After spending three weeks in Panama City, Menahem and I spent a minute talking about our favorite food, the highlights and also the bummers we experienced. Overall we had a great time eating our way through this city. Ultimately for us, it always boils down to the FOOD!
Here are our top 5 favorite Kosher restaurants in Panama City:
(Certified Shevet Ahim, Dairy not CY) // Upscale
📍Paitilla Mall
There are many dairy restaurants in Panama City, but this one hands down had the best flavors and delicious food!
For starters, they bring hot fresh bread to the table with two dipping options, one was garlic butter and the other I’m not sure. It was really difficult to not eat the whole thing because it was so so good! But we needed to save our appetite.
We got the ravioli with rose sauce, the sauce was so addictive that we started sticking everything we ordered in it! I'm not exaggerating.
We ordered the Lemonana, which was refreshing and tasty. The Lebanese croaker which was a little bland. Breaded mushroom that had feta cheese on the inside, it tasted even even better with the rose sauce! We also got the risotto.
I really wish we had time to order desserts but our daughter was getting fussy so we had to bounce. Definitely order the ravioli.
We simultaneously decided on our last day here to go back and the bread was somehow better the second time around! The Bianca pizza was insane and the penne rose was delicious.
We still had no space for dessert though ;)
2. Kava
(Certified Shevet Ahim, Dairy not CY) // Upscale/Casual
📍Calle 59 este, Downtown plaza, Obarrio
Kava is the Sushi and Asian menu of sister restaurant Brusca. We ordered the Tempura broccoli, a the Samba sushi and the sushi pizza. The sushi pizza was the winner and it's a must order! The crispy rice on the bottom is topped with Kani and then topped with fresh nigiri and seaweed salad. It was perfect, flavorful, and I would go back just for that.
This is the best sushi pizza I ever had.
3. La Spezia
(Cholov Yisrael, Bishul Yisroel, Pas Yisroel)
📍Sunset Strip Mall
This is the only Kosher restaurant in Panama City that is bougie and also Cholov Yisroel.
The service was excellent and we had a wonderful time eating outside. The interior is very beautiful!
We ordered a pizza, lasagna, drinks and the caramel cheesecake. It was all pretty good. I would definitely come back here.
4. Grilla
(Certified Shevet Ahim, Meat) // Casual/Upscale
📍 The address isn't specified on Google but if you put it in Uber it will take you there.
We were also going to skip this place because... it's shawarma! But I'm glad we didn't as it quickly became one of our favorites.
We got the Shawarma plate where you can choose your side salads. So we chose the pico de gallo, it was spicy and perfectly dressed. We got the eggplant too and the Israeli salad which was not seasoned well. The actual shawarma was juicy but also crispy and the flavor was on point! Definitely a winner. Menahem got the falafel laffa and enjoyed it as well.
5. Yoss Burger
(Certified Shevet Ahim, Meat) // Casual/Upscale
📍Paitilla Mall
We came here twice because the bread machine wasn't working the first time around and we just HAD to have their burgers since it's what they are known for.
They have fresh juices and if you love watermelon you have to get the watermelon drink, its fresh, icy, yummmm. Okay for apps we got the cauliflower and chili nachos. The chili nachos was the winner! We also ordered the ramen, and the broth is really really tasty and rich, I just wish it had more noodles.
For the burgers, we tried 3 of them, the Mushroom Bomb, The Mexican, and the Tropical Chicken, they were all honestly very tasty. The mushroom bomb was packed with truffle and so much flavor. The Mexican was lighter and easy and so good.
Basically, come here for the burgers!
