Babette Miami — Restaurant in Coral Gables

My wife and I had walked by Babette a few times while noticing how beautiful this new restaurant looked from the outside, but since we are foodie snobs, I was reluctant to eat there, because I have found that beauty on the outside often does not equate to great food on the inside. Well, so much for that general rule of thumb, and kudos to my wife for her being persistent and wanting to give it a try. From the moment go, the food was so delicious and sophisticated that we thought it resembled a Michelin star quality restaurant. We were not wrong, the food emanates from Executive Chef, owner, uber-talented and the vastly experienced Chef Dani Chávez-Bello that has worked at some of the finest Michelin restaurants and under the best Michelin mentors in the world, including New York’s iconic Bouley and 5-time No. 1 rated restaurant in the world, El Bulli. My wife and I got into an argument over the insanely delicious carrot soup (sounds boring I know, but don’t judge a soup by its name, just like I shouldn’t judge a restaurant’s beauty with its food quality). I bet her that they placed cream in the carrot soup to make it taste so good. She thought otherwise. She was right. Not only was there no cream in the soup, but no dairy of any nature. That was the first sign that the chef was special. The culinary creativity of Chef/owner Dani’s food only escalated from there, and was only eclipsed by the taste of each decadently delicious item. Chef Dani has also demonstrated in his menu choices that tasty can also mean healthy, where fried foods, butters, and cream are not necessary to garner flavor and maintain the purity of each ingredient within his sophisticatedly simple, but intoxicating dishes that burst from the flavor and purity of the ingredients. I am still dreaming about his perfectly prepared steak tartare appetizer with Osetra caviar dolloped on top. A combination of taste, mouth feel and creativity vaulted it into our top three appetizers all-time, and that’s saying something because we’ve eaten at every three Michelin star restaurant in the United States (except not all as of yet in California). While there is no guarantee that this aforementioned item will always be on the menu, since the menu changes monthly, it should be. This man is clearly a master of his craft, and is one of those humble diamonds in the rough that will soon be known in an area like Coral Gables, where this restaurant just opened a few months ago and is, thus, presently under the radar, but certainly...

It was my first time visiting this restaurant with my good friend who had chosen it for us. It's inviting from the outside and just as cozy on the inside. We tried many of the items from the menu. We started out with a Spanish bottle of wine which was so smooth. We had their homemade focaccia and butter which was made with absolute love. We then started out with the crab truffle flan (chawanmushi). This was my friends favorite. The broth was delicious and flavorful. My personal favorite appetizer was the Endives salad. I absolutely loved it and will think about it for days to come. So simple but amazing. For our entrees, we were highly recommended the lamb ragu. My friend chose this while I decided the strip sirloin. The lamb for the ragu is cooked for 8 hours and it was truly amazing. I'm more of a beef lover, so I throughly enjoyed my tender sirloin with its touch of crisp. Very texturally pleasing for me lol it is served with a bit of mash potatoes and a very flavorful sauce/reduction. For dessert we had a fondant type lava cake with a vanilla gelato on top. It was perfectly sweet and a great choice to end the meal with. The service from the very beginning was so lovely and warm and professional. The owners are making sure their guests are happy as well. They have created a very inviting and cozy place that I will look forward to revisiting. P.S. the music playlist is another aspect I loved. It leaves you wondering.. what's coming up next? A surprise for the ears. It's a unique touch that we really appreciated. I regret not getting...

We definitely enjoyed Babette.

We decided to come here after looking for new French restaurants, and this popped up.

We didn't have reservations, but it was already 9.30 pm, so we decided to try walking in. We were lucky since there was an open table for 2, but I strongly recommend making a reservation before coming here. The restaurant is small, and it fills up quite quickly.

The restaurant itself is very cozy and inviting. With dimmed lighting and bottles of wine in a center table, it's quite a beautiful yet simply decorated.

The service was attentive and very friendly. Everyone who works there was polite and very knowledgeable about their dishes. Food coming out of the kitchen takes a little more time than normal, but it didn't matter... we had wine and bread.

Everything we ordered was delicious, except maybe the apple pie, which was average..... but everything else was perfect.

Beet tartare Fennel salad Snapper capers and lemongrass. Sweetbreads, foie gras, aligot

Incredible.

Definitely enjoyed Babette, and I will recommend you give it a try.

BTW... it has a...