La Vie en Rose bringing hopes of a new dining experience to Panama
Here there and everywhere
La Vie en Rose, and Edith Piaf are synonymous in the minds of anyone who has ever listened to the voice of the “sparrow”, the greatest chanteuse, France has ever produced.
The sparrow she looked like, but the voice was a rossignol (nightingale) for the French, and followers around the world hummed or sang along with what became her theme song, La Vie en Rose.
Well the good news is that La Vie en Rose could soon become part of the vocabulary of Panamanians who like to dine in style, and are looking for true French ambience, food and wines.
On a weekend trip to one of my favorite breakfast locations, the Bahia restaurant in the Sheraton Hotel, I spotted men at work on the façade of the new eatery and decided it was time to get a preview of what could become one of the in spots on the dining and wining circuit.
Inside I found a décor reflecting times past, perhaps even the world of Oscar Wilde whose last residence in Paris, was converted into L’Hotel, and decorated and furnished in the style loved by the disgraced playwright and his fellow aesthetes.
Tables contained silver serving sets for afternoon tea, some walls lined with books and of course pictures of the sparrow. An elegant flight of stairs led to the upper floor, and all the tables were set..
On a Saturday morning nearly two weeks away from a dry run , the ample restaurant staff were in training, hopefully bringing a new meaning to the word service, sadly lacking in many restaurants and hotels, regardless of the price tab.
The sommelier and maitre d’ gave me a quick insight into his “office”,lined floor to ceiling with wines, mostly from France, but with other regions of Europe not forgotten.
I will be returning with Newsroom’s dining and wining commentator, Andrea Calderon, before the month is over, to experience the finished product.
If the food and service lives up to the ambience, it will be a true flavor of France in the city…a restaurant par excellence. And, to quote Edith Piaf, I will be able to say “Non, je ne regrette rien” of what has been written in hopeful anticipation of a new dining experience. {jathumbnail off}
The phone number is 507-270-7080
