I found the BEST Cuban Food in MIAMI! Ultimate Little Havana Food Tour

Little Havana, we've made it. And Cayocho right there. Welcome to Little Havana, the heart and soul of Cuban culture in Miami. Yum! First stop, Cuban coffee. We roast fresh everyday here. Small but strong. Wow, that is so sweet! And of course, we can't skip the legendary Cuban sandwich. I get the hype with the Cuban sandwich. And at night, Little Havana comes alive. Drinks here are very strong. Seems like I had the time of my life here. You happy, lady? Find out why this neighborhood is a must visit when coming to Miami. Welcome to Miami, the one place where you have to come to eat. The best food is Little Havana. And today we are in Cayocho. I'm not here by myself. I am actually with a local foodie expert right behind the camera. Hello! I'm Gigi, or Giselle. Explore with Gigi. And we're gonna explore Little Havana. We're gonna be eating around, doing a mini food tour. The first spot we went to is actually closed, so we have to find croquetas somewhere else. All right, let's do it. Yeah? So we're at El Pub restaurant, and they have a ventanita here, which is super iconic in Little Havana, or for like Cuban people, I guess. And you can just order like your coffee and little snacks to go. And they have the table here where you can kind of sit and drink it. Local style. Okay, let's order it. Empanadas are here. All right, so we just ordered two croquetas. We're going to have some coffee as well. We're going to have amazing ice cream. And apparently, we're going to have the best Cuban sandwich of Miami. So I came hungry, as always. And I'm very excited for today. All right, we got the goods. We got the goods. We got the croquetas. Woo! Little doggie is probably getting something as well. The croqueta. It might be good. I've never had it here. This actually looks like it'll be really good. That is a classic croqueta with jamón, which is ham. So give it a try. All righty. We got the goods and we're going to try the croqueta. It looks golden brown. Oh, yum. So let's give it a try. First bite. Wow, that's better from what I expected. It's very much like a corn base, right? No? Try it. It tastes corn-based. Does it? Yeah. Croqueta jamón. This is, it's like ham and like, it's just like ground it up and kind of put into here and breaded, so. That's a good croqueta. Yeah? Yeah. All right, would you say it's better than what, than the one that we wanted to go to across the road? The one over there, their croquetas are like double the size. Yeah. And they're a little much. Like, they're kind of hard to like eat a whole one. So this is, this wins here. I, this is a classic croqueta. I'm glad we came here. Oh, you already took a bite? I already took a bite. Okay. It was really good, I ate mine. They're really yummy. All right, next stop. So now we're going to the coffee shop. It's called, I'm not sure what it's called, but she will put the name right here. We're going to walk over, supposedly it's down this like street. So right next to that cigar factory. Yeah. So let's go check it out. How was the empanada? Oh, it's good. It's good? Recommended? What? The empanada? Oh my God, yes. Nice. Hello. You want peanut, one dollar. Peanut, cacahuete. Peanut? No peanut, no happy people. No peanuts, no happy people. Eat the peanut, happy people. 54 years, roast the peanut every day. One dollar only, very good. You want peanut, one dollar. One dollar make you happy. Peanut, cacahuete. Okay, I'm going to get one, one dollar peanuts. One dollar, no peanut, no happy. Eating the peanut, people happy. You happy lady? Not yet. I need your peanuts and then I'll be happy. You're not happy? What happened? You're not happy. I'm a happy lady. We got the peanuts. Peanuts. I'm happy. Thank you. Happy good day. Bye. One of the surprising facts that you might not know is that Spanish is actually the dominant language in Miami due to the Latin influence. And although I lived there for three years, I never learned the language, which is such a bummer. But this time, I definitely want to be able to communicate. So I brought my little helper, my time cattle translator device. And I have already used it in Morocco for French and Arab Moroccan, which was so helpful. Thank you so much for staying open for us. It was the best octopus I ever had. Yeah? Did you understand? Of course. Okay. I can finally speak in Tagalog with you guys. I can't even see. Yeah, is it good? Is it accurate? It's pretty accurate. So we're going to try Spanish as well. Hopefully this time it will help me out again. The time cattle T1 translator comes with two year free global data, 40 languages for voice and photo translation, and 13 pairs of offline languages. I asked my friend for some recommendations for Miami and she replied in Spanish. She's like, you have to get used to it, Nelly. We have to get accustomed to the language. So here I am again, trying to understand what she wrote. Luckily, my time cattle device can also do photo translation, and it was super easy to have my friends' messages translated. And yeah, it's safe to say that this little device has become my travel must have. And of course, I'm going to leave a link in the description box down below so you can check it out for yourself. I can speak from my own perspective. It is such a great help for your travels and your everyday life, even in business. Highly, highly recommend. We've made it to La Colada Gourmet, the house of Cuban coffee. You can smell they're roasting the beans right now. I can smell it. It smells so good. We got to go in there. I had a lot of coffee today, but a little bit more will hurt. Yeah, it smells good. Yeah. Freshly roasted. Yes, we roast fresh every day here. Every day? Every day. Wow. This is our real secret. 