SOUTH BEACH

The first part of our summer holiday was a weekend in Miami at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach for some more sun, sand and sea.  The location is super with direct access to the beach and to Miami's pedestrian-only Lincoln road with it's strip of shops, some cheesy and some really cool, and restaurants, some tourist-traps and some interesting ones.

We walked on Lincoln road and stopped at several stores Books & Books, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma and Gap then ended up at the far-end of Lincoln road for a quick lunch at the Shake Shack.  It's the perfect place to take the kids, especially on a hot summer's day in Miami.  Simple burgers and hot dogs, rich milkshakes and creamy frozen custards - modern fast food in a casual setting.

We also returned for dinner to Michael's Genuine Food and Drink, a restaurant we had been to on our last visit to Miami in  2010 where we had a delicious lunch with visiting family.  This time there was just three of us for an early dinner.  Michael's is ideally located in Miami's design district where a shopping day at the area's designer boutiques can be combined with a meal at one of the area's restaurants.

We were seated at one of the outdoor tables on a beautiful breezy summer's evening.  The food was as we remembered - simple dishes made up of the freshest and in-season ingredients.  We  had a couple of glasses of wine while we looked through their well-designed menu of bites in several sizes - snacks, small, medium, large and extra-large (a shared plate for the table).  We started off with a bowl of crispy pig ear from the snacks section.  Although not as appetizing as it sounds, it was delicious - crispy, gooey, salty bites of pork drizzled with some lime - perfect to munch on while we waited for our starters be served.  A and J chose two items from the small section of the menu - the ceviche for A and the chili chicken wings with a cucumber yogurt dip for J.  I chose a signature dish from the medium section, crispy pork belly, which lived up to it's reputation.  It was crunchy, sweet and spicy pork belly served with peanuts and kimchi.

For our main courses, J had the linguine with shrimp from the medium portioned menu items while A and I chose from the large section of the menu - slow-roasted pork shoulder with a side of mashed potato for him and the seared swordfish with arugula for me and a bowl of fries to share.  Both the pork and swordfish were cooked perfectly and were not marinated to mar the freshness of the meat or fish.

We finished off with some summer desserts from their gifted pastry chef - the house-made "pie in a jar" for J - a white chocolate concoction, the tangerine creamsicle pot de creme with warm doughnuts and blackberry jam and for me the plum crostata with a scoop of buttermilk sherbet.  At the end of our delicious dinner, we stopped by at the Sebastien James boutique alongside the restaurant, like we did the last time we were here, and ended the evening with a bit of retail therapy.  I can't wait to go back there.  After two visits, it's become our favorite Miami restaurant.

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Ritz-Carlton South Beach

1 Lincoln Road

Miami Beach, Florida 33139

Tel: +1 786 276 4000 

Shake Shack

1111 Lincoln Road (at Lenox Avenue)

Miami Beach, Florida 33139

Tel: +1 305 434 7787

*Open daily from 11:30 a.m. till late

Books & Books

927 Lincoln Road

Miami Beach, Florida 33139

Tel: +1 305 532 3222

*Also with an outdoor cafe

Michael's Genuine

130 Northeast 40th Street

Miami, Florida 33137

Tel: + 1 305 573 5550

*Open for lunch Mondays to Fridays from 11:00, Dinner daily from 5:30

*Brunch on Sundays from 11 ro 2:30 p.m., Happy Hour daily from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.