2 Best Restaurants in Chiriqui Province, Panama

Restaurante Panamonte

$$$ Fodor's choice

Though Boquete's first hotel now faces stiff competition, its stately restaurant remains one of the best in town. Created by award-winning Executive Chef Charlie Collins, inventive dishes are based on traditional Panamanian cuisine and might include pumpkin soup, shrimp-and-plantain croquettes, butter-poached trout, wild boar with chocolate demi-glace, and grilled beef tenderloin topped with a three-pepper sauce. Service is flawless in a historic European atmosphere that's hardly changed over the past century. Sunday breakfast is popular.

Sugar and Spice Dulces Gourmet

$ Fodor's choice
Owned by master pastry chef Richard Meyer, this colorful café is perhaps the most popular place in town, meaning guests wait in line, all while being tempted by the glass case displaying strawberry cream cake, chunky brownie muffins, walnut cranberry pie, and coconut mousse cake. Travelers on a budget come for the $1 empanadas or the lunch specials of wraps, soups, sandwiches, and salads. The Italian melt with prosciutto and provolone is perfectly toasted, and the hot pressed pastrami on rye or roast beef on ciabatta makes it clear why Sugar & Spice supplies most Boquete hotels and restaurants with breads, all made from natural starters.