La Fonda Don Saul Review

Published: 01 September, 2008

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Among the medium to high end restaurants that come and go in Panama, the seemingly low end local Fonda has a secure spot in the Panama’s food industry. Known for low cost dishes, daily changing menus and rustic atmospheres, most fondas offer the local working Panamanian an affordable place to eat and a good meal for the price. With the increase of foreign residents in Panama, local fondas are receiving a new kind of clientele. La Fonda Don Saul is one of these places. Travelling towards Panama City from El Rey, La Fonda Don Saul is located on the right side of the road after passing the Las Lajas entrance. An expat friend who eats here often invited me to lunch. He buys food for his workers here as well. Fonda Don Saul is an open air bohio – a patio covered with dried palm leaves.

You feel among friends as soon as you arrive. There are other expats eating here and I run into a neighbor. The daily menu is written in a chalk board. Today there is beef soup for $ 1.25, stewed chicken for $ 2.25, stewed pork for $ 2.50 and fried pork for $ 2.50. The food with chicken or pork comes with beans and a carrot and cabbage salad. To drink they have sodas for $ 0.50, national beers for $ 0.50, orange “chicha” sweetened with honey, and nance “chichas”, which comes in small or big size for $ 0.50 and $ 1.00.

My friend orders stewed chicken, which I choose the fried pork chop and a nance “chicha”. Our food arrives in about ten minutes. Our meals are delicious and substantial. The meats are juicy and tender and beans and salads are filling and tasty. My neighbor who is at the next table orders a beef soup. She tells us that she comes here often for breakfast and lunch.

Fonda Don Saul Owners, Mrs Mariela and Mr. Alexander, tell us that they love to have foreigners at their Fonda and they are thinking to add French fries and chopped beef with onion to the menu.

Fonda Don Saúl is open from Monday to Sunday from 6:00am to 6:00pm. Give them a try.