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dining

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La Fonda on Via Argentina

by Joel Inwood

During the three months I spent in Panama I think I had a 100 lunches at La Fonda on Via Argentina. For a buck sixty I got to sample a nice little variety of Panamanian mainstays. And I never left hungry or broke.

Just a couple blocks up from Via España you’ll see La Fonda on your left. Compared to the neighbors --- El Trapiche, Manolos, Del Prado, etc. --- this fondita doesn’t look like much from the outside, or inside for that matter, but the cheapest meal you’ll get across the street is a $3 (plus or minus) liver sandwich with nothing on the side.

La Fonda, on the other hand, gives you a meat, a salad or pasta, a big slice of fried platano and a heapin’ helpin’ of rice and beans. The rice is never too hard or too mushy, and the same goes for the beans. The salad is cole slaw minus mayonnaise, but it’s crispy and goes well with rice. I’ve had better platano, but not with a meal for $1.60, that’s for sure.

I tried my first taste of cow tongue in La Fonda, and with the brown sauce, heavy on the culantro, it was pretty good, though the texture and, really, the idea of it too some getting used to. The quarter chicken or whole fried red snapper were my favorites, though. They also make a mean spaghetti noodles and cheese.  

The service is super friendly, and that was true before I was established as a regular. It’s nice to have a little conversation sometimes, especially if you’re new in town, but if English is you’re only language I imagine they’d understand just fine if you just point at what you want and smile.

La Fonda is great if you’re in a hurry. Everything is already ready, and the line move a lot faster than even Niko’s down on Via España, and after a couple of lunches waiting forever in limbo for a check or a refill at one of the places across the street, La Fonda will look better and better.

There are probably over 1,000 places like La Fonda across Panama, places where you can get a big plate of rice and beans with a meat and a side and a glass of water for under $2, but La Fonda was mine. A couple blocks from my shared apartment overlooking the Via Argentina Einstein head, it was one of the first places I ate in Panama, and, sadly, one of the last. I suppose everyone who stays in Panama on a budget picks their own fondita, but I’d like to encourage everybody, and regardless of your finances, to pay this little spot a visit if you’re ever in the neighborhood.