USA Trip 2017 - Miami

I’m in Miami Bi***!! Yes next stop was the beautiful city of Miami. We stayed right near the bustling South Beach and it was another city full of amazing food. We actually didn’t spend much time here so there are only two restaurants I’ll write about.

First place is a very casual fish shop called La Camaronera near Little Havana. It’s half takeaway shop half sit down with table service. You can order raw fish to cook at home or cooked fish to eat in.

We ordered conch fritters, camarones fritos (fried shrimp) and their famous fish sandwich.

A conch is a mollusc and I would say it’s similar to a clam. They prepared it by rolling the conch into a rice ball and deep frying it and boy was it amazing! Crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. I would compare it to an arancini ball but replace the cheese usually found in one with bits of conch. What made it better was that it was served with a delicious home-made tartar sauce. Slightly tangier than usual but worked well with the salty fritter.   

Conch fritters

The fried shrimp was just as delicious and was also served with the amazing sauce. They tasted very fresh and were quite large in size. A little bit dry on the inside due to it being deep fried but adding that sauce would make things better.

Fried shrimp

Next up was the famous fish sandwich! We ordered the original snapper sandwich which came as a whole fillet deep fried with a bit of diced white onions and mayo on top sandwich in between a plain white bread roll.

The fish was perfectly cooked. Deliciously crispy and crunchy on the outside and still quite moist on the inside. The fish actually stuck way out of the bread roll which was fine by me because it just meant there was more delicious fish I could eat. The onions on top weren’t too overpowering either. It added a good flavour combination along with the mayo.

Fish sandwich

Although they are famous for their fish sandwich, I would definitely recommend the conch fritters as a side.

Next up is a restaurant which we accidentally stumbled upon called Pane & Vino. It was the end of a long day and the last sight we wanted to look at was Espanola Way. Although the street was full of Spanish cuisine, a quick Google search informed us that Pane & Vino was one of the best pasta restaurants in the area.

Pane & Vino certainly did not disappoint. They make their pasta in house and you can see them making it in the front of the restaurant.

We ordered the grilled octopus to start followed by two pasta dishes. The first pasta dish was a handmade green pasta stuffed with ricotta and mascarpone cheese with a butter, parmesan and black truffle sauce. The second was a special for the night which the waiter highly recommended. It was a salmon and broccoli tortellini with a white cream sauce.

Firstly the grilled octopus. It came out as one big tentacle with some salad leaves, tomatoes and a balsamic vinegar reduction. At first it looked very hard to eat and chewy but when I cut into the huge tentacle it was so soft and tender. It had a nice char to it from the grill and anything but chewy. It was the softest octopus I had ever eaten and tasted delicious. Bitterness from the balsamic vinegar went well with the lightly salted octopus. A great first dish.

Grilled octopus

The pasta dishes were superb! Essentially the green pasta dish was a tortellini as well (which we didn’t know) but both were amazingly flavourful.

The green pasta had a very simple filling of ricotta and mascarpone but the butter and black truffle sauce was so rich and tasty. The tortellini filling was very smooth with every bite and the pasta was cooked to perfection. It was a perfect balance of flavours from the butter, truffle and saltiness of the cheeses.

Ricotta and mascarpone filled pasta with butter, parmesan and black truffle sauce

The salmon and broccoli tortellini was just as delicious too. I’m glad we listened to the waiter’s recommendation because this dish was so damn good. Large parcels of pasta filled with a combination of salmon and broccoli. However the salmon and broccoli mix was mixed so well that it was like a smooth paste inside the pasta. The sauce was a white cream sauce with hints of butter in there but it did become a very heavy meal.

Salmon and broccoli tortellini with white cream sauce

If I had to choose one of the dishes as a favourite I would say the green tortellini would edge out the salmon tortellini as the butter and truffle sauce was simply too good.

It was a shame we couldn’t spend more time in Miami as it really was a beautiful city. There is so much cultural influence in the food from Spanish to Cuban to Italian, the choices are endless.

What Would Lobi Eat? Conch Fritters and any pasta dish from Pane & Vino. 

La Camaronera

Pane & Vino