The ULTIMATE South Beach FOOD TOUR + How to Make the PERFECT MOJITO | Miami Beach, Florida

Here we go, one of the best Cuban sandwiches in the world. Good morning everyone, this is David Hoffman of David's Been Here in my hometown of Miami, Florida. And today I'm taking you on a South Beach food tour. I've teamed up with Miami Food Tour, the first food and culinary tour company in Miami, which was founded in 2009 by Alex and Svetlina. They're a European couple and basically they focus on small groups. They bypass all the tourist traps and take you to family owned restaurants. We're doing a mix of Peruvian, Cuban, American and Italian today. I'm meeting up with my guide Omar, let's go eat some food. I'm starving, let's do it. Hey, what's up bro? How are you? Good, you? Good to meet you, Omar. So Omar is my guide for the day. Omar here with Miami Food Tours. So what are we doing first? We're stopping right here at Cafe Books and Books. So this is going to be our first stop. We have five stops in today's tour. Nice, and this is American food? So this is Nouvelle Miami Cuisine. So Nouvelle Miami Cuisine is basically like a take on French cuisine where they took away all the heavy butters and creams and stuff like that. And Miami is kind of like a melting pot, so we're going to experience a little bit of the Latin American culture that Miami has to offer today. So this is the famous bookstore, it's here at Books and Books on Lincoln Road. We're at the back of the bookstore right now. So the cafe is at the front and the bookstore is at the back. Hi David. Hey, pleasure, nice to meet you. Over here we have the Books and Books Miami sampler. It's guacamole, corn, hummus, and fried yucca. Starting right here we have the guacamole salsa with the homemade pita chips. Then next to it right here we have the corn salsa. Next we have the homemade hummus. Mmm, so good. Last thing is something very, very traditional here in Miami and Florida is yucca. Yucca for me is my favorite fried food. Nice. Forget french fries, yucca. Mmm, the hummus, oh my god. So good. So we got the Florida avocados. Yeah, and you have those big pieces of avocado in there. Less calories, right? Really fresh. Oh, delicious. This is something very typical Miami, most Latin American restaurants, you'll eat this. Yeah. I love corn. That's one of my favorites. You can devour that whole thing. So good. I don't know how they made that, but... They won't tell. That's the only thing that they keep secret. So what's your favorite of these four? So definitely the corn is my favorite. It's a very, very tight mix between the corn and the guacamole salsa, for sure. So this building right here, the Mediterranean-style building you see, was actually one of the first buildings that was built on Lincoln Road, and it's the Carl Fisher building. So this is where he built his office when he moved on to Lincoln Road. And he would go up to the very, very top of the building and show potential developers the surrounding area, and he would make his sales like that. And that's how we got the luxurious paradise that we live in today. What's crazy is that I had no idea of the history of this place. Yeah. And I've seen it my whole life, this building. So we're going to take a little walk down Lincoln Road, and we're going to our second stop, which is going to be called Beya Cuba. It's the number one mom-and-pop 13-year-old Cuban restaurant in Miami Beach. Are we going to eat vaga frita? We're going to have a little bit of everything. So we're going to have a little sampler, and we're going to have Cuban sandwiches. We're going to have something very unique to our menu, which is called the Cuban egg roll. So one thing you guys have to know is that every single dish that we're having on this tour is made for the tour. It's not on the menu. Obviously, the ingredients and everything you see that we're eating, you can order it, but it's not that exact dish. Hey, guys, so welcome to Beya Cuba restaurant. We're here for our second stop. It's our food from Cuba, and we're going to start with some delicious mojitos. So come on in. Omar is going to teach me how to make a Cuban mojito. We're very famous for our mojitos here in Beya Cuba, and we've been doing this for a long, long time. So today, as part of our tour, we're going to teach Dave how to make his first real Cuban mojito. Let's do it. I'm ready. So we're going to grab a couple of pieces of lime, and we're just going to throw it in the glass. And then I left a little muddler there for you, and I got one. So we're going to muddle our limes really, really well. Got to make sure we get all those amazing juices out. This is one of the most important parts of making a good mojito, is to make sure that you can get all the juices out. Then we have some of our simple syrup that we pre-made, and we make this in-house. We don't buy our simple syrup. And we're just going to freestyle it today. Like that? Too much to do? All right, and then we're going to do some of our fresh yerba buena. And instead of muddling the mint, what we do here to extract the juices is we just give it a little smash. Oh, yeah? And then you can just smell the oils and all the fragrance of the mint just coming right out. Wow, that's amazing. Okay, and we're going to throw it in there. For the mojito, we're always, always going to use a white rum. The whitest rum you can. It's the best way to make a mojito. I've been doing this for years, and I know exactly the measurements that should go into every drink to make it taste. So now that we have our main ingredients in the glass, we can just go ahead and fill it up with some ice. All right. You're going to take one of