Charlie Collins is a distinguished chef who has catered some of the most important events in recent Panamanian history, preparing banquets and dinners for several heads of state.
Chef Collins has received awards such as chef of the year for La Toque D´Or de Nestlé, and the Club Gourmet Bon Appetit (March 2007).
Clients can taste his delicious gourmet cuisine at the Panamonte Hotel, which is the best restaurant in Boquete. The food is inventive and consistently good, and service is attentive and courteous. Diners are given the option of dining in the 1940s-style, formal dining area, with its floral motif, but it is best to order from their main menu and sit at a table in the ultra-cozy bar/lounge next to a roaring fire.
His dishes adapt local products with Scandinavian and New American cooking styles, and he utilizes the freshest and highest-quality ingredients available, such as local Black Angus beef and trout caught from the Caldera River. Trout, it could be said, is the restaurant's trademark dish, served in a variety of ways such as with a garlic and herb sauce. Order a trio of appetizers (such as a raw tuna cocktail) if you're feeling peckish, or dive into a wild-mushroom polenta, pork chops with onion ragout and veal stock and wine sauce, or seafood stew. Polish it off with pie made with a lemon-orange hybrid from the Panamonte's gardens. The bar menu has lighter fare and casual meals like burgers, empanadas, and chicken brochettes, as well as an excellent wine list.
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