Go gourmet in Boquete, Panama

Dirk van der Made

From Times Online
May 26, 2009

Richard Holledge found a superb tasting menu by the country's top chef in a Panamanian highlands restaurant

Surprising place, Panama. In the middle of the day in the highland town of Boquete a misty rain descends from the skies. It’s as slight as a hand held atomiser and it drops gently from the heavens just as the day threatens to become too warm.

Boquete is a charming two horse town of low buildings with tin roofs in blues, reds and rust. Set along the banks of the turbulent River Caldera it is surrounded by mountains whose flanks are lined with the straight lines of coffee plantations and peaks permanently wreathed in light clouds.

It’s quite easy to get to – a fifty minute flight from Panama City to the town of David and a forty minute drive in gentle scenery punctuated with real estate signs advertising land for sale and des reses in gated communities.

Fortune magazine’s Retirement Guide selected Boquete in 2005 as one of the five best places in the world to retire to along with Dubrovnik in Croatia, Bariloche in Argentina, Merida in Mexico and Phuket, Thailand

So that explains why there are so many balding men with pony tails, bleached women heroically squeezed into too-tight jeans and why everyone in Los Amigos cafe is eating burgers and fries, grooving along to a group vaguely reminiscent of an Eagles tribute band.

But don’t be put off. These US retirees are following in the more adventurous footsteps of the Spanish conquistadores and later by ‘49ers who stopped here on their way on their way north to California in search of gold.

Boquete is a mix of the simple and sophisticated – from the indigenous Ngobe Bugle Indian farm workers who earn ten dollars a day picking coffee during the season and live in their shacks, tending their smallholdings, to the gringos who venture from their gated security in their 4x4s to meet fellow retirees and rub shoulders with wealthy Panamanians who have fled the heat of Panama City for the calming luxury of hotels such as the Panamonte Inn or Los Establos.

We probably wouldn’t have made the detour on the way to the Pacific had it not been for Chris Parrott, an old friend who runs Journey Latin America, whose advice is free even if the hotel Panamonte Inn, which he recommended, charges from £63 for a standard room in low season to £315 for a rather splendid honeymoon suite.

The inn, which has a beautiful garden bursting with flowers, is perfect for the more energetic tourists who come to raft, ride and walk or to make the hike to the 3,478 metre peak of Volcan Baru where both the Caribbean and Pacific can be glimpsed in the distance.

Guides guarantee a sighting of the rare Resplendent Quetzal with its green-gold body, red breast and 25-inch tail but you may have to take consolation from the humming birds which whizz around every flower and shrub.

The visitors also come to smell the coffee which was introduced to the area over 100 years ago by a retired English sea captain who had met and married a Panamanian.

The plantations, such as the Finca Lerida, a few kilometres out of town, arrange tours which end with a coffee tasting session. Strange how it never tastes as good as it smells.

With its international population it is not surprising to find foreign restaurants such as the Bistro, run by ‘Loretta’ from Aspen, Colorado, or the Macchu Picchu owned by a Peruvian but to be offered a tasting menu was unexpected – and to be honest a little heart sinking.

After all, many of these bite size multi-course experiences tend to leave the diner as hungry at the end as at the hors d’oeuvres, craving a sustaining bag of chips.

The tasting was the idea of Charlie Collins, the executive chef and owner of the Panamonte Inn to celebrate the New Year.

Amazingly - it does sound a tad patronising - but, amazingly, the food was fantastic.

Okay, the first course of lobster salad parfait, smoked trout foam and quail eggs with caviar might seem a little complicated but it was delicious.

Exotic combinations followed: cappuccino of chanterelle, mushrooms and truffle essence; Patagonian lamb, cabbage and leeks in Riesling with a sherry reduction sauce. By the time the seventh and last course had been despatched – plum pudding with eggnog mousse - even the bulky American couple at the next table had surrendered in ecstasy.

Uncharacteristically, the chef did not appear to garner applause at the end of the feast – no Gordon Ramsay, thank God - but I bumped into him the next day and having enthusiastically congratulated him on his tour de force asked him what constituted true Panamanian cuisine. After all, the country is so multi-national you are just as likely to end up with a Chinese takeaway or a parillada from Argentina.

It was a challenge he couldn’t resist. He worked up another culinary masterpiece. Who could have thought the tamale, steam-cooked corn dough with meat or cheese wrapped in a corn husk could be such a subtle blend of herbs.

Plantain fritter with cassava and cheese beignet, maize pork loin roast – all basically street food – tasted as complex as a dish from Heston Blumenthal. And frankly, if you haven’t tried the tree tomato and syrup you might just as well not have gone to Panama.

Rochard Holledge travelled with Journey Latin America