the muddlers, and I'm going to take the other one. So we're going to empty our drink out in here. All right. So I was like, give it a good shake. You should have a very fresh and delicious-looking mojito. Cheers. Oh, wow, it's delicious. Very light. Suave. We're starting off here at Vega Cuba with the Vega Cuba sampler plate that we prepared especially for Miami Food Tours. So right here we have the Cuban tamale with shredded beef on top. We have the ham and chicken croquetas. We also have the empanada de carne. And we have our frijito asiático cubano, which is our Cuban egg roll. And in the middle we're going to finish it with some of our sweet fried Cuban plantains. Probably going to be the best egg roll of my entire life. Super excited. I'm super excited. It's good. Oh, my God. Our black beans. Black beans. A little cilantro. And then this guava barbecue sauce right here. I was going to say, it tastes like barbecue, but there's guava in it. There's a little guava in it. Dude, that's amazing. This has been a big hit on the menu since we put it on. I'm sure. I'm meant to be used to this by now. What's the sauce? Mayo and ketchup? Always together. Yeah. Empanada time. A little sweet in the beginning, but I love it. It's like very salty and then sweet. It actually hits you sweet and then salty. Dude, the maduro. So the maduro is one of my all-time favorites because that just goes with everything. Sweetie goodness that it has. This is the Cuban tamal. Oh, Cuban tamal. And the tamal has little pieces of ham on the inside. And then on top, it has the shredded beef. It's good. That is delicious, man. Oh, my God. But I love the tamal, how it's so soft. Mixed with that, like very tender. Yeah, I find it to be a really complimentary combination. Everything was delicious, but this... Well, this and agro. Nice, and that's exactly what I want to hear. Yeah, right? The Cuban sandwich is made with our marinated pork, marinated for nine hours, slowly roasted for four. We have our smoked ham in there. We also have our Swiss cheese, some homemade pickles, and of course, always made on our homemade Cuban bread. So we make our bread fresh throughout the day in-house. Bread, obviously, it's toasted, really nicely toasted. The cheese melted on the inside, and it goes in the grill for about three to four minutes. Here we go. One of the best Cuban sandwiches in the world. Awesome. I can't wait. Oh, my God. So next, we're going to El Chalan. It's one of Miami Beach's oldest Peruvian restaurants. El Chalan. I've never been to El Chalan. Really? I'm super happy. Mostly places that we're going, I've never been to. Yeah, exactly. And they're all either mom and pop businesses or they've been here on the beach for over 10, 15 years. So we're here at El Chalan, Miami Beach's oldest Peruvian restaurant. And today, we're going to be trying some amazing ceviche and their traditional lomo salteado. So El Chalan is the oldest Peruvian restaurant on the beach. Yes. And obviously, we're going with ceviche. This is the best thing in the world. It's my go-to. Every single day, I can eat this. I eat it like three times a week right now. Fish with lime juice. Here we have shrimp. We also have this corn, which is my favorite corn. It's like a big corn. They have the choclo and the cancha. The choclo, yeah. That's the lomo salteado. Pieces of beef, very, very tender. They're marinated in a little soy sauce. It's funny because you say soy sauce and I can smell it. Yeah, you can. It's so delicious. I have to make sure that I get a piece of everything in every bite because that's how it really works. The salsa verde is a little spicy, but it's very delicious. And the sauce is secret. They won't tell us what it is. But I put it all over my ceviche. Oh, yeah. Seriously. Wow. Pretty. You said it's spicy, right? Cool. That's hot. Yeah, it's hot. You have to mix everything together. That's the way to do it. This is like hot. But I love it. Loin? Yeah, it's loin. Oh, my God. I wish you guys could try it. The lomo salteado is so, so tender and flavorful and juicy. Gotta try it with the super spicy sauce. Wow. You really go all in. Yeah. Not spicy enough. No, I'm joking. So that was our trip to El Chalan on the beach here in Miami Beach. And we're just right across from the Lowe's Hotel right here. We're gonna take a little trip to Ocean Drive. This is the start of Ocean Drive. We're gonna take a little stroll down here and check it out. This is like the most famous street in Miami. For sure. Yeah, for sure. Here you have all the Art Deco buildings. And you have this park right here. So what is this park? So Lumus Park was donated to the city of Miami Beach by the Lumus Brothers. Where developers back in the day when Miami Beach was being constructed into the beautiful paradise that we live in today. They ran out of money and they donated the park to the city under one condition. That the city would never ever develop the green space. And so forever it will remain a park. That's amazing. I had no idea about any of this. This is an architectural marvel here in South Beach. So it won an architecture prize when it was first constructed. And you'll see why. Because as we're walking along here there's windows in the ceiling that you can look right up through into the swimming pool. We're basically cutting through this hotel. Look at that building right across the street there. What does it come across to you as when you look at that building? The style of architecture. Does it resemble anything in particular? It does look like a cruise ship. I mean the way it goes up into that little thing. And so that was actually a very typical period. The nautical Art Deco. And