The Miraflores Restaurant at the Panama Canal

Located: at the top of the Miraflores Visitors Center at the Miraflores Locks

Phone: (507) 232-3120.
Food: ****1/2
Ambience: TBD
Service: ****

The Conchuelas a la Parmesana comes with a tangy vinagrette sauce.
Photo: Raisa Mar Kiener

The Miraflores Restaurant at the Panama Canal Miraflores Locks Visitor Center will have a whole lot more to offer the throngs of tourists visiting Panama in 2009. The restaurant, which is operated by the Hotel El Panama, is undergoing a menu change and a remodel right now. Gourmet fare, more view dining and a wine cellar are in the works at the New York Times-recommended venue, located right on the Canal.

The Quinoa con Pulpo was exceptional.
Photo: Raisa Mar Kiener

The buffet ($22) and a la carte menu are good, but perhaps the restaurant has relied on the view of ships making their transit of the locks as the main attraction, rather than the food. Peruvian chef Diego Garcia is about to change that with a new menu which will showcase local ingredients. By using coffee, maracuya or raspado (to name a few), the gourmetstyle creations will allow diners to enjoy autotano (authentic) flavors from a menu that would hold its own in any top international destination.

We enjoyed a four-course tasting of what is in store, beginning with Tataki de Tuna. The seared rare tuna, crusted in poppy seeds, is sliced and layered with camote (sweet potato) slices, served in a chilled Salsa Nikay, which combines Peruvian and Japanese flavors. Another appetizer was the Conchuelas (Scallops) a la Parmesana. The thin-sliced scallops were topped with parmesan cheese and a tangy vinagrette sauce. The presentation and combination of flavors of both dishes was excellent

Next were Langostinos en Sal (Salt Prawns). A wonderful presentation with uneven blocks of compacted sea salt, but the prawns were not of the quality that one expects.

Chef Diego Garcia presents one of his fantastic new creations.

My hope is that the chef will order fresh and plump shrimp when he officially rolls out the new menu. The coffee-pixbae salsa served with the dish was perfect, a flavorful combination of natural ingredients showcased on a gourmet level.

For our main course, the Quinoa con Pulpo was a treat. Atop a bed of quinoa (a Peruvian grain) was a slice of tender octopus bathed in Raspadura Barbeque sauce. Raspadura is a national product made of raw cane sugar, compressed into a round block. It is sold across the country and is a staple in many homes, used instead of white sugar because it is much more economical. It has a distinct flavor, due to the fact that the raw ingredient goes through less processing than conventional sugar. I applaud the use of the ingredient not only because the sauce was delicious, but because many visitors who may have come to Panama and never tried Raspadura now have the opportunity to do so, even when dining out at a high-end venue.

Dessert was just as good. Suspiro Brulee combines a classic Peruvian dessert, the Suspiro (a sweet custard) with the celebrated Crème Brule, in which the top of the pudding is crusted with hard, blow-torch burnt sugar. The dish came garnished with Guayaba con Algodon de Caramelo. The guayaba fruit cube was seared on the grill and topped with caramel cotton candy, creating not just a great presentation, but a delicious way to end a meal.

Chef Garcia informed The Visitor that the buffet will still be available under the new concept at the Miraflores Restaurant, and that the new gourmet menu will offer appetizers around $15 and entrees from $25 – $30.

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

For Reservations: 232-3120/21/22/23/24

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