Miami
We just spent a week in Miami during Art Basel and had a lot of fun!
What can I start with? A big THANK YOU to Crispy, the concierge at our hotel, The Raleigh. She looked after us so well, booking really cool restaurants and sorted us out with the cutest red fiat mini cabriolet 500. Thank you Crispy for making our stay in Miami so special!
Yes we stayed at The Raleigh ! And experienced the most beautiful pool in the world!
I visited a few stores while in Miami as that was also the purpose of my trip!
The Webster is a multibrand fashion boutique. Hosted in a former art-deco hotel on Collins Avenue it is an international fashion mecca for the very best in luxury retail. The store is spread over two floors, one more luxury and sleek and the other one more casual and relaxed. You can find brands such as Chanel. YSL, Alaia but also new designers such as Charlotte Olympia, Prova, Pamela Love, Olympia Le Tan …etc They have created their own scented candle and I stocked on a few for my London office. Forgot to say, the girls there were so lovely!
The Webster 1220 Collins Avenue – Miami Beach
Tomas Maier
Tomas Maier, a beautiful whitewashed gallery-space selling books, candles, jewellery, clothing etc…in the Design district, not too far from De La Cruz Collection and next to the newly opened Margiela store. Enjoyed the serene atmosphere and the carefully selected products. Especially the books corner!
Tomas Maier 170 Northeast 40th Street –Design District
Our favorite restaurants were definitely Joe Stone’s crab and Cuban restaurant Versailles, in Little Havana, not to mention the Aegen bistro, Mandolin, set in a delightful 1940’s house between the Design and Historical Buena vista.
Sitting in Mandolin is like being in a small rustic Mediterranean restaurant. The ambiance is unlike any restaurants here locally — there is a warm, informal feeling. If you feel like escaping Miami for a few hours, this is the place!
Mandolin 4314 Northeast 2nd Avenue -Design District
Versailles is The authentic cuban restaurant in Miami, with plenty of history and an 80s diner decor. This is the restaurant in all of Miami which symbolizes Cuban dining and culture. Starting with the street vendor selling Cuban pictures, flags and tee- shirts, to the service window for your quick shot of expresso you find yourself taking in a full experience. The restaurant has not been updated in forty years and the tables and chairs are cheesey…. So what. It’s part of the experience.
Ordered a delicious Mojito and a super tasty Cuban sampler. Even Lil Paloma tried the food and loved it, at 16 months old!
Versailles 3555 Southwest 8th Street - Little Havana – Miami
Joe Stone Crab
A south Beach institution and for many good reasons: very professional waiters and super delicious food. We ordered fresh crab claws and monstrous shrimps, the hash brown was the best we have ever tasted, the portions were very generous. This place does not take reservations , we went for a late breakfast/early lunch and the place got busier and busier. Shame, I had no tummy space left for dessert, I would have tried their famous key lime pie. Highly recommended but get there early!
11 Washington avenue -Miami Beach
Now talking about Miami Art Basel, my favourite gallery was The Rubell Family Collection
Loved Jennifer Rubell’s participatory artwork Incubation. Developed for the yearly breakfast project at the Rubell Family Collection for Art Basel Miami Beach, Incubation offers visitors a morning jar of yogurt made on-site from a lab-born “culture”: inside a fabricated maternity ward of sorts, two nurses oversee the process and pass the results through a slot to spectators, who then hold up their jar to a ceiling pedestal dripping golden local honey for the annunciation moment. Daughter of uber-collectors Don and Mera Rubell, the artist is renowned for investigating the creative process via audience participation. Trained as a chef, her previous works have included a padded cell made of 1,800 cones of pink candyfloss; 1,521 donuts hanging on a free-standing wall; and 2,000 boiled eggs with a pile of latex gloves nearby to pick them up. More recently the artist created a waxwork of Prince William, complete with replica engagement ring for the viewer to slip his or her finger through.
Artwork I liked at the fair. . .
Finally, When we left the De La Cruz Collection we headed towards the Wynwood Walls, a Miami district that has brought the world’s greatest artists working in the graffiti art genre to Miami. Wynwood’s large stock of warehouse buildings, all with no windows, have become since 2009 giant canvases for the greatest street art ever seen in one place. Graffiti work from Kenny Scharf, Shepard Fairey, Aiko, Jeff Soto, Liqen…etc
Had a quick bite at Wynwood Kitchen and Bar!
