Beers served from coolers and customers dragging their own chairs onto the sidewalk to eat. That’s what the birth of Fonda Lo Que Hay looked like in 2016, when it didn’t even have a name yet. Today, this Casco Viejo “canteen” in Panama is an address recognized even on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

In Panama, a fonda is a small roadside eatery, simple and affordable, where you meet your neighbors after work over a big pot of stew. The 50 Best compares its place in Panamanians’ daily lives to that of coffee bars in Italy.

Originally, chef José Olmedo Carles Rojas cooked on his days off, using whatever he found in the fridges, from the production kitchen of his first restaurant, Donde José. When people asked him what he was making, his answer was always the same: “No sé, ¡lo que hay!” (“I don’t know, whatever there is!”). The name was found. In 2021, José Carles moved Fonda Lo Que Hay into its current space. It is now a real restaurant, with table service and a bar, a far cry from the sidewalk canteen of its early days. When Donde José closed, Panamanian food figure Cuquita Arias de Calvo said there would be a before and an after Donde José in the history of the country’s cuisine. Carles has since also opened Si! Mon in Venice, Los Angeles, in September 2023, a restaurant that earned him the title of Chef of the Year at the 2024 Eater Awards for Los Angeles.

You step into a corrugated-metal dining room lit by neon, with the energy of a cocktail bar. Add wooden tables and a tree standing in the middle of the patio. Panamanian flags wave proudly, and the whole place blends tropical decor with a hip-bar vibe. A small side room houses a bar.

The menu changes regularly to showcase local produce, but one signature dish never leaves. The yuca tostada, a crispy yuca base topped with tuna carpaccio and onion ceviche. You’ll also find fish curry empanadas, a shrimp cocktail spiced up with cachucha pepper paste, and bollos preñados (small steamed corn buns stuffed with cheese, labneh, and spicy honey). Another star, the “Sexy Clams”, clams in garlic and coconut milk, topped with chili cashews. Expect to spend around $38 per person.

My experience at Fonda Lo Que Hay

With music playing far too loudly, I push open the door of the small dining room that opens onto the terrace, where two Panamanian flags hang. The first dish, a ceviche, opens with a contrast I love, with fried octopus on top, surprisingly tender, almost melting in the mouth. Around it, a nicely tangy green leche de tigre that wakes up the taste buds, with a little kick of chili (barely detectable). The seafood is shy next to the sauce and the red onions, which take up almost all the space. I would have liked more.

Then comes the chicken lasagna in its cooking pot, basil leaves scattered on top. Under the basil, the tomato sauce spills over; the lasagna is literally drowned in it. The chicken is nicely shredded, with good flavor. The dish is generous in portion. It arrives a little too hot, but the flavors stay well balanced.