Day Four Dinner Excursions

I don't call us the "Eat-Drink" club for nowt, but I don't wish to leave the wrong impression either. I also don't want to continue with the travelogue until I touch, briefly, on the dinner we ate the night before.

After the coffee finca tour, we grabbed a light bite at a crepery on the high street which was very nice and one crepe is extremely filling. We really should've split them but nevermind. They were very nice and it was fun to watch through the opening in the wall as the chef cooked the crepes.If you blow up the shot, you can see the crepe pan better.

This crepe was devoured by Gary, I think..

and I demolished this one, with a curried chicken filling. This does give me ideas....

We just milled around the roundhouses for the afternoon

and watched the rain as we solved the problems of the world and heard with increasing concern about roadblocks that had been set up on the major roadways. This was an issue for us because we were due to leave in the morning by car (HAH!) for Bocas Del Toro, on the other side of the Continental Divide and on the Atlantic Ocean. Roadblock protests which were apparently growing more violent were definitely not on our itinerary. WEll, I reasoned, rather reasonably, I might add, that if no one could come in or get out, we might as well just hang right here in this beautiful setting and wait it out!

John called ahead for reservations at another hotel, El Oasis, on the other side of the bridge. This is an 8 minute walk unless you have a knee injury so we taxied over and enjoyed a Panamanian highball, Seco Sour. Seco is a cane sugar liquor, mch like cachaca in Brazil. The drink is like the Pisco Sour of Peru.

The restaurant is just off the bar and it was perhaps a third full. Intriguing was this one area set off from the actual dining space; a terraced gazebo closer to the river, with 3 tables and a huge roaring fire. As the evening progressed, I think that space might have been fine to dine in, but at the time of seating, I was afraid it might be too warm to enjoy. As it was, we had coffee afterwards inside. But back to the meal.

Here are a few shots of the plates:

John and I shared this salad as a starter.

I needed no help downing this fish

While John and the others ate this

and this
and this.

I regret not paying more attention to the other dishes but, I was rather absorbed in my own moment of savoring. I did take the photos, though, so ..... I guess........ nevermind.

As we eat, we try to figure out what the sauce is made of, or if we detect something unusual try to ferret out that ingredient. We have been known to pass our plates in a circular direction. We enjoy a bottle of wine with our meals....... and since I have no memeory capacity, I try to shoot a label in case we want to revisit one.
It is hard to decide on a bottle from an extensive wine list and we are not experts, but rather enthusiasts.

And we don't just wolf it down and walk away. Gary has a high appreciation for good food and will go to great lengths to find it. He gets all the props and salutes for doing the research on each restaurant we visit and with one or two hitches, (only one really comes to mind and that truly was not HIS fault) they have all been memorable. ("TONY!!!! You're KILLING ME!") Really, that one was very memorable, to tell the truth. Memorable in a bad way but endlessly funny. To us. We, in turn, have a high appreciation for Gary.

So, I suppose the club has the perfect name after all. Eat Drink. We really ought to consider changing it to "Be Merry". After every experience, we usually are.