Two trips to Florida in one month? I could get used to it. Earlier this month, we spent some time in Tampa and last week we spent a long weekend in Miami. A few years ago, David and I discovered that whenever we visit Miami, we prefer to stay in Brickell, a neighborhood in downtown Miami and the city’s financial hub, instead of the more party-centric South Beach. Brickell is fairly quiet with a friendly neighborhood vibe and over the past few years, it’s experienced a lot of growth with new shopping centers, restaurants and cafes. This trip was to relax so we didn’t do a lot of sight-seeing or exploring. However, we did dine at two incredible seafood restaurants in Brickell.
We stayed at The Mandarin Oriental and you just can’t beat the views from the pool. I loved that we had a balcony overlooking the water and the city.
Bazaar Mar by Jose Andres isn’t unique to Miami, but it was our first time dining there. The restaurant is part of the SLS Hotel and the decor conjures feelings of being underwater. The menu is heavily seafood focused with a strong Spanish influence. We shared everything, including the Salt-Baked Branzino and I actually told David it was the best food I’d had in a long time.
Thinking we couldn’t top our experience at Bazaar Mar, we went to Seaspice on Saturday night. It’s situated on the Miami River so not only do you get views of the skyline, you also see the yachts cruise by from our table outside. I love spicy tequila cocktails so we started with the Yellow Tail, which was perfectly spicy. We couldn’t get enough of the Plant Bowl which had everything from watercress to forbidden rice and even pickled blueberries. They’re known for their Wood-fired Casseroles so we chose the Market Seafood which had all our favorites – white fish, scallops, calamari, shrimp and lobster in a light broth.
We had pretty nice weather with just a few brief thunderstorms so we spent most of our time working out, reading by the pool and just strolling around Brickell.
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