Coquina · The Pool Bar · Low Tide
Coquina takes its name from the shell-stone of the Florida coast. The kitchen buys from day boats in the Keys and Biscayne Bay, shucks to order and cooks the rest over oak and citrus wood.
Three rooms
Restaurant & terrace
A raw bar, a wood grill and forty seats on the terrace under the palms. Breakfast is unhurried: guava pastries, eggs with sofrito, fruit from Homestead. Dinner is louder, with whole fish for the table and stone crab from October.
Night lounge
Off the lobby, down three terrazzo steps: green velvet, low lamps and a back bar of rum and agave. A DJ plays records on Friday and Saturday from ten. Small plates from Coquina until midnight.
The menu
A sample of this season's menu. Dishes change with the catch; your server will tell you what came in this morning.
Half dozen, East Coast and Gulf, rotating daily. Shallot mignonette, lime and our scotch bonnet sauce.
Local yellowtail snapper in leche de tigre with sweet potato, red onion, cilantro and crunchy corn.
Lime, serrano and cucumber water, avocado, toasted sesame.
Sour orange, chilli oil, shaved fennel and sea salt.
In season, mid-October to May. Served chilled with mustard sauce. Priced by the pound.
Crisp, light and peppery, with Key lime aioli.
Charred over the wood fire, with citrus, salsa verde and crushed potatoes.
Sheep's milk feta, mint, pickled shallot, olive oil from the bottle.
Twice-fried green plantain, garlic mojo, smoked salt.
Grilled on the bone, mojo verde, pickled onion, charred lemon. For one or to share.
Gulf shrimp, octopus and the catch of the day off the grill, with lemon, aioli and herbs.
Split and grilled with garlic-lime butter and a green salad.
Lunch only. Brioche bun, slaw, pickles and hand-cut fries.
Wood-grilled, chimichurri, yuca fries.
Graham crust, torched meringue, lime zest.
Dark rum caramel and toasted coconut.
Warm from the oven, two to an order.
Bitter orange aperitivo, passion fruit, sparkling wine and soda. Our house pour at the pool.
Aged rum blend, roasted banana, demerara and two bitters, over one large cube.
White rum, fresh lime and cane syrup, shaken hard and served up.
Blanco tequila, guava, pink grapefruit soda and a salted rim.
Gin, cucumber, elderflower, lemon and soda, long over crushed ice.
Cucumber, lime, mint and tonic.
Brewed every morning and lightly sweetened.
Prices in US dollars, before 7% Miami-Dade tax and a 20% service charge that goes to the whole team. Consuming raw or undercooked seafood may increase your risk of food-borne illness. Tell us about any allergies when you book.
The bar programme
Every citrus is squeezed that afternoon. Syrups are made in the kitchen from guava, hibiscus and roasted banana. The ice is cut from clear blocks, and the zero-proof list gets the same attention as the rest.
Happy hour runs at the Pool Bar from 4 to 6, with half-price spritzes and oysters at $2 each.
Dinner by the sea
Ask for a terrace table at 6:30 and you will eat the first course in daylight and the last by candle.
Photos by Adam Jaime, MD ARIF JAWED on Unsplash · Photos by Jul Chi, RDNE Stock project, FreeStockPro, Matheus Bertelli, Boris Ivas, Helena Lopes, Nano Erdozain, Novkov Visuals, Cesar O'Neill on Pexels