My friends Garry and Veronika were in Miami. They're the couple that lives in Lima. He's Australian and she's Peruvian, and I always meet up with them for a meal or an activity or something every trip. Last December, they had me over for Christmas Dinner. He was in town for work, and she was keeping him company and keeping the Dolphin Mall in business.
Anyway, we coordinated, and I picked them up at their hotel by the airport at 1:00 pm. Veronika speaks little-to-no English, so I suggested that we go down to Calle Ocho and have Cuban Food at Versailles Restaurant.
The place is huge and we had a short wait before being seated. We started with Tostadas a plate of Mariquitas.
I had one piece of the Toast and a full third of the fried Plantain Strips. Veronika correctly identified them as a Cuban version of Peruvian chifles.
We then shared a couple of Appetizers.
The first was an assortment with two Empanadas, one Ham and one, er, Meat. I had half of each. There were four Ham Croquettes (1.5 for me), and some fried Yucca (none for me). The second dish were Tostones Rellenos. They are cups made out of pressed Planatin, and stuffed with a cold assortment of things, including Shrimp, Tomatoes, Onions, Cilantro, etc. They were really, really good. Veronika agreed -- she liked them, too.
Then the stuff we ordered individually showed up. I ordered the Soup of the Day.
This was a Bean Soup with Sausage and other delicious stuff. I would drive to Miami to try this again. Veronika passed on a First Course; Garry had a Shrimp Cocktail.
For our Main dishes, Veronika and I chose the same thing: Chicken Imperial.
This is cut-up Chicken Breast with Yellow Rice. I've had this before, and it is pretty good. Veronika liked hers, too.
Garry had the Lamb Stew. He ate some of it, but didn't finish it off. I don't see him often leaving over food, so I'm guessing that it wasn't his favorite thing of all time.
These are my second Peruvian visitors here in Florida. I am always concerned about taking them to eat; they live somewhere with every corner diner serving up food much better than what we had at Versailles, and Versailles is really good.
That was it for me for the day. I ate plenty in Miami.
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