Culinary Delights

We just wanted to do a quick post on some of the food and drink we have seen so far in Panama. We have been impresse with the quality and range of food. There is Indian, Chinese, Argentinian steak houses and lots of other different cuisine on top of their own local cuisine. We said we would try and start with the local cuisine but all the books say that Panamanian food is as much a fusion of cultures as the people themselves.

The fish market

Last night we went to a place that was noted in the travel book as being a great option to try out some great Panamanian fish dishes. The fish market is actually a food truck that is situated in a derelict building (of which there are many) in the old town. Many of the old buildings are currently being renovated, maintaining the old colonial architecture. So you often see a cool bar or restaurant alongside a building with just a front being held up with scaffolding.

The fish market had a great vibe and a simple menu which contained giant shrimp, fish tacos and cerviche amongst other things. They also had a great selection of craft beers which seems to be a recurring theme here. I tried the giant shrimp and Jennifer had the fish tacos. The giant shrimp were, well, giant, 🦐🦐🦐🦐I am not usually a fan of things like shrimp but these were so meaty they were like a steak. Jennifer’s tacos were similar in that they had massive chunks of fish in them.

While we were there they place really filled up and seemed to be a starting point for people’s night out. The building’s owner, a ginger cat 😉, that our waiter informed me was the before them, was front of house and was glad to have a chat in return for a little bit of fish🐱🐾

They also had key lime pie which is somewhat difficult to get it Dublin and I have wanted to try ever since seeing it in Dexter. Full marks for anyone who remembers the episode. Anyway it is basically condensed milk with limes on a biscuit base. The limes here are really tart so it makes for a great key lime pie …. Based on my extensive experience 😉

The craft beers

Like I said I was pleasantly surprised by the selection of craft beers available in most of the bars here. I did not think they were big beer drinkers so thought it would be baric enough in terms of selection. So far I have had an IPA and some of their porter’s and they have all been really good. They also have the national beers which are lagers. The most popular one is Panama and the next one is Balboa. You always have to try the local beers to get a real feel for a country and these one passed the test. Plus they are 2 dollars a beer so that always helps💵🤑🍻 I asked for one in a bar today and they gave it to me with olives in it 🤔I asked and they said it is the way they serve it here sometimes. I saw them give it to other people, so I don’t think it was let’s have a laugh with the tourist trick. Must try it at home with a Guinness. Would get some strange looks😜

On an interesting note on one of the craft beers places had Irish signs for the toilets🇮🇪 it wasn’t an Irish bar or anything so it was a bit strange. They didn’t speak much English there so we didn’t get any background to it.

The $9 coffee

We had read that Panama had one of the most expensive coffees in the world called Geisha. So we went to a coffee shop that sold it. The staff were great there and make a big deal about it. It has to be brewed in a certain way via manual filtering and careful grinding. They bring out the grinds and get you to smell them before brewing. They also tell you about the back ground and the harvesting. Then they take it to your table and do a manual pour with a special kettle. This is where I would like to say it tasted amazing and totally the price of $345/kg but I think it was a little too advanced for my unsophisticated palette. It had a very sweet taste but the body was very strange, something between a fruit tea and coffee. It didn’t taste strong either and was like watered down coffee. I guess it’s like a fine whiskey, I would not be able to differentiate between the really top level whiskey’s either. It’s easy to know the good stuff that is a little bit more expensive but after that it is difficult to tell the difference as the price increases drastically. Anyway it was a really cool experience to try it out and see what really top quality coffee tasted like.