Mi Ranchito

Mi Ranchito
Amador Causeway
Panama City, Panama

Just like my visit to The Wine Bar, today’s post is mainly because of a FRIEND – in this case, AB. I have known AB since high school (just like GN) and I think she is one of the sweetest women in the world. As a result, I couldn’t help myself drop by and invite AB and her husband, RZ, for dinner. Unfortunately, sometimes things do not go your way and we had to cancel that. A couple of days later, I was in one of my walks when I hear something that sounded like my name. I chose to ignore it because, truth said, Panama is a noisy city and it could have been background noise. I keep on walking until somebody who was walking towards me made some signals, as if somebody was calling me. I turn around and see AB running almost half a block away, trying to catch up. Either I walk too fast or she is a bit too slow… ^_^;;; It turns out she was in the area running some errands when she spotted me. AB wanted to make up for the previous night and invited me for dinner the following night. In the end, we went to Mi Ranchito, a restaurant that serves local, Panamanian food.

Before I continue, there is a side story I must tell. The agreed time was 7:30 p.m. Although this was AB’s idea, I knew she was a bit busy on those days and felt I should not be imposing it. So, I called her around 6:00 p.m. to make sure it was OK. She reinforced the invitation, specially considering I came all the way from Vancouver. But, at around 7:15 p.m., the phone rings: It was AB. It happens that RZ was late from work and had to pick up something first. So, she told me she will pick me up by 8:00 p.m. I won’t starve in 30 minutes, I told her. However, at around 8:20 p.m., I am starting to get worried. No, she had not arrived by then so I give her another call to make sure everything is fine. Everything was fine but it seems RZ was MIA. In the end, AB and RZ arrive at around 9:00 p.m., almost an hour and a half later. Among the first thing I tell her? “I should have known that you meant Panama time…” (That is an inside joke in Panama. People are so informal with time, they are usually late for meetings and appointments to be point it is expected.)

Anyway, I did not have a place in mind. After all, the country has changed so much, with new restaurants and old good ones gone. So, I left the decision taking process to them.

Mi Ranchito, literally “My Small Ranch”, is one of the several restaurants opening in the Amador Causeway, an artificial strip of land connecting some smaller islands built during the Panama Canal construction with the rock extracted from the nearby excavation. While under the control of the US military, the area itself was used for clubs and entertainment. When it was transferred to Panama, the decision was to make it a tourist type area which can also be enjoyed by locals. Given the use, restaurants will certainly pop out, right?

We had the option to sit inside the big “hut” or some smaller ones. AB jumped ahead of me and chose the small ones. I personally would have preferred the big one for one reason: lightning. There was light in the small huts; however, it was enough for seeing what you are eating, not that much for taking pictures. As a result, I will apologize for some of them, including the really unusual (for me) use of flash… And, now that I bring up food, here is my drink:

What? Isn’t that just a glass of water? Not really, this is the liquid from a young coconut served in a glass. However, this one felt flat compared to the ones I would get from a just opened young coconut.

To start, we had arañitas (literal translation, little spiders). No, they are not literally spiders; rather, they are the tentacle portion of small squids – think calamari… It was served with a mayo-based sauce. “Isn’t that sauce tartar sauce?”. That’s possible; however, it did not taste tangy enough to be tartar sauce. As for the squid itself, it was well fried: still crunchy with a crispy outside texture. I wished they had included a lemon wedge…

I also asked for some clams, here, cooked with some wine (I think), some form of starch and butter. While the clam was a bit too plain (and the wind did not help it too much as it cooled and dried up the clams), the broth was quite good. It had a lot of that seafood taste/flavour. I think I would have drank it if I were not in the restaurant or in front of my friends… ^_^;;;

Here is AB’s dish, a bowl of soup called sancocho with a bowl of steamed rice. This is a typical dish in Panama. You can easily find small stands serving them for less than US $2! (And, yes, the shadier the place, the better it tastes…). Among the ingredients used are chicken (for some reason, an old hen seems to be preferred), culantro (the saw-leaf herb mentioned previously) and ñame, a root vegetable that crumbles when boiled and, as a result, thickens the soup, in lieu of other forms of starches. AB seemed happy with her dish so I won’t say anything else… ^_^;

This is RZ’s dish, a filet of a fish called corvina (sometimes referred to as white sea bass), cooked in a garlic-y sauce, some veggies and rice. Again, I did not taste it and RZ seemed happy with his dish. As for myself…

I will really have to apologize for this picture. In addition to using flash, I did not set the appropriate settings and, as a result, the picture is blurry on some spots. Anyway, this is, again, corvina… A whole corvina. While almost everything fried tastes good (no, I am not looking at you, deep fried Mars bar!), in this case, it could have been improved by stuffing some herbs (like culantro) into the slits before frying. In other words, it was good but not the best I have had. I ordered them with yuca (cassava) as side. If you can find a shop that serves yuca, I highly recommend it give it a try instead of the fries. Believe me, it will be a different experience (totally different from poutine, though)…

After the dishes were cleared, we took some time to catch up, with them asking questions about life in Canada. We were all wearing short sleeves and AB was commenting it was starting to get chilly; it was somewhat warm to me, which reinforce my thought about getting used to Canada’s weather. In the end, we got involved in a small “fight” over who would pay the bill. And the reason you don’t see any prices for this one is because, in the end, AB “convinced” me. Her reason? “Since you are coming all the way from Vancouver”. Big sigh… And, to close this post, here is a shot of the skyline of Panama City, as seen from Mi Ranchito. Believe me, it has changed a lot…

Tagged under: Fish • Panama City • Seafood