As it passes through Perejil, Via España features a lot of little restaurants, a few kioskos and more than a few street vendors offering breakfast and lunch to the residents of the working class neighborhood and the people who work in the area's offices and stores. Doing carryout business, one can mix and match an interesting brunch from several different places, as I often do.

On this particular morning, however, I wanted to sit down and read the newspapers over breakfast. Lots of options there, but I chose the usual, Restaurante Raulins.

So did this place get its moniker from a Chinese-Panamanian named Raúl Lin? Whether or not that's the case, they offer a mixture of Panamanian and Chinese chafing table fare, at reasonable prices.

The doc has warned me about too much uric acid in the blood, and I could feel the little twinge in my toes, so I'd have to be picky to satiate my hunger without setting off a full-scale gout attack. No tasajo, nor beef-filled fried corn empanadas, for sure. Probably best to stay away from the chorizos, the pork hampao and the deep-fried mortadella, too. I'd have to avoid one of my favorites, the shrimp and pork siu mai, for sure, and also forget about the liver with onions and the peppersteak.

Ah, but that still left me with a lot of options. Like maybe a chicken thigh, or some rice and vegetables, an hojaldre, fried plaintain or an Interior-style bollo.

On this particular morning I broke the fast --- the Spanish word "desayuno" derives from the 700-year Arab occupation of Spain and the Arabic word al-ayoun (fast) --- in syncretistic Chinese-Panamanian style. My morning meal was a fluffy steamed chicken-filled hampao bun, an order of fried plantain and coffee with milk and sugar.

Neither the breakfast nor the surroundings in which it was served and eaten were extraordinary, nor was there anything fancy about the price. But the hampao wasn't soggy, the patacones weren't stale and the coffee was hot and strong.

I sat down, read my papers, ate my breakfast and left Raulins satisfied and ready for a morning in front of a computer screen. I will do so again.