The hot table
Try Social Miami, (1671 Collins Avenue, 00 1 786 594 3344; www.chinagrillmgt.com) at the Sagamore Hotel. Up to 1,500 people spill through the doors of the small, but perfectly hip, hotel each weekend to party around the white lobby filled with modern art, the garden and pool. The food is infused with a twist of kitsch that includes lobster nachos ($19) and Kobe beef mini-burgers ($17).
Karu&Y (71 NW 14th Street, 00 1 305 403 7850; www.karu-y.com) opened in November, and is Miami's first stab at El Bulli-style innovation and foamery. The food manages to reach what must be the highest point of hype (the hydroponic frisee salad or octopus carpaccio with duck cracklings, for example) while the bar, zen gardens, tiki huts and waterfalls all add up to 42,000 square feet of glorious indoor-outdoor post-Miami Vice excess. It is set amid the industrial desolation on the edge of Wynwood.
Superchef David Bouley's new restaurant Evolution on the Beach (1669 Collins Avenue, 00 1 305 604 6090; www.bouleyevolution.com) features a sushi bar, lounge and restaurant housed in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, with a fusion-based cuisine with influences from Asia, Europe and New England.
Everyone's talking about ...
Wynwood, a new art district that's so raw and emerging it is at least three years away from its first Starbucks. The district has a solid concentration of modern art, including the Rubell Collection, (95 NW 29th Street, 00 1 305 573 6090; www.rubellfamilycollection.com).
The Nicky O hotel - the supposed creation of Nicky Hilton (slightly more publicity-shy sibling of Paris) - will it ever get built?
The Carnival Centre for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, 00 1 305 949 6722; www.carnivalcenter.org) opened in October, but can the city's new auditorium ever tempt the notoriously shallow, beach-centric inhabitants of Miami into appreciating Aida and Swan Lake?
The place to stay
The Standard (40 Island Avenue, 00 1 305 673 1717; www.standardhotel.com) is almost impossibly stylish to look at (it's from the owner of the Mercer Hotel in New York), but the budget feel (and mid-range price) makes it Miami's most interesting hotel of the moment. The Turkish hammam and the Scandinavian sauna have met and merged into a spa where the emphasis is more on having a good sluice with your friends than zen-like serenity. An infinity pool heated to bathwater temperature and the clothing-optional, open-air mud lounge reflect Miami at its most indulgent. Doubles from $225 a night.
Regent South Beach, (1458 Ocean Drive, 00 1 305 672 4554; www.regentexperience.com) is the latest blast of full-on indulgence to reach South Beach. Nailing its luxury banner to the mast with a glass-bottomed pool from which you can look down into the lobby and Table 8 (an offshoot of the famous LA restaurant) as well as an outdoor gym, this 80-room hotel features no less than 27 penthouse suites, all opening onto rooftop terraces) complete with whirlpool baths and retractable roofs. It is therefore a shame that views of the ocean are largely blocked by Il Villagio, an ugly condo building on the other side of Ocean Drive. Doubles from $650.
Acqualina, a Rosewood Hotel (17875 Collins Ave, 00 1 305 918 8000; www.acqualinaresort.com) is in the traditionally Jewish area of Sunny Isles (about a $30 cab ride from South Beach). Next to the carefully cultivated wilderness and largely naturist Haulover Beach, Acqualina is a new take on a classic American resort hotel, with raked sand, three different swimming pools and Il Mulino, where a bowl of pasta will cost $130 if it is truffle season. Sunny Isles is being relentlessly Trumped (cue large pictures of His Quiffness on billboards). Doubles from $425.
Fads and fashions
Old-fashioned games are in. Sunday night bingo at the Standard and a monthly spelling bee at the Purdy Lounge (1811 Purdy Avenue, 00 1 305 531 4622; www.purdylounge.com) offer good old-fashioned fun, washed down with copious amounts of alcohol (the winner of the spelling bee gets a free bar tab).
Nitrogenised vermouth swizzle stick anyone? Try the cocktails at Barton G (1427 West Avenue, 00 1 305 672 8881; www.bartong.com), where dry ice is used in a new era of cocktail gimmickry.
Neighbourhood watch
Miami is a glittering incubator for everything faddish. South Beach is still the place, but Ocean Drive is giving way to the Venetian Causeway, where the bars are better (and cheaper). Around 18th Street, Bottega Veneta designer Tomas Maier has opened a concept boutique (1800 West Avenue, 00 1 888 373 0707; www.tomasmaier.com) selling perfectly sourced antiques, limited edition CDs and bags, and rigorously monochrome clothes. CPO (1800 Bay Road, 00 1 305 531 1899) is a flea market selling everything from Brady Bunch-era sun loungers to Chanel bags from $2 to $3,500, while around the corner,
Here today
Don't miss the parties at the Pelican (826 Ocean Drive, 00 1 305 673 3373; www.pelicanhotel.com). They take place each month at random times in the gloriously 1960s penthouse attached to the Diesel-owned hotel.
Bring a blanket and watch movies on the lawn at Bayfront Park with Sunset Cinema's Movies by the Bay (301 North Biscayne Boulevard; 00 1 786 425 1800; www.sunsetcinemainc.com). Entrance is $6-$9.
Movies on the Green (00 1 786 355 7785; www.moviesonthegreen.com) shows independent and foreign flicks every third Saturday of the month at 1177 Kane Concourse.
The JVC Jazz Festival Miami Beach (www.festivalproductions.net) features performances throughout the city from emerging musicians, 17-19 May.
The big night out
Clubbing in Miami is as much a part of everyday life as frequenting the corner cafe in any other city, and rarely has there been so much to titillate the hard-core hedonist.
The Miami scene is still dominated by DJs, but last year Studio A (60 NE 11th Street, 00 1 305 358 7625; www.studioamiami.com) successfully bucked the trend with a roster of live bands that covers everything from pop to alt-country. Lady Sovereign was among the recent performers in the 600-capacity venue, with booths, VIP area and an all-night vibe. Ticket prices are a reasonable $10-$15.
In the ghetto reserved for Paris Hilton acolytes, SET at 320 Lincoln Road, from the owners of Opium Garden, promises to be snooty and - for a short time - very hot. From the same owners, Mokai Lounge, which opened in September 2006, is more low-key, and, in a minute club (by Miami standards) mixes one of the city's finest DJs, Behrouz, with an unlikely Middle Earth theme (chainmail drapery, Hobbit-sized food portions) and a vaguely negotiable door policy (235 23rd Street, Miami Beach, 00 1 305 531 4166; www.mokaimiami.com).
Turfed out of New York for various violations, superclubs Sound Factory (1035 North Miami Avenue, www.soundfactorymiami.com) and Twilo (30 NE 11th Street, 00 1 305 375 0202; www.twilomiami.com) relocated to Miami at the end of last year - the first serious competition for the almighty Space (34 NE 11th St, 00 1 305 375 0001). Twilo inhabits a cavernous warehouse space, boasting Miami's best sound system.
Essentials
Pick up a copy of the Miami New Times (www.miaminewtimes.com) for restaurant reviews, caustic comments about Miami resident OJ Simpson and listings. For club reservations, www.cooljunkie.com has guest list information.
Flights to Miami with Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007; www.virgin-atlantic.com) start at £149 return. Virgin Holidays (0870 220 2788; www.virginholidays.com) has three nights at the Blue Moon hotel on South Beach from £519pp. Prices include return flights from Heathrow, accommodation on a room-only basis and car hire.
