Panama City eats where the Pacific meets the isthmus: corvina ceviche sold in plastic cups at the fish market, hojaldras fried at dawn, Chinese-Panamanian chow mein in El Dorado, and geisha coffee grown in Boquete's cloud forest.
The city's fish market on Avenida Balboa auctions Pacific corvina, octopus and jumbo shrimp from 06:00. Upstairs cocinas serve fried whole snapper with patacones; the ground-floor kiosks sell ceviche de corvina in plastic cups. Closed Mondays for cleaning.
Panama's wholesale produce market, where restaurant buyers pick up ñame, yuca, plantain and culantro at dawn. The fondas at the back serve sancocho de gallina — chicken, ñame and culantro broth — plus arroz con pollo to market workers from 11:00.
Panama's Chinese community arrived to build the 1850s railroad and left a food legacy of chow mein panameño and arroz frito. The Salsipuedes arch marks the old quarter's bakeries selling pork buns and almond cookies alongside dried-goods importers.
Calidonia's working-class fondas along Avenida Central plate the everyday Panamanian canasta: ropa vieja, carimañolas (yuca fritters stuffed with beef), tamal de olla and chicheme, the cold maize-and-milk drink spiced with cinnamon.
Panama's specialty roaster pours Hacienda La Esmeralda geisha from Boquete, the varietal that broke auction records at over $10,000 a kilo. Filter, espresso and cold brew are cupped from single Chiriquí estates in a colonial arcade on Plaza Herrera.
Chef José Olmedo Carles's casual counter behind Donde José turns fonda staples into a chalkboard menu: ropa vieja croquettes, guacho de mariscos and grilled octopus. No reservations, cash and card, queues form by 12:30 on weekends.
Casco Viejo's small-batch rum distillery ages Panamanian sugarcane spirit in ex-bourbon barrels and runs tastings across its silver, spiced and añejo expressions, plus a cocktail list built on seco herrerano, the sugarcane spirit of Herrera province.
Mario Castrellón's restaurant put Panama on Latin America's 50 Best list by cooking Afro-Antillean, Chinese and campesino traditions together — think rice with coconut and guandú, cured corvina and arroz con pollo reworked with local heirloom rice.
The Panamanian breakfast is hojaldra — fried dough, crisp outside, pulled apart by hand — with salchicha guisada, fried queso blanco and tortilla de maíz, a thick fried corn cake unlike its Mexican namesake. Stalls fry from 06:00 and sell out by 11:00.
Descendants of West Indian canal workers settled Río Abajo and kept Caribbean cooking alive: saus (pickled pig's trotters with lime and chilli), fufu fish soup in coconut milk, plantain tarts and johnny cakes sold from house kitchens and small counters.
Carts along the Cinta Costera waterfront shave block ice by hand for raspados, drenched in tamarind or chicha syrup with condensed milk. Nearby vendors sell duros — frozen fruit-pulp cups — and pipa fría, chilled green coconuts opened with a machete.
Casco's bar scene runs from Casa Jaguar's tropical courtyard cocktails using tamarind, passionfruit and seco to La Rana Dorada's Panamanian craft brewery, whose stout and blonde ales are poured in a colonial building on Plaza Herrera.