Maito restaurant of the #StPOLAlumni chef Mario Castrellón, among the best in Latin America

This Monday the list of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021: Past and Future was released; a unique list of the 100 best restaurants in Latin America since the awards were created in 2013. Maito restaurant, led by chef Mario Castrellón, a former student of EUHT StPOL, ranks 30th. It is the the only Panamanian restaurant in the top 100 of the best Latin American restaurants.

“Chef Mario Castrellón’s tasting menu runs a whistle-stop journey through Caribbean, indigenous, Asian, Creole, Afro-Antillean and American cuisine that expresses Panama’s multicultural culinary identity like no other”.

This is how the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021: Past and Future list describes chef Mario Castrellón’s cuisine at Maito Panamá restaurant. And he also says that Castrellón “was the first to plant the seeds of a new Panamanian cuisine with a modern vision”.

This is, among other reasons, the fact that ranks Maito restaurant led by Castrellón among the best in Latin America and the only representative of Panama in the list of the 100 best restaurants in the area. To be exact, in2021 his restaurant occupies the 30th place on the list, climbing 12 positions from the previous edition and being the best restaurant in Panama for the fourth consecutive year.

Chef Mario Castrellón is one of the EUHT StPOL Alumni with a recognized career in the culinary arts and gastronomy sector. He graduated in 2004 after having completed the Technical Degree in Gastronomy and Restaurant Service and since then, his professional career has been linked to the culinary arts.

The greatest hits of Latin American restaurants

Given the impact of Covid-19 in the hospitality industry, in 2021 the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list has chosen to create a unique list of the 100 best restaurants in Latin America since the awards were created in 2013.

This classification includes restaurants from 12 different countries and adds 21 new restaurants, compared to the previous edition.

The Central restaurant in Lima (Peru), led by chefs Virgilio Martínez and Pía León, leads the ranking, becoming The Greatest Restaurant in Latin America 2013-2021. Central is accompanied in the first three positions by the Maido restaurant also in Lima (Peru), and D.O.M in São Paulo (Brazil).

Check the list of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021: Past and Future here [+]

How is the list of the best restaurants in Latin America created?

The list of the 100 best restaurants in Latin America has been created based on the votes of the editions from 2013 to 2020. In addition, in order to be part of the list of the “greatest hits” of Latin American restaurants, establishments had to comply with a requirement: be open or intend to be open when the list was released.