4-Hour Guided Panamanian Cooking Class and Markets Experience
Discover Panama's unique cuisine in this local market tour combined with a hands on cooking class. With your expert local food guide you will explore the local markets in Casco Viejo, Panama's famous colonial Old Town where you will look for the freshest ingredients for your personalized menu. You will learn about the herbs and seasonings that are unique to Panama while you create a five course meal that would make every Panamanian's grandma proud. You will learn the techniques to wrap the perfect Panamanian tamale and stuff a carimañola from a local chef with generations worth of knowledge and experience. Your cooking experience will be personalized based on your dietary preferences. Options are available for gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian.
Options
Afternoon Tour
Food from the class and drinks: All the Food cooked on the class, tamale, carimañolas, ceviche, Sweet plantain, and drinks as coffee, juice, soda, wine, etc
What's included in 4-Hour Guided Panamanian Cooking Class and Markets Experience
(Subject to Option Inclusions)Your tour starts at the Restaurante El Nacional in Casco Viejo, the colonial historic center of Panama City. You will walk with your expert local guide to gather your personalized ingredients at the two main markets in Panama's Old Town. You will first visit the famous Mercado de Mariscos, Panama's largest seafood market. With the help of your guide, you will select the perfect fish for your ceviche from amongst the many varieties that are delivered here daily from local fisherman on both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Next you will walk a short distance to the Mercado San Felipe Neri. Here you will maneuver amongst the organized chaos of local vendors selling the freshest meats, fruits, and vegetables that Panama has to offer. Once you have your ingredients, you will head back to the cooking studio at El Nacional to begin the cooking class. During the hands on cooking class, you will create a 5 course menu consisting of classic Panamanian dishes made from scratch while learning about spices and herbs that are unique to Panamanian cuisine. The tour will conclude with a sit down lunch where you can enjoy the food that you just created along with complimentary local drinks.
Food Menu
STARTER - Panamanian Style Ceviche
Made with the fresh corvina that we will get at the seafood market
STARTER - Carimañola
A Panamanian staple that consists of mashed yucca (cassava) stuffed with seasoned meat (chicken or vegetarian)
MAIN - Pollo Guisado
You will learn how to make this stewed chicken with local herbs and spices. You will use this chicken in the carimañola and tamal recipes.
MAIN - Tamale Tipica
The centerpiece of any family dinner in Panama made with a velvety corn masa filled with meat and/or vegetables and wrapped in a plantain leaf
DESSERT - Plátano en Tentación
Sweet plantain slowly cooked in a cinnamon, molasses and citrus fruit juice.
MAIN - Vegetarian, Vegan, and Gluten Free Options
All of the dishes can be substituted with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free ingredients to fit your dietary needs.
Inclusions
- Cooking class
- A late lunch based on the same items cooked on the cooking class
- Cold Bottled water to start the walk to the markets.
- This cooking class includes a complimentary drink. Includes sodas, juices, beers, cocktails, wine.
- Optional Tips
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Legal age that can be served alcohol is 18
Meet
Pickup and Dropoff
You will make your own way to the meeting points
Meeting / End Points
- Tour starting point is in Restaurante El Nacional, PH Catedral, located on Plaza de la Independencia, in the former Museo de Esmeralda
