, a recent addition to the Marriott Luxury Collection. Although it’s only a 15 minute drive from here to the downtown skyscrapers, with a crystal blue pool tucked next to the sweeping emerald golf course and palm trees swaying in the breeze, it really feels like an oasis of cool, calm greenery.
The property has five on-site dining options, making it easy to continue my Panamanian culinary adventure. Here, innovative dishes are created with local, seasonal ingredients by Executive Chef Dani Osorio.
For upscale dinner options, meat lovers will rejoice over the juicy tomahawk steak at The Grill House FSH & STK. At Mestizo, you can sample modern Panamanian dishes infused with Mediterranean flavours – things like tender char-grilled octopus served with fresh watercress and heart of palm salad on a creamy hummus pixbae (a typical Panamanian palm tree fruit) purée. Or mini arepas (like a pancake, but made with ground maize) topped with slivers of roast beef, a dollop of chimichurri and microgreens, and one of Santa Maria’s famous chichitas, a distinctive cocktail made with seco herrerano, a sugar cane alcohol.
When it comes to food, the San Francisco neighbourhood is the city’s new gem. Undergoing gentrification over the last several years, the area is filled with food trucks, boutiques, and cafés where you’re more apt to see locals than tourists. Local restaurants and chefs are moving in.
“We opened in San Francisco in 2014 because we didn’t want to be in areas that were overrun,” says Robert Martin, co-owner of Intimo and El Solar. Martin saw a future in the neighbourhood due to its geographic position in the city – in the middle of city traffic, and everything is no more than 30 minutes away.
For Martin, San Francisco is what Casco Antiguo was seven years ago. “It’s a new neighbourhood with innovative restaurants and bars that welcomes tourists and locals alike. Casco Antiguo has maintained more of its spirit in tourism.”
Intimo is a small, intimate restaurant with an atmospheric long bar that beckons to you to pull up a stool and order one of their special house cocktails. A few tables skirt the windowed walls and there’s picnic table seating on the back patio.
The menu is seasonal and uses 90 per cent local ingredients, including from the garden behind the patio. Although inspiration for the menu comes from all over the world, Chef Chombolin Alba creates twists with Panamanian ingredients and always injects Intimo’s DNA. With so many enticing selections – like frijoles, beans cooked with tamarind, pickled watermelon and local cheese, and arroz con pifia, rice cooked with vegetable stock, sweet crispy plantain cubes, and puffed crispy corn and cashews – choosing becomes difficult.
Martin’s second collaboration, El Solar, opened in the neighbourhood in spring 2020, a Franco-Caribbean restaurant that he declares is serving a cuisine that has not yet been merged in Panama’s gastronomic history.
Panama has long been known as a melting pot of ethnicities, and the nation’s cuisine reflects that. There’s an influence from the country’s native indigenous communities and the fact that Panama, at its narrowest, is only 48 kilometres, means flavours and ingredients from both Caribbean and Pacific communities are prevalent. A history of international diversity is thanks to the canal, which took centuries to bring to a reality, and workers from all over the world were brought to build it and now operate it.
Even the national dish, sancocho de gallina, a chicken stew, pays homage to this diversity, standing as a symbol for the regional variations on ingredients that are added, depending on what’s available.
“The food scene in Panama City is solid and continuously evolving,” says Martin. “It has also made a difference that local chefs like Felipe Milanes, Mario Castrellon and Carlos Chombolin Alba have returned from overseas. The next step is having the world know more of what’s going on here – more critics, both locally and internationally.”
Thinking back to Young’s words, you might say there’s a food revolution taking place in Panama City, and pioneer food lovers are catching on. They will tell the rest of the world about it.
IF YOU GO:
Accommodation: Santa Maria Hotel & Golf Resort https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/ptylc-the-santa-maria-a-luxury-collection-hotel-and-golf-resort-panama-city/
Tourism info: Visit Panama https://www.visitpanama.com/
Tour guide: PMA Travel Group, Annie Young, Founder/Director
Restaurants to try: Lo Que Hay, Intimo and El Solar, Mestizo and The Grill House FSH & STK
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