Reviews for Panama Dining Room
Cool ambience
Review by woz (15), left on 26-09-2007 at 18:56
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A great big secret room at the top of some flights of stairs, the menu is short but the place is big on friendly style. There's lovely old arch shaped windows all round with views over the city and eastern suburbs, a pool table and even a table-tennis table sometimes. We were there on a busy Sunday night (book ahead) and enjoyed it a lot with a mixture of families and Smith St stylists. I had the rabbit (tasty but small), but should have had the steak, which looked great. A great place to sit at the bar and contemplate the world it's a little noisy and a bit dark, but has atmosphere without being too happy with itself.
Sophistication in Smith Street
Review by Renster (1), left on 14-06-2007 at 12:27
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Panama Dining Room is an all round experience, where food excels and you feel as sophisticated as the décor you sit within. Having climbed three flights of industrial stairs leaving the grime of reality behind you, you are welcomed into a cocoon; lounge music plays, staff welcome you and the vast space, divided by well chosen furniture and pools of light, rolls itself out in front of you.
The bar food, served with the same level of attention as the restaurant, is excellent. The tasting plate for two provided a storm of tastes and textures, from a musky nutty terrine, to the smouldering babaganoush, fresh zingy green olives and soft, teasingly flimsy parma ham. It is a plate that has not been constructed from the leftovers in the kitchen, but created to offer a balanced mini meal showing off the talents of the chefs and the food. The restaurant offers a short menu of simple, excellently cooked food. There was a T Bone steak with horseradish crème fraiche, Coq Au Vin with taught kipfler potatoes as well as a vegetarian and fish option. It is strong food which relies on great ingredients and experienced cooking with a flash of imagination. The pricing point, with mains around $25 to $30 is excellent value for a filling plate.
Panama makes you fall in love with it, so the faults are therefore overlooked. The music from the floor below vibrated through the table at dinner, the fries were colder than they should be, and there was a mix up with the bill. But that did’nt matter, because if James Bond should drop by (as well he might), the same might happen to him.
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Acceptable but boring.
Sorry, not my cup of tea.
