You don't need to travel to Manhattan to eat delicious raw plant-based food. Instead you can go to Plant Miami located in Wynwood Arts District, Florida. This upscale raw plant-based eatery has its origins in New York but its roots in Homestead at Paradise Farms. It is also part of The Sacred Space Miami, a holistic meditation, community fostering, center located right next to the restaurant.
The owners bought Paradise Farms last year and use the biodynamically grown vegetables and flowers in their dishes. They also source from several other local farms. This means you are getting the freshest possible raw plant-based food you can. There are no ovens or stoves in the Plant kitchen instead ingredients are sprouted, dehydrated or just served in their untouched nature. This means you get the most living enzymes possible per plate.
A friend and I went into eat last December for a Christmas Eve, afternoon meal (Plant Miami was closing early at 4 p.m.). To start we ordered the Handcrafted Cheese Board made up of four sprouted, cultured cashew cheeses. Their flavors were blue cheese, mixed peppercorn, white truffle and smoked cheddar. The dish also came with pickled vegetables, some fruit, mustard seed spread, and dehydrated sunflower and pumpkin seed crackers.
I was amazed at how deliciously close the flavors of the nut cheeses came to that of dairy cheeses. my favorite was the white truffle. The blue cheese, made with spirulina, though missed the mark for me. But I adored the dehydrated crackers and asked for more to finish off the cheese platter.
Then our next appetizer arrived, it was Harvest Dumplings. These were a type of vegan steamed wonton dumplings although not steamed. They were made with sweet potato, wrapped in a sweet potato-coconut wrapper, and topped with an amazingly ginger foam. The dumplings were a delicious one bite creamy pillow of flavor. My only small dislike was there was too much sesame oil for my tastes.
Next came our main meals, I ordered the Moroccan Bowl because it contained brown Jasmine rice and lentils. I've never come across a raw plant-based restaurant before that has served either of these items. I was curious to see what the results were like. The dish also came with cumin cauliflower, adobe squash, harissa hazelnut pate, and a mint-cilantro tahini dressing in a bowl at the center of the larger bowl.
I was thrilled with the flavors of this dish and amazed at the tender texture of both the lentils and the rice. This was a hit with my companion as well.
My friend got the Cauliflower Steak made through a French cooking method called sous vide. This means the cauliflower was placed in a vacuum sealed bag with seasonings and rested in a warm water bath overnight to infuse it with flavor, at least I think that was what our server said.
The results were a soft tender piece of cauliflower placed onto of smashed golden carrots puree and served with chimichurri sauce. It was also topped with fresh micro-greens and edible flowers. Actually every course had some form of edible flower in it, all harvested from Paradise Farms.
Then came dessert, we took so long trying to decide between two desserts that the restaurant gave us one on the house. They said it was an early Christmas gift. Our gift was a Chocolate Tahini Tart made with tahini, chocolate, fresh fruit, ginger cream and an almond crust. It was lovely, earthy, creamy, lightly sweetened dessert.
The selection we paid for was called Lady Apple. It came in a bowl with three small, chocolate dipped, cardamon cream filled apples, two bark style pieces of raw chocolate inserted with rose petals and pistachio, two edible dark purple/red tinted hibiscus leaves and a soup of purple corn glaze dotted with pomegranate jewels.
It is hard to find words to describe how delicious this dessert was. The tart flavor of the hibiscus leaves balanced out the sweetness of the cardamon cream filled apples. The raw chocolate melted as soon as it hit our tongues and we drank the purple corn glaze like a soup. It was very yummy.
The drive down to Plant Miami was worth it and I plan to visit them again in the future.
If you want to go there here are their details.
