Miami Must: This 20-Course Tasting Has You Wash Your Hands In Chocolate

Imagine sipping Champagne above a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, or indulging in a heavenly spa treatment with the Manhattan skyline in view. Even if your wallet can't quite stretch to a full-blown luxury getaway, sprinkling a touch of luxe into your travels can turn an ordinary trip into a memorable adventure. That idea sparked our new series, Flights of Fancy, where we take you along for a trip to the luxury experiences around the cities we adore.

The list of Miami’s luxury experiences is seemingly endless from cruising around on a stylish yacht to helicoptering over the skyline or springing for bottle service at a glitzy nightclub. Of course, not everyone has the big budget needed to enjoy the high life that Miami offers, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a small taste of it on your next visit.

If your wallet doesn’t lend itself to a fully luxurious vacation, leave room for at least one splurge-worthy activity that’s sure to be a highlight of the trip. As a South Florida resident and self-proclaimed foodie, I can say without hesitation that the rich culinary scene is one of Miami’s best features, and its many Michelin-starred restaurants offer the perfect, often pricey indulgence.

Editor's note: Elcielo has closed its pop-up in Miami, but you can still find this experience at their Washington, D.C. location.

Choosing just one restaurant to experience might be tough, but for a truly unique meal that will titillate your taste buds, provide social media-approved photo ops, and even let you play with your food, then I recommend Elcielo Miami.

Colombian Chef Juan Manuel Barrientos first opened Elcielo in Medellin and Bogota before bringing his culinary talents stateside to Miami and then to Washington, D.C. The menu changes seasonally and also varies from one location to the next, but one thing they all have in common is that Elcielo is about more than just incredibly flavored food, layered textures and artistic presentations. Believe me, every single dish is a full sensory experience, but what makes them stand out even more is that they each tell a story about a different region of Colombia.

There are a couple of ways you can enjoy a meal at Elcielo Miami. To savor the full extent of Chef Barrientos’ creativity, opt for The Experience, a multi-course tasting menu featuring anywhere from 18 to 22 “moments'' for the price of $289 pp. Optional wine ($198), champagne ($168), cocktail ($80) or mocktail ($60) pairings can also be added to The Experience. For an abridged version, the bar experience menu offers four cocktails paired with three appetizers and a dessert for $138 pp.

Elcielo Miami is located in the Brickell neighborhood, tucked away in an inconspicuous space facing the Miami River. If you weren’t looking for it, you probably wouldn’t know it’s there, and that adds to the exclusive feel of this restaurant, which earned one Michelin star in 2022 and has retained it ever since.

The Experience was divided into three stages: snacks, main course, and dessert. To open our appetites, we were greeted with a smoky-sweet welcome shot made of tamarind, aguardiente (a very popular Colombian spirit), and mezcal topped with a pineapple chip.

That was followed by a refreshing sorbet that combined the flavors of soursop, champagne, and white rum. With our palettes cleansed and our appetites ready, we moved on to the snacks.

Offering an elevated version of the Colombian buñuelo, a deep fried doughy ball with cheese, our first snack was a truffle buñuelo filled with creamy porcini mushrooms and truffle, topped with a black garlic emulsion. We had to eat it in one bite to avoid losing any of the warm, juicy filling, but that one bite was one of my favorites of the whole night.

Another snack I particularly enjoyed was the empanada filled with rice in a shrimp broth that was prepared using techniques from Colombia’s Guajira region. A delicate dollop of Meyer lemon foam graced the top of this empanada and though it immediately melted in my mouth, it left behind a citrusy punch that perfectly complemented the other flavors.

For the next step in this culinary journey, be sure to have your cameras ready. It’s the signature “Chocotherapy.” During this spa-like moment, our server poured warm chocolate ganache over our hands, encouraging us to rub it between our fingers before adding some sugar and coffee grinds to help exfoliate. Then we got to lick it all off.

The idea behind Chocotherapy is to help guests connect with their inner child, remembering times when they perhaps baked brownies, got a bit messy and licked the bowl clean. This was definitely a big highlight of the night not only because I love chocolate, but because it was such an unexpected and playful thing to do, especially at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Upscale eateries can sometimes feel unapproachable or a bit pretentious, but not Elcielo. Everything is thoughtfully explained, including tips on exactly how to savor the dish when it might not be so obvious, so anyone can partake and enjoy this truly hands-on experience with the food.

We revved up for the main dishes with the Tree of Life bread service, inspired by the chef’s trip to the Amazon. This flatbread, which is made to look like a tree, is made with yucca, mozzarella, paprika and basil, served with a toasted butter that had a subtle sweetness and a basil an oregano and cilantro sour cream that I could happily eat by the gallon. Call me basic, but that bread was another star of the meal for me.

The biggest dishes of the night were a yucca gnocchi topped with sweet plantain honey, served over pecorino cheese foam with slices of black winter truffle, followed by perfectly cooked lamb seasoned with Colombian spices and beer, served with goat cheese sour cream, sawtooth cilantro emulsion and red wine reduction.

Desserts were equally inventive as the rest of the meal, but my favorite was the coffee field moment. Small coffee plants were brought to the table as our server carefully prepared the perfect cup of Colombian coffee — a serving so smooth that it didn’t need sugar. And I always need sugar in my coffee. As we sipped on the coffee, liquid nitrogen was used to fill our table with fog, imitating the morning fog that often envelopes Colombia’s coffee fields. This was accompanied by a hazelnut truffle topped with a yellow butterfly and a bite of lulo gel and white chocolate cream made to look like the bright green emeralds that Colombia is known for.

By the end of the meal, we were certainly full, but most importantly, impressed with the creativity and thoughtful presentations of every single dish. If you can only splurge on one thing in Miami, make it this special dinner.

El cielo is the Spanish word for heaven, and that’s exactly where our taste buds were after The Experience.

Follow along for all your summer travel needs with our Flights of Fancy series and Jetset Journeys series.