Azul
Mandarin Oriental, Miami
500 Brickell Key Dr. (Brickell Ave.) 
Send to Phone
Miami, FL 33131
305-913-8254 | Make Restaurant Reservations | Menu
mandarinoriental.com/miami/dining/azul
Azul Restaurant is one of GAYOT's 2013
| Top 10 Miami/South Florida Food Rating Restaurants
| Top 10 Miami/South Florida View Restaurants
|
Cuisine
Open
Dinner Mon.-Sat.Features
- View
- Romantic setting
- Full bar
- Reservations suggested
- Valet parking
- Casual dressy
Wine
Great Wine List* Click here for rating key
 Azul Restaurant Review: Since the Mandarin Oriental, Miami, hotel is located on prestigious Brickell Key, it is not surprising that its high-end restaurant, Azul, offers unparalleled vistas of Biscayne Bay and the Miami skyline through floor-to-ceiling picture windows. Many sophisticated diners, however, find the view of the place’s extensive raw bar just as spectacular. When Azul's former executive chef Clay Conley departed in 2010, diners were definitely a bit wary, since the New England transplant, whose creative, complex American fare was also strongly inspired by Asian and Mediterranean flavors, arguably shaped Azul's culinary identity even more definitively than original chef Michelle Bernstein. Fortunately, current executive chef Joel Huff has a similarly strong background in Asian cuisines, plus rock-solid modern European technique and a lively imagination. So some old Azul signatures, like three-way dishes (including the popular Moroccan-inspired lamb trio), remain on the menu, though the three treatments themselves are different. What's gone: New England influences and a focus on updating traditional American food. What's new: far more dishes inspired by New Spanish cuisine. Traditionally-based cutting-edge Spanish chef José Andrés was a Huff mentor, and both respect for roots and skillful molecular gastronomic and fusion techniques are demonstrated in dishes like "eggs, bacon, & toast" (slow-roasted suckling pig, tempura duck egg, black truffle potato purée, classic pork jus and contemporary speck "air"); there's a similar exciting mix of oldies-but-goodies (Ibérico ham, heirloom vegetables) and exciting newbies (discretely used foams and gels, savory snows/granitas, etc.) throughout the menu. Desserts like almond dacquoise cake with gianduja gelato and fried pineapple/apricot sauce fall in the definitely-not-home-cooking category. Sommelier Cynthia Betancourt's wine list remains comprehensive and inspired. |
- Find the Best Restaurants for Breakfast Near You
- 2013 Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S.
- Shop Amazon Memorial Day Event: Supplies and More!
What's Hot
RESTAURANT AWARDS 2013
Check out the 2013 edition of GAYOT's Annual Restaurant Issue, which features the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S., Rising Chefs and more.