You'll find them listed under The Sacred Space Miami, 105 Northeast 24th Street, Miami, FL 33137
Phone Number: (305) 814-5365
They are open: Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.;
Fri. to Sat. 11:30 a.m. to Midnight;
Sun 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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| Plant Miami plant-based eatery, Wynwood Arts District, Miami, Fla. Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
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| Handcrafted Cheese Board, Plant Miami, Wynwood Arts District, Fla. Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
A friend and I went into eat last December for a Christmas Eve, afternoon meal (Plant Miami was closing early at 4 p.m.). To start we ordered the Handcrafted Cheese Board made up of four sprouted, cultured cashew cheeses. Their flavors were blue cheese, mixed peppercorn, white truffle and smoked cheddar. The dish also came with pickled vegetables, some fruit, mustard seed spread, and dehydrated sunflower and pumpkin seed crackers.
I was amazed at how deliciously close the flavors of the nut cheeses came to that of dairy cheeses. my favorite was the white truffle. The blue cheese, made with spirulina, though missed the mark for me. But I adored the dehydrated crackers and asked for more to finish off the cheese platter.
 |
| Harvest Dumplings, Plant Miami, Wynwood Arts District, Fla. Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
Then our next appetizer arrived, it was Harvest Dumplings. These were a type of vegan steamed wonton dumplings although not steamed. They were made with sweet potato, wrapped in a sweet potato-coconut wrapper, and topped with an amazingly ginger foam. The dumplings were a delicious one bite creamy pillow of flavor. My only small dislike was there was too much sesame oil for my tastes.
 |
| Moroccan Bowl, Plant Miami, Wynwood Arts District, Fla. Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
Next came our main meals, I ordered the Moroccan Bowl because it contained brown Jasmine rice and lentils. I've never come across a raw plant-based restaurant before that has served either of these items. I was curious to see what the results were like. The dish also came with cumin cauliflower, adobe squash, harissa hazelnut pate, and a mint-cilantro tahini dressing in a bowl at the center of the larger bowl.
I was thrilled with the flavors of this dish and amazed at the tender texture of both the lentils and the rice. This was a hit with my companion as well.
 |
| Cauliflower Steak, Plant Miami, Wynwood Arts District, Fla. Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
My friend got the Cauliflower Steak made through a French cooking method called sous vide. This means the cauliflower was placed in a vacuum sealed bag with seasonings and rested in a warm water bath overnight to infuse it with flavor, at least I think that was what our server said.
The results were a soft tender piece of cauliflower placed onto of smashed golden carrots puree and served with chimichurri sauce. It was also topped with fresh micro-greens and edible flowers. Actually every course had some form of edible flower in it, all harvested from Paradise Farms.
 |
| Chocolate Tahini Tart, Plant Miami, Wynwood Arts District, Fla. The early Christmas gift dessert Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
Then came dessert, we took so long trying to decide between two desserts that the restaurant gave us one on the house. They said it was an early Christmas gift. Our gift was a Chocolate Tahini Tart made with tahini, chocolate, fresh fruit, ginger cream and an almond crust. It was lovely, earthy, creamy, lightly sweetened dessert.
 |
| Lady Apple dessert, Plant Miami, Wynwood Arts District, Fla. Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey |
The selection we paid for was called Lady Apple. It came in a bowl with three small, chocolate dipped, cardamon cream filled apples, two bark style pieces of raw chocolate inserted with rose petals and pistachio, two edible dark purple/red tinted hibiscus leaves and a soup of purple corn glaze dotted with pomegranate jewels.
It is hard to find words to describe how delicious this dessert was. The tart flavor of the hibiscus leaves balanced out the sweetness of the cardamon cream filled apples. The raw chocolate melted as soon as it hit our tongues and we drank the purple corn glaze like a soup. It was very yummy.
The drive down to Plant Miami was worth it and I plan to visit them again in the future.
If you want to go there here are their details.
You'll find them listed under The Sacred Space Miami, 105 Northeast 24th Street, Miami, FL 33137
Phone Number: (305) 814-5365
They are open: Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.;
Fri. to Sat. 11:30 a.m. to Midnight;
Sun 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
