SOBE Fest | The Yummy Truth

The third day began with brunch at The Betsy Hotel. I couldn’t choose between the French Toast, Steak or BLT Popover. With help from my friend’s suggestion and the waiter I went with the BLT Popover to go with my white peach bellini. Now the bellini was no Cipriani’s Bellini but it was good. However the BLT Popover was amazing. The portion was huge and took me forever to finish, the tomato topped with basil on the side was fragrant and refreshing next to the perfectly poached egg and creamy Béchamel.

BLT Popover

If that was not gluttonous, the three of us shared dessert – the crêpe soufflé with passion fruit sauce. I am a sucker for passion fruit but combing a crêpe and soufflé seems ingenious. It was sweet, tart and fluffy in each bite.

Crêpe Soufflé

I probably shouldn’t have had such a big brunch before going to the SOBE WFF’s Grand Tasting but when you only have a weekend, what’s a girl to do? I had intended to see some of the demos but there were people seated for rows upon rows and then people standing around them that is was clear I wasn’t going to get to see much. We walked to each booth and saw people I knew from home before making our way inside the tasting village, which was filled with every wine and liqueur you could imagine.

I ate seafood, paella, and ribs until my belly was about to burst. The Cruzan Rum booth was definitely where the party was at, with the reggae music and calypso causing people to dance, drink rum and be merry. The five hours we were there flew by and I didn’t have to eat for the rest of the day.

All in all, initially I was disappointed with SOBE Fest but the weekend ended on a high and I was happy I went. I will have a short break from my Food Festival Tour until April.

Until next week…

Live, Love, Eat!

Arriving in Miami on the first flight out of New York on Friday morning was heavenly. We found somewhere to eat on Ocean Drive and even though there was a mouthful of cling film in my food as I chewed the first bite of my seafood linguine, the cool sea breeze coupled with the liberating warmth was a great start to the weekend.

The first event to kick off the weekend was ‘Party Impossible’. We waited in one stagnant line to trade our tickets for blue bands before going into another line to wait over an hour. After hearing rumours that the event had been over booked, eventually the police gave us permission to walk up seven floors to get to the event.

Over a hundred people began walking and I joked about the great cardio I was getting from walking in 4” heels. We got to level six of the Mall’s parking lot when a security guard said he could not allow us to go up to the seventh floor because the overcapacity is a fire hazard. People began running for the two elevators in sight as though they were running from Armageddon. When we made it to the party it was practically empty and as soon as I stepped off the elevator I saw people I knew from Jamaica.

To sum up Party Impossible briefly is quite simple. The wait was unacceptable. The limited food was disappointing since after all there is only so much cheese and bread one can stomach. The two inadequate bars was serving one Pino Grigio, one Pino Noir and Tequila, there was a Prosecco booth offering a bitter version of the sparkling wine I usually enjoy and the OR-G booth caught my eye with the orange fruity presentation of the liqueur but failed to deliver on taste. The desserts tasted like box cake with icing that was too sweet. You could barely hear the music and without dancing there was no party. On a more positive note Robert Irvine was humble and funny in person. After having to find my way into the event through the ‘back door’ I left after about an hour.

The second day in South Beach brought the best meal of the weekend. We went to Scarpetta at Fontainebleau. I enjoyed steak tartare, followed by a duck and foie gras ravioli and ended with a complimentary banana soufflé. In short, the service was comforting and the food was delicious.