Unleash Your Wednesday Nights With Novikov Miami’s Exquisite Ladies’ Night!

Ladies, are you ready to turn your midweek slump into a sensational night of celebration? Look no further than Novikov Miami’s exclusive Ladies’ Night, where the bar comes alive with complimentary cocktails for the ladies, creating the perfect ambiance for an unforgettable evening. Join us every Wednesday from 5 pm to 8 pm for an experience like no other.

Indulge in all your favorite hand-crafted cocktails during Ladies’ Night and let the good times flow. Our talented mixologists are ready to impress you with an array of captivating concoctions, from classic favorites to innovative new flavors. Ladies, whether you’re in the mood for a glamorous martini, a refreshing wine, or one of our fabulous sakes, the choice is yours, and it’s all on the house!

As the night unfolds and laughter fills the air, you’ll find yourself caught up in the electric atmosphere of Novikov Miami’s bar. Whether you’re out with friends or making new connections, Ladies’ Night is the ultimate opportunity to unwind, socialize, and create memories that will last a lifetime.

But the fun doesn’t have to end when the clock strikes 8 pm. After indulging in complimentary cocktails, why not extend the evening and treat yourself to an exquisite dinner? Novikov Miami is renowned for its Pan-Asian culinary creations, celebrating the vibrant flavors, colors, and textures of the East. With a menu that combines tradition and innovation, you’re in for a gastronomic journey that will leave your taste buds in awe.

Ready to experience the ultimate fusion of cocktails and culinary excellence? Make a reservation on our website, novikovmiami.com, and continue the fun by dining with us after Ladies’ Night. Located in the heart of Downtown Miami, Novikov Miami promises an evening of extravagance and flavor that you won’t want to miss. Join us for Ladies’ Night and let the celebrations begin!

Elevate Your Sundays With Novikov Miami’s Premier Sunday Brunch!

Sundays just got a whole lot more exciting with Novikov Miami’s Premier Sunday Brunch, where culinary excellence meets unbeatable value. Every Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm, immerse yourself in a gastronomic experience that will delight your senses and satisfy your cravings. With two exceptional packages to choose from – Premium ($199) or Signature ($99) – Novikov Miami offers an unparalleled brunch adventure that caters to every palate.

Our Signature Package at $99 is a treasure trove of culinary delights. Indulge in King Crab Crispy Rolls, Robata Grilled Branzino, Beef Fried Rice, Sweet and Sour Mango Chicken, and more. But the indulgence doesn’t stop there! The Premium Package at $199 takes your brunch to the next level with offerings like A5 Wagyu Nigiri, Crab & Caviar Siu Mai, Honey Truffle King Crab Legs, Wagyu Cantonese Noodles, and an array of other exquisite dishes that will leave you craving for more.

Both packages include unlimited drinks, bottomless appetizers, a premium buffet, dessert, and the freedom to choose your favorite gourmet entrée. Our buffet boasts a plethora of scrumptious items like the Seafood Bar, Hamachi Maki, Shrimp & Cilantro Dim Sum, Ultimate Spicy Tuna Maki, and more, offering an endless array of delectable choices.

Novikov Miami isn’t just a restaurant; it’s an experience. As the first and finest outpost of the renowned Chinese-Japanese culinary sensation in the United States, we take pride in our commitment to crafting exquisite Pan-Asian dishes. Located in the bustling heart of Downtown Miami, our unique and innovative restaurant concept combines the very best of Asian cuisine – from robata grill and wok dishes to an extensive selection of dim sum and sushi – all masterfully prepared using the freshest and most exceptional ingredients.

Don’t miss the chance to elevate your Sundays and indulge in the ultimate brunch experience at Novikov Miami. Explore our unbeatable offerings and make a reservation on our website: [https://novikovmiami.com](https://novikovmiami.com). Join us and savor the vibrant flavors, colors, and textures of the East while immersing yourself in an unforgettable culinary journey.

Rice: The Foundation of Chinese Cuisine 🍜

The foundation of any Chinese meal is rice. It is considered more than just a side dish as it might be for most Western meals. Meat and vegetables dishes revolve around rice. It is also usually eaten during all three meals in a day. Even the Chinese term for meal translates to cooked rice or “fàn”.

Rice has been grown in China as early as 10,000 years ago, mostly in the southern regions as the climate is more favorable for cultivation. The warmer weather allows for two harvests per year.

