By J. Fung Nov 23, 2019
Essensia Restaurant & Lounge is a tropical culinary paradise at the Palms Hotel & Spa in Miami Beach. The passion for natural gourmet cuisine can be found at Essensia as they focus on farm-to-table dining and using premium local and sustainable ingredients. Their cuisine has a blend of natural ingredients with flavors to remember. As we begin a new winter season, Essensia gave us a warm welcome to experience their new winter menu, year-round menu, and a tour of their beautiful Organic Chef’s Garden. Let’s begin our epicurean evening inspired by nature.
Essential Cocktails
A new winter season brings new creative cocktails at Essensia. Hand-Crafted Cocktails made with organic spirits and garden ingredients are the perfect combination for the freshest cocktails on Miami Beach. The New Essential Refresh-Mint is a blended dark rum with Branca Menta, fresh lime, garden mint, and demerara sugar. The Rose & Mary is a garden fresh cocktail made with Farmers Organic Gin, Lillet Rose, grapefruit liqueur, fresh lemon, and garden picked rosemary. Cheers to a new season!!
Organic Chef’s Garden Tour
Essensia is a leader in farm-to-table cuisine in Miami. A tour of their Organic Chef’s Garden on Miami Beach shows us their commitment to using natural ingredients in their recipes and cocktails on the menu. Essensia’s executive chef, Richard Earle, gave us a detailed tour to show us how their herbs and vegetables are incorporated in their cuisine and cocktails. From fresh lemons and tomatoes to dandelion greens, the garden at Essensia has the largest variety of natural ingredients grown on Miami Beach.
New Winter Menu
Our dining experience included the Salt-Roasted Beets, Acorn Squash Gnocchi, and Spiny Lobster Risotto. The Salt-Roasted Beets is a great starter selection. It is made with watercress, starfruit emulsion, bee pollen, and beet chips. The Acorn Squash Gnocchi is a main entree highlighted by its king trumpet mushrooms and lamb ragu. The Spiny Lobster Risotto is an amazing dish! A top 5 in the 305 entree that is a great combination of fresh lobster and risotto with aged parmesan, black truffles, lemon oil, garlic chive blossoms, and bronze fennel.
The Winter Menu also includes a selection of Harvest Salad and Cauliflower Soup for starters. The Sunshine S’mores for dessert includes red velvet cake, toasted marshmallow, blood orange sorbet, and raspberry caviar. The seasonal winter menu is available now through the end of January. Guests can choose from a three-course dinner for $55/person, or order a la carte with items from both the winter menu and year-round menu.
Year-Round Menu
The Year-Round Menu at Essensia has a diverse selection of natural cuisine. Our first experience included the Strawberry Gazpacho. A starter course with the perfect pour of gazpacho to blend with fresh strawberries, heirloom tomatoes, peppered goat cheese, and marigold. The Spanish Octopus is one of the most creative octopus dishes in Miami. The squid ink aioli combined with the octopus, fingerling potatoes, fennel, and haricot vert make this a great culinary combination. The Black Angus Carpaccio is also another great combination with bernaise snow, cured egg yolk, pumpernickel, and mizuna. A beautiful dessert to conclude or epicurean evening was the Strawberry Buttermilk Panna Cotta. A timeless italian dessert in Essensia style with fresh strawberries, white chocolate powder, and citrus marigold.
Looking through the Year-Round Menu, the Mahi Mahi and Mushroom Risotto would make our list of future entrees to experience. The Tuna Poke also has a creative combination with a unique blend of macadamia nuts, shredded carrots, green onions, and furikake. The warm flourless chocolate cake would be a good dessert selection made with Frangelico ice cream and candied hazelnuts.
Epicurean Evening
Dining at Essensia is an experience immersed in nature. Essensia is a leader in farm-to-table cuisine and is focused on including local and sustainable ingredients. Executive chef Richard Earle and executive sous chef Daryn Garcia lead a culinary team responsible for providing guests with natural gourmet cuisine with flavors to remember. We would like to thank the teams at Essensia, the Palms Hotel and Spa, and Diamond Public Relations for a wonderful fall evening dining in a tropical culinary paradise.
For reservations and more information on Essensia, please call 305.908.5458 or please visit www.essensiarestaurant.com. Essensia is open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. It is located at 3025 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33140.
