| A Night at Manolo Caracol |
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| Written by Matt Landau | |
| Monday, October 08 2007 | |
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When I saw that the New York Times had recently done a
restaurant review on Manolo Caracol in Casco
Antiguo, Panama
City, I figured it was about time I see what all the fuss is about, especially
considering that I could factually throw a frisbee from my front door into the
restaurant's lobby area. You walk in to find a large glass case full of second-hand corks, stuffed like jellybeans for aesthetics. The dining room is open and each of the tables come prepared with silverware which is loaded into small paper baggies; not so sure what's up with that. Our waiter was almost creepily nice, with these little enchanted eyes that made me think he was possessed. He first brought several starters and began his shtick on how the restaurant is all natural, how no soda is available on the premises, and how eighty percent of our meal would have originated from the sea. Prefix menus usually piss me off, but this was a nice change of pace from the usual artsy tapas and overly-serious French waiters I'm used to. We noshed on grilled baby eggplant, seared tuna, baked dorado, spicy mushrooms, bright shrimp ceviche, giant prawns and this steak that was actually sitting in a small pool of candy-like caramel. Most dishes were innovative and different from the one before, everything served family style. The décor is hippie hodgepodge meets Joe cool: lots of small knickknacks and warm rustic colors. The kitchen team does their businesses right in the middle of the dining room which is always fun, although this night they dropped an extraordinary number of pans and glass vessels on the floor. Otherwise the staff, including our gnome-ish waiter, was entirely atop their game. The menu supposedly changes regularly and depends mostly on what happens to be fresh at the market. Only natural ingredients were used and all of the food-with the exception of the generic tomato sauce that they used on three or four-was spot on. The price for dinner is $17 per person which is as close as it comes to heaven on culinary earth. I left satisfied especially having watched a team of drunk women at the table beside me guzzle warm merlot. I'd highly recommend the place and would certainly go again should the opportunity arise. When I told the owner Manolo that I would be writing this article he handed me a small piece of fruit as a kind of thank you. What a hoot! He's opening up a vegetarian restaurant right next door which appears to be close to ready and I don't know why it took me so long to get here but I'll be going back very soon. Manolo Caracol: 5 stars |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, January 31 2008 ) |
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