Infamous Zuma Miami

Our second night in Miami we chose to eat at Zuma. A trendy Miami hotspot located in the EPIC hotel in Brickell, Zuma is a place to see and be seen. It was a fun atmosphere for us girls to dine in before celebrating my sister's twenty first. I wouldn't say any of the dishes were absolute stand-outs, but everything was definitely tasty. We ordered gyozas again but they didn't quite compare to the short rib gyozas at Pubbelly the previous night. My favorite thing was probably their chocolate surprise dessert, which they brought out for us on a decorated plate with "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate syrup.
PS - The pictures didn't come out quite as good as I wanted them to but I still thought I would share.

gomae - Japanese style spinach salad with tahini

gindara to ebi no gyoza (prawn and black cod dumpling)

ebi no tempura (rock shrimp tempura with lime and chili mayonnaise)

Sorry for the poor picture quality!

Shiitake no garlic fuumi (shiitake mushroom, garlic and butter soy)

gindara no saikyo miso yaki (black cod marinated in saikyo miso with homemade hajikame)

Buta-bara yuzu miso (pork belly skewers)

Yaki-imo no teriyaki sauce gake (Japanese sweet potato, sesame with teriyaki sauce)

Infamous chocolate surprise

Birthday girl

A bit blurry but this is the only pic we got in the hotel lobby

Pubbelly Miami

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting up with a few friends in Miami to celebrate my sister's twenty first birthday! Our first night we ate at Pubbelly, owned by the "Pubbelly Boys" including Chef Jose Mendin. It is an Asian fusion restaurant in a gastropub type atmosphere that serves small plates family style. I would say the highlights from what we ate were the stuffed dates with chorizo, and the shortrib gyozas (like little dumplings). The gyozas were so good, we ordered a second serving. For our main course, we wanted to order the pork belly but our waiter cautioned us against it (I guess he thought us 4 girls couldn't handle pork belly fat!). We got the cochinillo instead which was tasty but a bit dry. Next time we will definitely be trying the pork belly. 

We loved the food and the vibe here. The plates came out really quickly (almost too quickly!) and our waiter was charming and even provided me with a Tide-to-Go pen after I made a mess of myself. Overall a really great restaurant choice and one I definitely recommend! Let me know if you guys get a chance to try it out.

Dates avec Chorizo (spicy tomato, goat cream, smoked bacon)

Shortrib Tartare (apple, tobajan, pinenut powder, yuzu dijonaise, quail yolk, goat butter toast)

Octopus (black romesco, nduja, desiree potatoes, watercress, piquillo pil pil, almonds)

Cochinillo (roasted suckling pig, fennel, green apples, chantarelles, soy butter)

Shortrib Gyozas (black truffle, white corn soy & parmesan)