Tulum, the New Restaurant Atop Brickell’s W Hotel, Takes Lunch to New Heights
If it’s time to impress a client or colleague with a refreshing new venue with a spectacular view, it would be hard to beat Tulum, the new restaurant atop the W Hotel in the Icon building on Brickell at the Miami River Bridge. Designed with earth tones reminiscent of its namesake flagship in Doha, Qatar, Tulum tips its culinary hat to the Mexican city that once thrived as a resort destination for the Mayan elite, and it’s one of Miami’s best for a business lunch.
The menu is an eclectic mix of dishes that range from Mexican-leaning cuisine like tacos with marinated skirt steak ($22), nachos with guacamole ($20), and crispy grilled octopus with chimichurri ($24) to selections that have no apparent connection to Latin America. But it’s these outliers that make Tulum an interesting place to eat.
We tried the Tulum Beast Burger ($29), a toothsome blend of bison, elk, wild boar, and wagyu beef, with demi-glace mushrooms and grilled queso fresco. We also tried and loved the aji chicken sandwich ($22) with buttermilk fried chicken, roasted tomato gremolata slaw, and aji aioli on a brioche bun. An excellent combination of crunchy, juicy chicken with a tangy sauce that held a perfect hint of heat.
We also tried dishes that had more of a Mediterranean vibe, like lightly fried olives ($11), a first for us, and a cucumber, tomato, and goat cheese salad that may as well have come from the Aegean islands. Our favorite was the “Dirty Blue” salad ($16), that augmented its garden greens with blue cheese, black cherries, candied walnuts, cherry tomatoes, and brined olives. To this we added the seared catch of the day for a hearty meal.
What makes the food at Tulum taste even better is the setting. With seating both inside and out, including at a long, sleek bar, diners have stunning views from the 15th floor of the W Hotel – itself easy to access by foot from Brickell Avenue. The interior is replete with tropical plants and floor to ceiling windows – and vistas that stretch across Biscayne Bay, as well as over the tops of, and through, neighboring high rises. The service is also warm and attentive, completing a perfect package for midday dining.
