Juvia: Culinary Fusion in Miami Beach

1111 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach, FL 33139; Tel. +1 305 763-8272; www.juviamiami.com

By J.P.

Restaurateurs Jonas and Alexandra Millán, owners of restaurant Bonito in St. Barth, opened Juvia in Miami Beach in early 2012. The restaurant characterizes itself as offering a fusion of French, Asian and Peruvian cuisine. In addition to investing on a beautiful décor, the owners also assembled a top team of chefs including Executive Chefs Sunny Oh (Korean native who has lived most of his life in Miami and spent ten years at Miami’s Nobu) and Laurent Cantineaux (who has worked before with Chef Daniel Boulud). Also in the team is Executive Pastry Chef Gregory Gourreau, who has previously worked with Alain Ducasse and François Payard.

Juvia is located on the penthouse of a Miami Beach building. An elevator brings you to the top floor, which is nine-story high. You first enter an open area of the 10,000 square foot restaurant that also includes an indoor dining area. From the open area you can enjoy a beautiful view of Miami Beach, as well as a luxurious vertical garden designed by botanist Patrick Blanc. Juvia is the name the indigenous people of the Orinoco give to the Brazil nut tree.

Being in the Miami area in late June 2014, we had reservations at Juvia for a Saturday at 7:00 PM. Our table was in the indoor dining area, but while we waited for the table to be ready we could enjoy the view and the great atmosphere of the outdoor area.

The menu is strong on appetizers (crudos, cold bar, sushi, salads and hot appetizers), but there are also several options for entrees, including those prepared on a binchotan charcoal grill – binchotan charcoal or white charcoal is a traditional charcoal from Japan.

Bar

Dining room viewed from the terrace

Kitchen

The choices around the table were varied. As appetizer, they included:

Salmon nashi (truffle oil, dry miso, micro arugula) (J.P. and others)
Octopus antipasto (A.M. and others)
Kumamoto oysters (Kumamotos are small, sweet, almost nutty oysters, widely cultivated in Japan and in the West Coast)

Salmon nashi

Octopus antipasto

Kumamoto oysters

The salmon crudo was very good and A.M. also liked the octopus appetizer that was one of the specials of the day. However, she did not like that much one of the sauces, which had been described as a specialty of the house.

Table setting

As main course, the choices were:

Prawn (sugarcane skewer, tostones, yuzu vinaigrette – tostones are fried plantain slices) (J.P.)
Chilean sea bass (maple glazed eggplants, Hawaiian heart of palm, basil soy butter) (A.M and others)
Pan-seared duck magret (Brussel sprouts, shitake, mandarin reduction)

Prawns

Chilean sea bass

Duck magret

I must confess that one of the reasons for me to order the prawn was the sugarcane skewers. I was hoping to be able to chew the skewer and taste the sugarcane itself, A.M. was skeptical that I would be able to do that but it did work. Curiosities apart, the prawn was very good. A.M. also liked her sea bass.

At some point during dinner, people from several tables stood up and walked to the dining room window to take a picture of the sunset. It was a great shot!

Miami Beach sunset

Then it was time for dessert. A.M. and several at the table had the classic Tres Leches, a special of the day, that came in a very nice presentation. My choice, however, was rum baba (rum sponge cake, vanilla whipped cream). To my surprise, I was offered a choice from three different bottles of rum. Since I am not an expert in rums I chose one of them, the Eximo, without much conviction, but it was very good.

Tres leches

Eximo rum baba

Actually, after some research done later, it became clear that any of the choices would not give away my lack of knowledge about rums. The three options (Eximo, Exquisito and Paraiso) were produced under the renowned Facundo brand. This business was started by Don Facundo Bacardí Massó in Santiago de Cuba, in 1862, and until today remains with the family, being now led by Don Facundo’s great-great-grand son.

Rum selection

What was not so good was to find out that this dessert cost $40. Even taking into account that the price of a bottle of Eximo rum on line can exceed $60 this seemed excessive. To be fair with Juvia, the dessert menu did include the price of the dessert with Exquisito rum ($55) and with Paraiso rum ($70). Actually, I had not paid attention to any of that.

Terrace

To accompany the meal, we started with a Chablis, 2011, from Domaine Vocoret et Fils ($72). This traditional Chablis producer offers a wide range of wines including Chablis Premiers Crus and Grands Crus. The wine we had is in the lower end of their range of prices but it was quite good and matched well with our appetizers.

We then moved to a red wine, the Chianti Classico, Fonterutoli, 2010 ($74). The Castello di Fonterutoli is one the properties of the Mazzei family, a traditional Italian wine producer. The Fonterutoli 2010 has a rating 91 from the Wine Spectator that describes this wine as a “medium-bodied red, turning graceful on the finish” and “well-structured and long, with a spicy finish”. It was certainly a good match for the duck magret and even for the seafood dishes we had as main course.

If you are in the Miami area, I would recommend a visit to Juvia without any hesitation. I cannot characterize the food as outstanding, but it is quite good. However, the atmosphere and the décor of the outside area are absolutely great.