100% organic beans and 100% Arabica. That is fresh. It's good. It's a very busy spot. Very vibrant. People are here to drink coffee. They have a bunch of cute little Cuban coffee ceramics. And for the coffee people, mocha pods. They have five different types of ways that they make their coffee. I got a tres leches one, which is his favorite. OK. We have to see what Lele's going to get. He has a whole menu, so we're going to see. OK, let's have a look at the menu. Some people have blood running through their veins. Miamians run on Cuban coffee. And after trying it, I understand why everybody dances salsa here. That's Cuba. All right, this is yours. I'm excited. Yeah? All righty, coffee's came out. It's such a vibrant place. Music is playing. People are chatting, enjoying coffee. I got some Cuban coffee. And if you know anything about Cuban coffee, it's pretty strong. And it's very sweet. But luckily, you drink it in small cups. So this is just to pour into the small cups, and then you just sip on it. So let's give it a try. Oh, this is going to be a mess. All right. Are you ready? Slow? What? That was not slow. Let's have another try. You have to, like, pinch the cup a little bit. Like, no, pinch it. Yeah. See? And then slowly. All right. Yeah, there we go. See? And this is why you need some locals to explain the coffee drinking culture here. All righty. So I got the tres leches hot. It has condensed milk. That's that white part right there. You got the coffee. You got the milk. You got some chocolate. You got a galletica. You're supposed to stir this up and then give it a try. Okay. Should I go for it? Yeah, go for it. So you stir it and then cheers. Wow. That is, like, in. The condensed milk isn't, like, too much. It's so, it's, like, smooth and velvety. It's really good. My little cafecita. You gotta take a shot of it. Oh. Shots, shots, shots. Wow, that is so sweet. Okay. I'm going to wake up after this. Very strong flavor. Nice caramel touch to it. It's really, really good. And I really like it black. It's a question, only one question. Where is the party tonight? What is the party? Where? Because when you drink that coffee, you dance all night. This is only for you. Okay, where's the party? Maybe I'll go to the party. The party is here in front. The party is in the little Havana. Nice. The best place in Miami today. Yeah, I agree, I agree. We're gonna dance salsa later. All right, this is so smart. I need this. It's approved by Gigi. By me? Yeah. So I made those, like, two years ago because I was going to so many places and I'm like, okay, if Yelp and TripAdvisor can have a sticker, I can have a sticker. So whenever I go somewhere and I'm like, I like this place, people, if they, since I do a video, they'll know that that's the spot because it'll be approved by Gigi's sticker. I love that. That's the concept behind it. So cute. Okay, anybody who knows some kind of, like, similar thing for Nelly? Gotta copy that. And then we'll have your sticker and my sticker next to it. Okay, one thing about Cuban coffee is it's just like, it's making me so jittery and I feel like doing stuff. And the coffee itself is just so thick. It's literally like a syrup and I can feel it on my teeth. It's still there. So whenever I need a little bit of coffee, I'll just do it and I'm good. It's raining. It's pouring. Very, very Florida of it to be raining right now. We have to take cover. My hair is gonna look crazy by the time this video is done. By the way, across the road, one of the very popular spots here is Ball and Chain. It's such a vibrant place here. You have music, live music playing on every corner. It's like people are dancing. It's such a vibe. Like, you are definitely in a different mood when you walk here. Hello! Here we have another sticker. All right, so this place is known for their Abuela Maria ice cream, which is like guava and the cookies. But they also have Café con leche ice cream and a mantecao, which is like very traditional Cuban. So this place is really good. Okay, you choose the flavors. All three of them? Yeah. In one color? Yeah. What's the best of us? Number one, number two, number three. Okay, those three. Try the Abuela Maria. Okay, the Abuela Maria. Number one? Oh yeah, it says here. Wow, okay. All right. Trying it. Wow. I think we're going to go with that one for sure. Wow! Yeah. Oh my goodness. Okay, the ice cream is melting so fast. I can't even eat it. It's just like, look. It just melts. This is such a mess. Wow, but the flavors are crazy. I think this is some guava that she has on top. Yeah. We have some cookies, we have cinnamon. It's like so many flavors. And it's just literally melting. So I would recommend to go with one flavor only because I think this one has 3,000 calories and I might not be able to finish it. Yep, it's melting. It's crazy. Gigi, where are we going? We are going to Sandwich. They have a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which is huge for a sandwich shop. They've won three years in a row. So it really is like one of the best Cuban sandwiches that you could get. If you're in Miami, Sandwich is the spot for the ultimate Cuban sandwich. Alrighty, this is the menu here. And something that I love is you have a view into the kitchen. Got a spot at the bar. VIP seat. I'm so excited. They use house-made meats, fresh Cuban bread, and secret recipe mustard. Crafted to perfection. All right, while we're waiting for our sandwiches, we got a shake with mamey and it's such an interesting fruit. I had it in Mexico. It's sweet and it's just kind of like a mix of mango. And I don't know, I can't really explain it. But this one looks super delicious. Oh, it's so good. Wow. Yum. All right, Gigi is