Fresh and hip: La Mar

La Mar Cebicheria Peruana
El Cangrejo, entering the Power Club parking lot
Tel.: (507) 209-3323
Food: *** ½
Ambience: ****
Service: **** ½

The popular restaurant Astrid & Gaston is now “La Mar Cebicheria Peruana”, an upscale yet down-to-earth establishment operated to the strict standards of Chef Gaston Acurio. La Mar is located next to the Power Club Gym in El Cangrejo, offering a laid-back atmosphere. The service remains attentive yet more relaxed under the new brand standards. The food is fresh, well-prepared, abundant and affordable.

A long list of cocktails using pisco, the famous Peruvian liquor, is available. Surf the list if you like, but my recommendation is to stick with the original Pisco Sour, ($5.50 or $3.50 for a half order, because everyone must try). To start, Camarones Laqueados (Lacquered Shrimp), $8.00, can’t be beat. The order brings eight to ten shrimp smothered in a mix of mayonnaise, condensed milk and peanut puree. The candy-like morsels are served warm atop a bed of crunchy “fuansi”, fried rice noodles.

Especial Dorado… mmm.

The Causa Nikei, $6.00, offers up four intricately prepared servings of tuna tartare atop avocado-stuffed “causas”, made of pressed potato paste, this one mixed with lemon and salt. The dish is oozing with a delicious yellow pepper sauce and the flavors combine perfectly. The Anticucho La Mar, $12.00, brought out four tender octopus servings on skewers with chimichurri sauce. Preparing octopus isn’t easy. To get it just right, the meat must be tenderized just to the point before it loses its texture. Here, they have it down to a science.

The kitchen, like much of the restaurant, remains the same as when it was Astrid & Gaston. Diners enjoy a fish-bowl view of the action in the kitchen, which is set behind glass at the center of the main dining room. For our main course, we looked over toward the special board for some guidance. The Especial Macho, $14.00, brings a selection of fish (grouper or corvina depending on what is freshest at the market) topped with mixed seafood in an “aji panca” pepper sauce. All of this atop rough-mashed potatoes.

Next, the Lomo Sateado, $13.00 was another reason to return. It is a simple dish made with cuts of beef fillet, red onion, tomato, parsley and chives which are “salteado” (literally jumped), or “stir fried” and served with white rice on the side. Sometimes new-age restaurants can go overboard in search of the best new way to make a classic dish stand out. It was nice to see the chef keep it inside the lines on this one. Topped with crisp, golden, homemade French fries.

The night’s winner was Especial Dorado. For $9.00, a perfectly-seared, plump fillet of Mahi-Mahi topped with bean sprouts and chives sits in a soy broth with droplets of sesame oil. Simple perfection. It came with fried white rice tossed with asparagus, mushrooms and egg whites.

For dessert, a mixed dish, Degustacion Peruana, $6.00, has it all: Suspiro, the classic Peruvian dessert, Arroz con Leche, this version with diced strawberries, and Picarones (the best of all three), which are like homemade doughnuts, except the batter is made of squash and they are topped with a “raspadura” glaze which compliments them perfectly. If you need a little time for digestion before dessert, have the Chocolate Souflee, $5.00, which takes 15 minutes to prepare.

A selection of wines by the bottle starts at $17, and most are at very reasonable prices. At a restaurant that operates under strict international standards one can expect the best. This is a restaurant where you can feel comfortable walking in the door at 10:55 at night – even though they close at 11:00 – but the customer is always right and at La Mar, they play by the rules.

Article courtesy of The Visitor Newspaper, Panama’s Tourism Newspaper.

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