I'm Only Here for the Food!

The Wine Bar
Calle Eusebio A. Morales, El Cangrejo
Panama City, Panama

In life, there are friends and there are FRIENDS. When I moved to Canada, I did not tell to almost any of my friends. Before anybody jumps into any conclusion, you must understand that moving into a new country on your own is not necessarily easy and emotional attachments to your previous country might detract you from your new home. However, even then, there were FRIENDS who, despite I severed almost all contact, had faith in me (how they found out, I don’t know). One of these FRIENDS is GN, whom I met way back from high school. So, when went to Panama a couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to treat GN for lunch/dinner. Of course, it would be GN’s choice. And the place we ended up was The Wine Bar.

Sure, there were tables outside but, down there, being so hot, almost nobody uses them!

I must mention this was not the first choice; instead, it was Benningan’s. Yes, that “casual dining” US chain. However, I asked GN if we could go for “something else”, hinting a Panamanian type restaurant. Alas, my argument was not enough; however, at least, we did not end up there. The Wine Bar was the GN’s next option.

The Wine Bar is part of a group of restaurants from a Swiss chef who moved to Panama long time ago. His flagship restaurant is french, while others include Swiss, Italian and, in this case, a wine bar/casual gourmet.

We arrived around noon and seated quickly. During out meal, the amount of customers was inconsistent. For a while, there were only a couple of customers. 15 minutes later, it was 3/4 full and so on. In a way, it did not really help the fact our meal lasted for around 2 hours (not that I ordered that many dishes; however, we had a lot to catch-up which was fine). One thing I wished though was a table closer to the window. No, it was not that much for the sight, rather for lightning. Unfortunately, those were already taken…

My usual (infamous?) shot of condiments at the table. Yes, that’s a bottle of oil and balsamic!

I had a bit of problem with the menu. I have not been to this particular location; I have been to one of their sister restaurant – and only once long time ago, so I was not sure what to order. Most of the dishes were Italian. In fact, you could customize your own pasta dish. Choose the sauce type (tomato based or cream based), meat and pasta and they will prepare it for you. However, GN has been there a lot of times so I let GN do most of the ordering.

After our order, the bread arrived and the waiter poured the oil and balsamic in a small saucer. I won’t say I was really thrilled with the bread. Even if I overlook that, it felt it was sitting there for a while. Sure, it was warm, just that I was expecting something fresh out of the oven (as, I did not “feel” that fresh bread elasticity). Or at least buns that won’t dry up so easily as sliced bread. As for the balsamic/oil, while it did help slightly, it wasn’t the best I have had.

This would be my contribution to the meal. I insisted we should order some starter and this was what we agreed upon: Funghi Aglio (USD $8), mushroom with garlic and a good dose of oil as well. I really liked this dish. It had a strong garlic taste, yet not overpowering. Also, it was salty, yet not too salty. The only part that disappointed to a certain extent was the selection of mushroom, in this case, button mushroom. Now, I must admit there might have been a bit of lost in translation. While I do know that funghi is the generic term for mushroom, I am not sure if Italians would call button mushroom funghi. At this point, I did manage to find a good use of the bread, hehehe.

Oh, the drinks! I personally did not order any; however, GN did order a glass of sangría (USD $3.50). I had a small sip and found it a bit too sweet for my usual liking of alcohol (and that is even considering I like Riesling and Gewürztraminer).

While we were having a really good time, we did notice that the food took awfully long to arrive – about 30 minutes or so long… But, it eventually arrived.

First, GN’s dish, Cannelloni Cardinale (USD $7). I am not sure how to describe it other than, well, it was like most of the cannelloni I had in the past. In GN’s opinion, it was not long enough under the broiler/salamander to “burn”/caramelize the cheese on the top. The filling itself… Well, I don’t think I remember very well. It was creamy, yes, just that it had a lot more potential that did not come to fruition.

This was my dish or “GN’s other option”. The dish name is Frutti de Mare (USD $11) with white sauce on fusilli, meaning seafood in a creamy sauce. For the seafood portion, I easily detected clams, shrimp, (mini) scallops and I think there were some pieces of fish (which one, I am not sure). Just in case, let’s take a closer look at the dish:

Again, creamy it was, though a dash of olive oil (oh, my heart!) would have been a really good addition. Sure, it was on the table; however, it was one of those instances were you wanted to taste the dish “as the chef intended”. I found the seafood slightly disappointing, as if they were not fresh enough. I must make emphasis on this comment, as there is a lot of seafood in Panama. If you can’t procure fresh seafood there, you are doing something wrong. When I though I was over-critical, GN agreed…

After clearing the plates, we debated if we should order a dessert to share. And, sure, we did that and here is what we got:

No, it is not a piece of cake (though it could have easily been that). Instead, this is a piece of flan or crème caramel or egg custard or… (you get the gist – USD $4.25). In my head, flan ought to be soft. However, in this case, it was a bit too dense for my liking. It was sweet but not overpowering. Had it been softer, I would have liked it a lot more.

Overall, I was slightly disappointed and GN agreed. Who am I to argue with somebody who frequents this place? ^_^;