What to Eat in Panama City: Sancocho, Mercado de Mariscos Ceviche & Geisha Coffee

Designated a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in 2017, Panama City has a kitchen shaped by its geography as a global crossroads: indigenous corn, yuca, and plantain staples meet Spanish stews, Afro-Antillean coconut and habanero flavours brought by Jamaican and Barbadian workers who built the 1855 railway and the Panama Canal, and one of the oldest Chinese communities in Latin America.

Mercado de Mariscos corvina ceviche and Pacific seafood

In the indigenous Cueva language, the word Panamá means "abundance of fish and butterflies", and there is no better place to taste that bounty than the Mercado de Mariscos (Fish Market) where the Cinta Costera meets Casco Antiguo. After inspecting the ground-floor counters of Pacific red snapper (pargo rojo), mahi-mahi, and jumbo shrimp, pull up a stool at the open-air courtyard stalls outside for a cup of freshly cured ceviche de corvina (white Pacific sea bass marinated in lime juice, finely chopped red onion, celery, culantro, and a touch of fiery yellow ají chombo habanero pepper), served alongside crispy green plantain baskets (canastitas de patacón).

Sancocho de gallina, ropa vieja, and fondas classics

• Sancocho de Gallina: Panama's beloved national soup, slow-simmered with free-range hen, chunks of starchy white yam (ñame) that naturally thicken the broth, yuca, corn on the cob, and aromatic wild sawtooth herb (culantro, Eryngium foetidum), always accompanied by a side plate of steamed white rice.
• Ropa Vieja & Arroz con Pollo: Shredded flank steak braised in a sweet pepper, tomato, and garlic sofrito, or celebratory saffron-and-annatto chicken rice studded with olives, capers, and peas.

Carimañolas, patacones, and Afro-Antillean Caribbean dishes

• Carimañolas, Hojaldras & Empanadas: Traditional Panamanian breakfasts feature torpedo-shaped mashed yuca fritters stuffed with seasoned minced beef (carimañolas), pillowy stretched fried dough (hojaldras), thick toasted new-corn tortillas topped with white queso fresco, and twice-fried green plantain discs (patacones).
• Afro-Antillean Cuisine: Look for restaurants serving arroz con guandú y coco (rice simmered in fresh coconut milk with pigeon peas), curried seafood, flaky golden beef turnovers tinted yellow with turmeric (plantintá), and iced hibiscus-ginger saril.

Boquete Geisha coffee

Grown at 1,500 to 1,900 metres on the volcanic slopes of Volcán Barú in Chiriquí and rediscovered at Hacienda La Esmeralda in 2004, Panamanian Geisha (Gesha) coffee holds world records at international specialty auctions for its delicate jasmine blossom, bergamot, and white-peach aroma.

Raspao shaved ice and aged Panamanian rum

Order a V60 pour-over flight at specialty roasters in Casco Antiguo or Bella Vista, cool off on Plaza de la Independencia with a hand-shaved ice cone drizzled with passionfruit syrup and sweetened condensed milk (raspao), and finish dinner with a glass of aged sugarcane rum from Pesé alongside our 3-day Panama City itinerary.