Squid Ink Risotto & Chocolate

Squid Ink Risotto

There are two main places to find nightlife in Panama City:  the Amador Causeway and Calle Uruguay.  We chose to spend our first night in the later because it was (a) closer to us in proximity and (b) less touristy.  Amar found a cute Italian-Japanese (yes, you read that correctly) restaurant called Peperoncini right smack in the middle of Calle Uruguay, so we headed over.

The food was good.  We decided to stick to Italian, and I ordered a portabello, paprika and cream pasta, and Amar had a squid ink and shrimp risotto.  We also had some rose wine.  Although I was pretty full after dinner, Amar insisted we have dessert, which turned out to be some of the most delicious banana pie I've ever had!  It was almost like a banoffi pie without caramel topping.

We sat right outside, as the evening was still pretty warm.  As soon as I saw everyone so dressed up on the street, I was happy I had decided to put on a cocktail dress for the evening.  Groups of girls wearing clubbing gear kept walking up and down the street, but were not really going into anywhere in particular.  Some of the groups passed us multiple times, just checking out the scene I suppose.  Across the street from us there was a huge dance club called K'os.  Although it was supposed to be a pun on "chaos", most people in the area didn't really quite get it and called is "kos".  Right next to us was a large white building with pillars, and a sign downstairs called Prive.  Upstairs there was a veranda with a bunch of tables and a few people with drinks.  We later found out that the upstairs area of Prive is actually the infamous S6eis, pronounced "ses" like the number 6 in Spanish.

After dinner we wandered some of the cross streets and saw Sahana (American-frequented biker lounge), Habibi (hookah lounge), and Pure Lounge (Miami inspired lounge).  We ended up at Chocolate Lounge, which had quite a haveli feel, and I strongly suspect was sponsored by Vueve Clicquot.  

Veuve Clicquot sponsored drink table at Chocolate

The drinks were good and the breezes were cool in the outside sitting area.  All in all, a great way to close out our first evening in Panama.  Around 1:30 am, just as people started to really show up, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel.

Our drinks, nearly on fire, outside at Chocolate