In La Fonda, a restaurant with spices and essences

To talk Pouletta Morales about her role as a restaurant owner in the inn, is to capture energy. Page, which serves typical Panamanian food, is the product of a series of processes that the Panamanian entrepreneur had to go through, which include fraud, as she defines it; but today they make her proud of her brand.

Morales it refers to your premises located on the street Anastacio Ruiz Arosemena in Plaza Terrazas Marbelland, the “original” inn, because there is another restaurant under the same concept that she used to be a part of, but she was forced to move away.

“It was an armed robbery. I think it was the most expensive university in my life. It won’t happen again. I cried a lot when I lost my job at Amador, but today I find that it’s not worth having a place of a thousand square meters if your essence is not there , because they could steal my vision, have the same decoration, but the essence cannot be taken from me,” she said, who has also been in the world of fashion for 28 years.

And that’s it, it’s the joy and authenticity that makes En la Fonda go, and that its visitors love it more, according to its owner, who after visiting the church returned to her roots to develop the idea.

“When you feel cornered (sentimentally, financially…) you have to find a way out in order to survive. I was in church praying, asking God to give me a way out. I heard his voice telling me: return to your roots Hearing that, it’s true that if we’re talking about fashion and food, those are things that are completely opposite and I definitely had an active faith. I began to develop it: when I had a country for prison, I began to travel all over the country, from one side to the other, and I photographed every place that I liked… My mother comes from Santiago and I began to learn a little about my country, to its culture, its essence, its food, and that’s where the idea started to emerge…” says Morales, talking about the chapter in her life in which she was involved in the school backpack case lawsuit with the state.

“…I was given strength by my children and my mother, who are my breadwinners, they are my main driving force,” he says, first of all because it is a family business, “they are all waiters, if you have to scrub, scrub…”.

Morales says that the place was created so that Panamanians could remember their childhood, their family… but that he was interested in how the restaurant changed when Panamanians left the country or foreigners started visiting it themselves. Proof of this was the presence of a Panamanian originally from Boquete who lives in Los Angeles, California, USA and who brought a Mexican friend to enjoy the food.

It’s a varied menu of “real” Panamanian food that covers tamales, meat on a stick, ropa vieja, pork skins, sancocho, fried food, hard and more, it is served in a purely national environment, where local suppliers are also supported by purchasing products produced in the country.

Morales says this every day and night in the inn (which has been operating for six years) is different, because they care about the pleasure of visitors, whether it is organizing celebrations or typical presentations. According to Morales, it is planned to open a new branch in Province of Colon.

RECOGNITION

Poulett Morales also highlights the recognition she received in 2022 as a woman of influence for her career at the 2022 Golden Star Awards of International Excellence.