Rice is categorized into three types – short, medium, and long grain, with long grain being the most commonly prepared in China. Jasmine rice is considered a long grain variety and originates from Thailand but is also popular in Chinese cooking. Medium grain rice possesses a softer kernel and the majority of what is harvested is milled into rice flour. And short grain is more prevalent in Japanese cooking. However, it is ideal for making congee (rice porridge).

In China, the texture of traditional cooked rice should be fluffy and the grains of rice should be distinct and separate from each other so that it maintains its bite. This also lends a good chew to fried rice.

Glutinous (or sweet) rice, which can either be short or long grain, has the texture its name implies. It is prepared in some very beloved dishes – nuo mi fan, sticky rice with a variety of ingredients including pork belly and mushrooms, zongzi, the Chinese version of a tamale, an envelope of bamboo or other type of leaf stuffed with a savory or sweet rice filling, and ba bao fàn, or Eight-Treasure Rice – a steamed large rice dome containing eight types of fruits and nuts, served during Chinese New Year or at a banquet.

Rice can also be used as a seasoning for meats as well. Roasted rice is a blend of dry-roasted short-grain rice with Sichuan peppercorns.

Sizzling rice dishes are another example of rice’s versatility in terms of texture. The overcooked kernels at the bottom of the pot in which it is cooked is then deep-fried. As hot soup is poured over it, the rice yields a hissing sound.

Although white rice is still the most widely consumed, other color varieties are also grown in China. Red rice, which is usually fermented is used more for coloring, in char siu pork, Peking Duck, and pastries. Brown rice and black rice have become more popular recently due to their health benefits.

Rice in Chinese cookery finds its way into everything, whether it is traditional steamed rice, a seasoning blend, a classic fried rice, or a steamed aromatic dessert. Also, prepared in different techniques such as roasting, fermenting, or frying, showcases its versatility and complexity.

Explore and you’ll find your perfect rice at China Live, join us in the adventure.

The Eight Tables Experience – Nine Essential Flavors of Chinese Cuisine

Eight is considered one of the luckiest numbers in Chinese. Phonetically, the number in Mandarin, “ba”, rhymes with “fa”, the word for fortune or wealth. George Chen creates a unique dining experience around this auspicious number at Eight Tables, celebrating the best of Chinese cuisine. The restaurant is also aptly named for the number of dining tables inhabiting intimate, yet comfortably spacious, nooks in the restaurant.

You may at first think you’ve lost your way walking through a wrought iron gate to a mysterious alley approaching 8 Kenneth Rexroth Place. But you are exactly where you should be. Continue forward and you will spot an entranceway guarded by two fu dragons with a singular elevator to their right transporting you up to the restrained old-world elegance of Eight Tables. Imagine you are attending a decadent banquet at George’s and his wife Cindy’s home, as this is exactly their intention. Treasured black and white portraits of Chen’s family decorate many a wall further adding a warm welcome into his dining den, along with the sound of jazz from a bygone era playing on a vintage turntable. And then there is the extravagant mobile barcart likened to the most extravagant version of a home bar.

The feast that awaits you is Chen’s homage to shi fan tsai, or private chateau cuisine, a dining style of the Qing dynasty that has been revived in recent years across China’s cosmopolitan cities. It is Chinese cuisine through and through with a modern whimsy, style, and boldness, not to be confused as fusion.

Chen’s vision challenges any preconceived notions you may have ever held around the proud, and complex cuisine of China. At Eight Tables, he flexes his culinary muscle, showcasing the best of seasonal Chinese ingredients and techniques in cookery. The exclusive restaurant is a force to be reckoned with, considering the pedigree of its staff that includes Chef de Cuisine Chi-Feng Robin Lin, a celebrated chef from Taiwan known for modern and Hakka-style cuisine, and Luis Villavelazquez previously of Absinthe conceiving elevated desserts. The front of the house is run by Andrew Fuentes, an alum of The Restaurant at Meadowood, Coi, and most recently Saison, along with mixologist Andrew Keels creating inventive cocktails, and Tony Kim from the Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel directing the wine program.

The first course sets the stage with “9 flavors”, spotlighting Chinese cuisine’s nine essential flavors. The palette of flavors and textures represent the senses of taste – salt, sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, sharp, nutty, numbing, and smoky, awakening the palate to the next nine courses ahead that will incorporate each of these flavors more in depth. The taste of beef tendon with a garlic confit and mala sauce represents numbing heat, while a soy marinated clam with ginger and scallion evokes sharp flavor.

