Miami might be en route to becoming the world’s financial capital and one of the US’s most valuable real estate markets but it’s not the Florida city with the most food buzz, according to Michelin.
That honour goes to Orlando. The spiritual home of Mickey Mouse has four new one-star restaurants, according to the 2024 Florida Michelin Guide, which was announced on Thursday night.
Miami added three new one-star spots. Tampa, the other Florida city recognised by Michelin, can boast two new one-star restaurants. Florida now has a total of 26 starred restaurants, seven more than last year. The state’s highest-ranked spot continues to be L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon Miami, which retained its two-star status.
Newly starred locations in Miami included EntreNos, where chefs Evan Burgess and Osmel Gonzalez offer a global menu anchored by local ingredients. (Fishermen and farms are shouted out underneath each listed dish.) Grilled Sebastian oysters are topped with fermented potato crumbs, and smoked grouper comes with caramelized fennel.
In Orlando, Papa Llama also has a new star; the Peruvian restaurant from husband-and-wife team Kevin and Maria Ruiz offers a $95 tasting menu with courses such as lomo saltado—skirt steak served with cherry tomatoes—and ají panca marinated Cape Canaveral shrimp, served head-on, with the option of a natural wine pairing. Another newly starred spot is Victoria & Albert’s, the dining room in Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, where the tasting menu starts at $295 and might include langoustine tarts and quail with sunflower seed risotto. (The menu notes that Disney dining meal plans aren’t accepted here.)
“The guide has a long-term positive impact on the city it represents,” says Simon Kim, founder of Cote Miami, which has held one star since Michelin’s inaugural Florida awards in 2022. “The Michelin guide brings international attention from gourmands and that can stimulate the economics, investment, development and maturity of a place in a significant way.” He adds: “In just the past three years, Florida has seen a giant leap in its restaurants and Michelin is taking note.”
Japanese cuisine is the biggest trend in the new group of starred restaurants; four of the nine feature it. Among them is Kōsen in Tampa, where chef Wei Chen, an alum of the acclaimed (and expensive) Masa in New York, offers a choice of omakase menus that might include toro tartare with milk toast, as well as lobster in dashi. Michelin’s affinity for Japanese restaurants is nothing new; in the 2023 New York guide, about one-quarter of the 71 starred dining rooms served Japanese cuisine.
“Because local diners very much enjoy sushi omakase, we are seeing more and more of this type of restaurant emerge in Florida,” says Michelin’s chief inspector for North America, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of their job.
Yet one of the places that fell off the one-star list was the Den at Sushi Azabu Miami Beach. The guide also continued to ignore Major Food Group in the Sunshine State—none of its restaurants, including Carbone and the new Mexican spot Chateau ZZ, garnered a star.
Michelin also announced its Bib Gourmand winners—places where diners can, in theory, order two courses along with a glass of wine or dessert for around $50. This year there were 33 of those value picks, the same number as last year. The guide awarded a Green Star for sustainability to Kaya, a Filipino restaurant in Orlando where 90% of the produce comes from farms across the state.
The rankings were announced at a live event in Tampa. It’s the third year Michelin has awarded stars to the three Florida cities. It doesn’t recognize dining areas outside those places, even though Jacksonville is the state’s most highly populated city, with more than 970,000 residents, according to the 2022 US census. Miami might be Wall Street South, but it’s population is just over 449,000, according to the same census. (In late November 2021, a few months before the state’s inaugural star announcement, it was reported that tourism agencies in Miami, Orlando and Tampa, as well as Visit Florida, paid Michelin about $1.5 million to bring the guide to those cities.)
The list of starred restaurants and Bib Gourmands follows. New entries are marked with an asterisk.
Two Stars
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon Miami
One Star
MiamiArieteBoia DeCote MiamiElcielo*EntreNosHidenLe JardinierLos Félix*Ogawa*ShingoStubborn SeedThe Surf Club Restaurant (Surfside)Tambourine Room by Tristan Brandt
Orlando*CamilleCapaKadence*Natsu*Papa LlamaSoseki*Victoria & Albert’s
Tampa*Ebbe*KōsenKoyaLilacRocca
Bib Gourmands
MiamiBachour (Coral Gables)Chug’s DinerDoyaEl TurcoGhee Indian Kitchen (Kendall)Hometown Barbecue MiamiJaguar SunLa NaturalLucaliMandolin Aegean BistroMichael’s Genuine Food & DrinkPhuc YeaRosie’sSanguich de Miami*Tam TamTinta y Cafe (Coral Gables)Zak the BakerZitz Sum (Coral Gables)
OrlandoBombay Street KitchenDomuIsan ZaapNorigamiOtto’s High DiveThe Ravenous PigStrand*Sushi SaintTaste of Chengdu Z Asian*Zaru
TampaGorkhali KitchenPsomiRooster & the Till*Streetlight Taco