To Spice Or Not To Spice: Plant Miami

On a sparkling, but still hot September day, I was joined by my vegan son for Miami Spice lunch at Plant Miami in The Sacred Space in Wynwood.

Offered at over 160 restaurants in Miami, the annual three course Miami Spice lunches at $23 and dinners at $39 are among the best deals in town and with only a few days left (Spice ends September 30th), now is your last chance to experience Plant’s plant-based delicious and visually beautiful meal, even if “vegan” and “plant-based” are not words in your dining vocabulary.

Plant’s Miami Spice menu is worthy in its own right, but, the regular menu has so many additional items, it was impossible not to supplement the excellent Spice menu which featured as starters, a choice of Coconut Corn Soup with spring peas, watermelon radish and micro shiso, or our choice of Avocado Tostada, a creamy avocado on a walnut seed crisp cracker topped with heirloom tomatoes and cilantro.

We added happily off the regular menu the Sweet Potato-Coconut Wrapper Dumplings with Ginger Foam.

And also selected the Watermelon Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad, which was beautifully plated as perfectly round watermelon and tomato bites surrounding a cashew mozzarella, delicate cucumber curls and in a citrus ponzu.

We ordered The Sacred off the organic cocktail menu, which features low cal and low alcohol (perfect for lunch) KEEL vodka with watermelon juice, mint, lemon and topped with sparkling wine.

The second Spice course features a choice of a Mamey Poke Bowl, with tropical mamey sapote fruit chunks, furikake cauliflower rice, sesame, cucumber, avocado, napa cabbage with a wasabi dressing. Gorgeous to behold, we eagerly mixed in the wasabi dressing and tossed it all up and enjoyed, but felt a little soy sauce on the side might have added more flavor. The other option was a colorful Ginger Carrot Noodle dish with kelp noodles, arugula, cucumber, shitake, sesame and almond.

But again, we deviated from the Miami Spice menu and at the server’s recommendation we opted for the Cacio di Funghi off the regular menu. A flavorful “pasta” of kelp noodles and baby brassica over a cashew truffle béchamel and topped with shaved truffle caviar, this dish was both decadent and delicious.

Miami Spice includes as third course a dessert and we chose a guiltless Seasonal Fruit Cheesecake with a crushed nut crust, lime curd, sorrel and gel. Light, colorful and refreshing, this dessert was a nice way to end a truly special meal. Another option was an Almond Pana Cotta with Mango, puff Amaranth, lime syrup and mint.