A visual showstopper second course, the Four Seasons Dumpling takes the classic dim sum dish of har gow (shrimp dumpling) to the next level, dotted with dollops of Russian golden osetra caviar, wild trout roe, Chinese Kaluga caviar, and finger lime “caviar”, (with variations depending on availability).

Other dishes that are sure to be on the greatest hits list include the nationally treasured braised and melt-like-butter Red ‘Dongpo’ Pork, and the Foie Gras Potsticker, enveloping a blend of rich foie gras with duck skin in a traditional dumpling skin pan fried into a beautiful crispy fan. Not only is each dish composed of a harmony of ingredients, textures, and flavors, but each also focuses on a technique, not limited to traditional Chinese barbecue (shao kao), steaming, frying, pan-frying or poaching.

The desserts, like other courses are balanced and never veer too sweet or too heavy. The Chrysanthemum Granita with yogurt and preserved plum and Chinese Sea Grass cake with passion fruit mousse are examples of savory playing with sweet for an interesting mix of flavors leaving you wanting more.

To pair with the vibrant and complex flavors of the menu, a 1,500 bottle wine list is on offer, some of which are from George’s personal collection. A grower producer champagne cart is also at your disposal, as well as cocktails from the bar not to be missed.

The menu at Eight Tables will continue to evolve and change with seasonal ingredients, but one thing that will be consistent is it will always be a special and intimate experience of Chinese food that will delight and surprise you.

Chinese Noodles: A Stringy Tale From The Far East

It’s no surprise that some of the most popular and slurp-inducing Chinese dishes include chicken chow mein, wonton noodle soup, and beef chow fun. Noodles are considered an important ingredient in just about every part of China, as it should considering that historically, it dates far back to the Han Dynasty around 200 BC. And helping further prove the historical and cultural significance with the country, in 2005, archeologists discovered the oldest existing noodle in northwestern China that was 4,000 years old, made from millet grains.

Each region has their own style of preparation and differs even in the way they produce the noodle. The ingredients, shape and width vary as well. Noodles are named after the type of flour used to produce them. Wheat flour based noodles are “mian” in Mandarin, or “mein” in Cantonese, the basic ingredients being wheat flour, water, and salt. With the addition of eggs, the egg noodles impart a richer flavor and texture and possess a slight golden hue. The ubiquitous sautéed chicken chow mein is made with wheat based or egg noodles. Hong Kong Style chow mein, made with a thinner egg noodles are fried, creating a crispy, golden crust.

Rice flour based doughs are referred to as “fen” in Mandarin and “fun” in Cantonese. “He fen” or chow fun is a flat, broad rice noodle that is commonly prepared by sautéing the noodle with beef and greens. Noodles can also be made with a mung bean or vegetable base. Egg is never added to this type of noodle. Typical preparations of the mung bean noodle include sautéeing with chicken or beef, soups, and hot pots.

It may be surprising, but the wonton belongs to the noodle, not the dumpling family. Made with wheat flour, recipes call for stuffing the noodle like a dumpling and for steaming, or boiling them in a soup. Popular wonton dishes include boiled wontons in chili oil and the ubiquitous wonton noodle soup.

There are a variety of ways to make noodles. They can be cut, extruded, or kneaded, similar to Italian pastas. But they can also be hand shaved from a ball of dough, or pulled –rolling the dough into a long rope and stretching and twisting repeatedly resulting in thin strands. There even exists a wheat noodle directly translated as cat’s ear, perhaps the predecessor to the Italian orrechiette.

The wide variety of Chinese noodles and their preparations provide an endless array of dishes to explore and relish.

Find your perfect noodle dish at China Live this season!

George Chen Presents: Eight Tables & Culinary Excellence

George Chen since his teens, has worked in more than a dozen restaurants before creating award winning Betelnut restaurant in 1995. Since then, Chef Chen has created and operated 16 restaurants worldwide and now is primarily focused on the entire culinary China Live experience, especially Eight Tables. Chef Chen is responsible for the creative menu development of all his restaurants and continues his mission to bring fine Chinese food to the forefront of worldwide culinary recognition.

Chef Chen’s vision is to elevate Chinese to the level of any other cuisine as perceived in the West.  At Eight Tables, Chen creates a hyper-seasonal menu that respects the long deep culinary history of Greater China but interprets cuisine in modern innovative and sustainable manner.

The décor is liken to coming to Chef Chen’s understated elegant home with superior personal service. The beverage program helmed by Somm Genaro Gallo overseas 800+ rare wine selections.