then you see the resemblance between that building and when we get across the street. We're going to show you this building. And you're going to see the difference in the time. Time lapse. So they're both the same. But one is modern and one is the old Art Deco style. That's a more modern building. They literally just kept the outside of the old building and built this modern. It looks like this condo for sure right? It looks like condos. It's like an apartment hotel. So this is actually our latest addition to Miami Food Tours. And it's called Adricks Cafe. And it's an Italian bakery. They use amazing products all the way from Italy. And today we're going to check it out. These are called Bombas. Bombolone in Italian. And it's a traditional Italian donut. They stuff it on the inside with a bunch of different creams. And everything obviously is homemade to a high quality. And these people just opened in November of 2017. And it's two owners, Salvatore and Andrea. And they're best friends. And they moved here to Miami Beach to open this delicious bakery. So this is the Bomba. The Bombolone. And you dip it into their slow drip Italian coffee. Oh it looks so good. Oh nice dough. Sugar. Oh this is so delicious. And very light right? Very light. Dude I need a coffee so bad. The croissants. Everything is amazing. I was about to go in there and buy stuff. But I'm going to limit myself. Very very light. The coffee is really good. It's Italian drip. I've never heard of it before. And you know what I like about it? It's good coffee if you don't need sugar. When you don't need sugar and it tastes good. That's good. So now we're going to cross Española. Española is one of our main streets here in South Beach. So we got Lincoln Road, Española and Ocean Drive. Those are the three main streets here. So this is where all the gangsters like Al Capone and his family used to go to stay. And they had an agreement in place that basically every time they came to Miami and Miami Beach. There would be no fighting, there would be no shootings, no killing. And this is one of the only places that they could come and enjoy their free time, their vacation. And not have to worry about something happening to them or their families. Just so you guys know this place is bumping at night. It's a great place to come and get drinks. And especially on the weekends. Yeah definitely. Amazing. We made it back to Lincoln Road and we're headed to our last place. We're going to have ice cream. But he's telling me it's like a gluten free kosher. Yeah they got a little bit of everything. So they make their ice cream in house. It's called the Freeze Ice Cream Factory. So it's a family owned business again. And it's right off Lincoln Road here on Michigan Avenue. And I would suggest that anybody that comes to Miami Beach tries this ice cream place out. They don't just have organic flavors. But they also have gelato. They have a bunch of different stuff and it's all kosher. Bosch is my favorite but they don't have that one right now. The Bosch was named after Chris Bosch of the Miami Heat. I don't know what do you think we should have? Everything looks good. All the ice creams here. The Whopper, dulce de leche, dark chocolate almonds. My god everything looks so good. Can I try something? Yeah you can try as many of them as you want. Which one is this? Grape, nuts and raisins. That was so good by the way. Next one I'm trying is dulce de leche. Yes. What's up man, David. How are you doing? Good to see you again. Also one of the best sellers is cappuccino chips. Cappuccino. Mind-blowing. Wow. I've never had that with chocolate chips inside? Yeah and some cinnamon. That's incredible. Almond pistachio. Many people ask why it's not grape. It's very simple. We don't use food coloring. It's amazing. Almond and pistachio. How does that taste? That's the best ice cream I ate. Really? No, of course. Cappuccino and vanilla decadent with, what does it have? Vanilla? So cake, homemade fudge and chocolate chips right here. It's too good. Yeah, so 16% butterfat is the highest that we allow to put. Which makes it very creamy and very rich. Everything is homemade from scratch. Cold passion sorbet. Wow. So here we have some of the realest sorbet. This is made out of pure mango. It feels like I just bit into a mango. Yeah, it's a mango. We have champagne. It's real champagne. Really? Champagne? Let's go. Don't eat and drive. It's real champagne. Is that Moet? Delici. It's very sweet. Kids like it. People who say we are not a type of, you know, we don't sorbet type of people. They're crazy about it as well. That's amazing. And your chocolate peanut butter is real. Very, very nice. Okay. And it's creamy because the peanut butter is creamy. Oh my god. Like, yeah, peanut butter cup type of thing. Yeah, but it's very sweet. So I went a little nuts here. It's because I fell in love with this lychee sorbet. I love lychee. It's like I'm eating the fruit. This feels like I just took a passion fruit, squeezed it into a cup, froze it. We did it. We went to five places. We ate so much food, but I gotta say, well, I loved everything, but this was out of control. This was in partnership with Miami Food Tours. So look them up when you're coming to Miami to do a South Beach food tour. They also have a Wynwood food tour that we're going to be doing soon. Dude, thank you so much, Omar. Thank you, Dave. Thank you. Awesome. Absolute pleasure. Look forward to next time, guys. I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked the video, please give it a thumbs up. Leave me a comment below and subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. See you next week on the next adventure.