(Miami) – There are moments that I get sick of the whole process of eating out in a restaurant: short listing, selecting, reading reviews, calling to reserve a table, dressing up, waiting in line, so on and so forth. The effort it takes could qualify as a full-time job. But I just hope I get paid to do it. Whenever I reach this point, I give up my foodie meticulousness momentarily and head to the quickest and simplest eatery I could find. Most of the time, my feet are led to McDonalds but a few instances, I find myself wandering in a food court.
Everything is quick and mass produced in a food court. But I had some great, ultra-comfort meals in some public food courts unexpectedly. How I miss those years when I was still in school and my allowance was meager and could only afford fast food or combo meals at a food court. I was addicted to KFC – the Manila version, thigh part only with 2 cups of rice flooded with gravy, spicy “sisig“ (minced meat, usually pork head, marinated in something sour) with a mound of rice and sizzling grilled pork with lots of Java rice. Now I am drooling. 🙂
Anyway, so I was in Miami recently doing the touristy stuffs and I had that moment I am describing above. I walked with my friends to the food court area of Bayside Marketplace. This time I thought of setting my camera aside and skipping food pictorial, thinking that there’s nothing above average at this place. But I was so wrong.
While my friends got their quick fixes at some Chinese stall, I lined up at this Argentinean grill counter, The Knife, where a guy, adeptly flipping and seasoning the meats on the huge hot grill, fascinated me. Still with my expectations kept low, I ordered skirt steak meal humbly served on a disposable paper plate. Nothing fancy, nothing complex, but everything on the plate is flavorful and complements each other. The steak is juicy, tender and tastes beefy; roasted vegetables are crunchy and well seasoned; fried plantain is fragrant, soft and sweet; bread is chewy outside and softy inside. All for $10. Wonderful! 🙂
Bayside Marketplace
401 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL 33132
(786) 871-4920