“We’re not a restaurant,” Rolando (Rolo) Chamorro declared firmly somewhere between the fifth and sixth course of what was, without question, one of the best meals I’ve had in Panama—maybe one of the best meals I’ve had anywhere.
Not a restaurant? Then what exactly were we experiencing, I asked.
“We’re an Eco Agro Turismo,” he explained. The definition felt too clinical for what unfolded that night. This was no mere farm-to-table dinner; it was a performance staged by candlelight, set against the backdrop of a planned brownout in the cloud forest of Boquete. Darkness blanketed the valley, but inside Hacienda Mamecillo, firelight flickered, glasses clinked, and dishes arrived with the precision of a Michelin-starred brigade. Gabriella Carlsson, Rolo’s Swedish wife, and Lionel, our server, moved deftly through the shadows as if they had been rehearsing for years.
The hacienda itself is perched high in the mountains, surrounded by coffee plantations and dripping jungle. Anchored beneath a two-hundred-year-old mamecillo tree, it feels like a place where magic naturally takes root. Before dinner, Rolo whisked us into his greenhouse—the true heart of the operation—where he experiments with bonsai carrots, wild arugula, even micro-corn. Moments later, those very plants would reappear, transformed, on our plates.
The seven-course tasting menu read like a love letter to the land: chayote ceviche, chicken tacos, roasted lamb, slow-cooked pork, tangy goat cheese, and homemade ice cream crowned with a coffee infusion. Each dish carried a whisper of the greenhouse—wild arugula, begonia petals, microgreens, even a jambu flower to cleanse the palate in a surprisingly electric burst.
Rolo’s story is just as layered as his menu. A trained pilot and graphic designer, he left Panama City more than fifteen years ago seeking a different life in the cool highlands. He met Gabriella, and together they stumbled upon an abandoned coffee farm and imagined something new. With their children, Isabella and Leonard, and a menagerie of free-roaming dogs, ducks, rabbits, pigs, and chickens, they’ve built not just a home but a mission-driven lifestyle.
National Geographic once spotlighted them in Restaurants at the End of the World—a delicious irony, considering Rolo insists Hacienda Mamecillo is not a restaurant. But maybe that’s the point. What he and Gabriella have created isn’t easily defined. It’s part farm, part theater, part love story, and—if you’re lucky enough to snag a seat at their table—an unforgettable reminder that the best meals aren’t just eaten. They’re experienced.