actually much better at explaining. I don't really like mamey, but I can tell you what it tastes like. It's like a crossover of a mango with something a little bit more like peachy. But it's really thick. This fruit kind of like, it stays on your tongue, like the thickness of it. But it's, well, how did I describe it? Oh, it's more nutty. It's like earthy, nutty. But again, it's like very dense on the tongue. I'm not a fan of it, but... I love it. Yeah, I know. People love it. My mom loves it. I don't know. We decided to go all in and order the Cubano, Media Noche, and Pan Con Lechon. Yum. I get the hype with the Cuban sandwich. This is so good. The bread is perfectly toasted. It's very flat. You have some cheese in there that gives it a lot of flavor. You have the perfect amount of ham in there, some pickled cucumber, some mustard. It's like, it's the perfect sandwich. It's really super, super delicious. Yum. So we just had the Pan Cubano. Now we're going to try the Media Noche. The Media Noche is pretty much the same thing as the Cubano. It's just made with sweet bread and the pickles are made in-house. They also... The reason that it's so toasted and like greasy... You can see my fingers. It's like very oily. It's because they put lard. So the secret ingredient is lard. If you're a vegetarian, you would hate this place, but we're not. That was mustard? Yes. They're like the perfect amount of mustard. It's so good. As you can see from both of these sandwiches, they are almost identical. Just the bread is a little bit different. Flavor-wise, delicious. Oh my god. I'm so excited for this. Okay, so this is the Pan Con Lechon. So it looks like they have some pickled onion, red onion in there, some lechon, some pork, and... And what? Mojo. Mojo? What is that? Puta. Sauce. Okay. Let's try it. Wow. The meat and lechon is so juicy. It has like a hint of sweetness. Wow, it goes so well together. The red onion, perfect. Oh my goodness. This is so good. Did I say I love my job? I love my job. And I don't know if you can see it, but there's a lot of cheese on the edges, which makes it so delicious. And it has this good cheese flavor with the bread. Oh, yum. That was a very successful little sandwich. Also, guys, they have a ventanita here. So sometimes there's like a line wrapping around, could you not? To like that flamingo over there. And it's just people waiting right here to get like their sandwich. You can also order to go, which is what I usually recommend. But also the seating, like you can't reserve seating. So usually that line is like people waiting to sit down. And as you can see, there's not that many tables. So definitely a place that you have to go to when you're in Little Havana or in Miami, honestly. All right, guys, last stop, Cafe La Trova. The nightlife scene in Little Havana is very vibrant and it feels like you are in Latin America. Looks good. Take a bite, take a bite. That's really good. It's a skirt steak empanada. It has olives and like tomato and peppers and the flour. Oh my God, so good. It's like my favorite type of empanada. 10 out of 10. Wow. Yeah. All right, we are starting with some tapas, empanadas, croquetas and pechon focaccia. And of course, mojito because after all in Little Havana, we're going to have a drink. Drinks here are very strong. All right, we are on to our last one and you already had a bite. Yeah, I took a bite. I got really excited. I'll take another bite because the thing is so good. Oh my God, it is insane. Like the focaccia, the crunch on that. Wow. And then the mojo on this pork, I'm mind blown. I would eat this every day of my life. So music is about to start. It is 7.35. They're five minutes late, but it's okay. We'll forgive them this time. It's Miami time. It's Miami time, but they're about to start. We're so excited. Here they go. That was so much fun and we have so much leftovers. Wow. That portion was huge. The meat, fantastic. The fish, amazing. The drinks, even better. I would say like that was a pretty solid mojito and the live music. Wow. Okay. So I texted my boyfriend that we're coming back here. So what a day. What a day. That was a huge success. And I would say we pretty much nailed it with Little Havana. All of the spots that we went to today, I can highly, highly recommend. I'm so happy that I had Gigi with me who showed me around here in this area. Also gave me some insights. This was actually, I'm impressed that I was able to like kind of set this up and like get the right spots because I feel like everywhere that we went to was phenomenal. This was the first time I came to Cafe La Trova and we're both making plans to come back with our significant others because it was such a special experience. And they're also a part of the 50th best bar in the world, which is huge. So, you know, the drinks are really good, but this was so much fun. I know. I can't believe we did this. We did it. In like a total of six hours. We did all this in six hours, guys. That was a great day. Thank you so much. Yes, of course. Okay, we are signing off here because we are both in a food coma and I can barely move at all. So I'm just, I'm very full too. So I'm just going to go to sleep. We're going to end the night at like 8.30. Not bad. You know, I'm old now. So early nights on a Saturday. Wow, I love that. If you want to do me a huge favor, please, please head over to Giselle's Instagram, Explore with Gigi and her YouTube channel. She does amazing food content. She is so knowledgeable and especially for the area of Florida and international travels, you will love it. So subscribe, follow, high five. Great day. And if you aren't subscribed to my channel yet, please do so. And I'll see you guys next time here on Nelly's Life. See ya.