Tantra at 1445 Pennsyvania Avenue in South Beach had been off my radar screen. That is, until Lee Klein of Miami New Times (he has since left) gave it a thumbs up as a leading choice for Miami Spice. I knew we were in for a fun evening when we smelled the incense, saw the erotic wooden sculptures, heard the new age style music, and stepped over to walk on the grass inside the restaurant.The idea at Tantra is to appeal to all of the senses to achieve “culinary ecstasy”. Sounds like fun, check. Something different, check. They call the cuisine “aphrodiasic”, a blending of tastes and textures from around the world. A special menu of Tantra martinis, eleven in all, carries out the theme with names like “Tantric Kiss”, “Sensual Pucker”,  and “Cosmic Play”.  Then it’s on to the Miami Spice menu, three courses with a choice of four dishes in each, that reflect the international mashup of dishes.

First up was the Thai Crab Cakes, baked Dungeness crab meat and rock shrimp served in a spicy thai chili sauce.  The ingredients were obviously high quality and they tasted of crab, unlike some cakes which have so much filler they don’t taste of anything. In fact, that’s a common thread here – quality ingredients. We also ordered the Aztec Caesar Salad (not on Miami Spice), an unusual version of the classic as it was deconstructed, with romaine lettuce, tomatillos, corn, anchovies, red onion and a flower garnish. Next was the ginger kissed king salmon, paired with the unlikely gingered black thai rice and napa cabbage which worked very well. My fellow foodie got the surf and turf, a combination of angus rib eye and lobster that was super fresh. Other selections included seafood hot pot cooked in coconut broth with shiitake mushrooms and Asian aromatics and Chicken Tikka. Desserts vary each day. Tantra has a festive atmosphere so not surprisingly there were several birthday parties the night we were there.
Sinisa Mihajlovic , the talented General Manager and amiable host, told us about their Monday night parties, surprisingly the “hottest” night of the week there. People come for dinner and stay to dance to live music until the morning. You can bet we’ll be back on Monday and will plan on taking Tuesday off (that will deserve another post, stay tuned).