Amadeus recently won a Midas Award for innovation in the Street Food category. As part of the award win, the prize included an amazing opportunity to attend a five-day food tour of Miami. The Amadeus Board offered the opportunity to the team, and I was very fortunate to be chosen to represent Amadeus for this trip of a lifetime.
It all began with a very early (6:00am) meet-up at Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 on Friday 12th May. We arrived at Miami Airport at 14:30pm Miami time (five hours behind UK), and by 16:00pm we were checking in our hotel, JW Marriot within the Brickell area.
Known as Miami’s financial district, this area has had somewhat of a development boom in recent years. Only two decades ago, Brickell was a quiet neighborhood where you would never consider going for an impressive dinner. Since then, however, things have changed dramatically.
Now, every week sees the completion of a new skyscraper building, or the opening of a new restaurant, and thus Brickell’s culinary scene has had a total transformation. Today, the district is home to some of Miami's flashiest, big-name restaurants such as Sexy Fish and Nusr Et Steakhouse, as well as several dependable favorites.
The pictures showcase the actual view from my room afternoon and evening (yes, I know, jealous, so was I when I had to leave it behind). The urbanism of Miami challenged all of my expectations of the city.
The first evening provided the chance to meet all the group and get acquainted – made up of 75 people, 50 sponsors and 25 operators or award winners.
We were taken to a local sports bar/restaurant called American Social. With Miami Heat in the playoffs, it was thriving and busy. Located on the Riveria, it was amazing to watch guests use boat taxis.
Read the round up of day two here!
