Panama – Vilnius (Lithuania) en

Panama is a pretty trendy restaurant, a successful restaurant a little bit outside the center, which used to be the tsar’s hunting grounds.

The setting and the food are good, and even though the menu is more international than Lithuanian, you’re sure to have a good time.

I lived right beside it, so my host brought me there the first night. Not sure it’s worth taking a night tram to get there, but during the summer, it could be nice to go for a walk in the neighboring forest and finish the walk with a lunch or dinner here.

Pretty funny story though, at the end of the meal, I left a 716 sticker with the server.

The next day, I’m at the Herkus Kantas bar in Klaipeda when a young man comes towards me, his phone in his hand, with this:

I was wearing a 716 t-shirt  that night, and he came to see me, because he was with the two Panama owners, and they were all wondering what the sticker meant.

We spent the night drinking to celebrate this.

It’s an old, famous house in the neighborhood. Among other things, she’s known for the three trees (pines?) in the backyard. It’s also a traditional wooden house that dates back to the tsarist era.

During Lithuania’s independence in 1991, there were tons of gangsters who took advantage of the hazy judicial and constitutional system surrounding the regime. Kaunas, the country’s second city, was referred to as “Chicago”.

It’s said that at that time “Dekanidze”, the biggest gangster in Vilnius, lived there.

There was a symbolic war between him and a district attorney, that marked the affimation of a developing state looking for its authority.

I was told that he was the last one to be condemned to the death penalty in Lithuania.

For a time, people squatted there, then it was “Yalta”, a restaurant owned by the amazing Julia, who later on became a fruit and vegetable grower in Klaipeda, after having trained in France. She sells her products at the market at the Herkus Kantas bar, held there every day from 4 pm to 7 pm.

Nothing much happened for a while until two friends who were ex bankers, decided to take over, and live out their passion- restaurants.

I was there at night, but there is also a glasshouse outside, and a pretty patio.

It’s very cozy inside, we feel at home.

The bathrooms are pleasant and well maintained, which helps.

We had a very nice and professional server that night, which was great. Ok so yeah, I told him right off the bat that I was a food blogger, and accordingly, he did a very good job, telling me what dishes he liked most.

Here’s your opportunity to practice your Lithuanian, you’ll see, you can guess easily what the dishes are.

A nice draft beer to start the night off, a Raudonųjų plytų “Nežinomas krantas”.

Appetizer

I attack with a tuna tartare, not Lithuanian at all, but one of the server’s recommendations.

A nice surprise: the tuna is the perfect temperature, good quality, tasty, it goes down well.

The person with me took a pâté, that didn’t impress me, there was a lack of taste and character in my opinion.

Main

I took the beef salad which was recommended, good decision.

The meat is good and well cooked, but the salad’s seasoning could be a bit more tangy, it wasn’t present enough, when it could have made a nice link between the citrus and the beef.

A Tempranillo (Bodegas Volver Paso a Paso) that I liked a lot.

Dessert

I chose a chocolate soufflé, a well executed classic.

We saw it, it’s an international cuisine in a cozy/trendy setting, but the service and the place had plenty of character which is why I chose to talk about this place.

A good spot, this Panama, to really sit and relax.