Casco Antiguo, San Felipe
Panama, Casco Viejo
Last night, a group of friends organized a tapas night at Canal House in Casco Viejo with Argimiro, a Panamanian young chef who studied in Spain and even did his professional practice at the famous El Bulli Restaurant (Ferrán Adriá, 2 and 3 Michelin stars!). When Argimiro returned to Panama, he fell in love with Casco Viejo and I have to say we fell in love with his food, so anytime he organizes a party or just a tapas night we are more than thrilled. And last night was really great.
The thing with tapas is that you think they are so small you are not really eating that much… but wao! we had so much interesting stuff, reinterpretacions of Panamanian cuisine (like our carimañolas but with other ingredients), all the way to duck (but made into cigar shapes and fresh & spicy orange sauce as a side dish). My favorite was a corvina fish with two types of sauces but made in different textures, so one floated on top of the other, one spicier than the other. Some sort of mouse and the other was more of a sauce. My friend loved the shrimp, tasted almost grilled but it was zafron. And the dessert (I fall for the sweets!) was another reinterpretation that involved strawberries and some sort of cream I´m still trying to define, decorated with edible flowers.
I can´t wait for him to open his restaurant! it is expected to open in December, right on Plaza Catedral. He´ll work with local ingredients from our urban agriculture program, so it promises to be an experience! healthy and sustainable. I have some really weird stuff growing on my balcony, like these neon yellow eggplants and starfruit. I wonder what he can do with those!
