If you’re looking for the best brunch in Downtown Miami, Café Bastille Downtown Miami needs to be at the top of your list. Whether you’re in town for a cruise, a quick weekend, or just exploring the city, this is the kind of place where you walk in for coffee and leave planning your next visit.
And if you’re staying nearby, it couldn’t be more convenient. I always tell people to start with finding a good location to stay in downtown Miami so you’re within walking distance of spots like this. Brunch without an Uber? Yes, please.
If you’re planning your day around downtown, I break it all down in my guide to One Day in Miami: The Perfect 24-Hour Miami Itinerary.
Café Bastille Downtown Miami has two entrances right next to each other in the same building — and they genuinely feel like two different restaurants.
On one side is the casual café. This is your grab-and-go situation: pastries, yogurt bowls, croissant sandwiches, coffee, matchas, smoothies, and a few small tables. It’s perfect if you just want a latte and something flaky without committing to a full brunch production.
Next door is the main sit-down brunch space. This is where the full menu lives — benedicts, omelettes, shakshuka, pancakes, French toast, steak & eggs, the whole lineup. On Sundays they usually have a live DJ during brunch, which adds to the energy without turning it into a full club situation. If you’re going big, this is where you want to be.
We obviously went big.
If you love pistachio, this is a solid choice. It’s nutty, lightly sweet, and smooth without tasting artificial. Not overpowering — just enough flavor to feel fun.
Incredible.
Balanced spice, creamy but not heavy, and not overly sugary but still sweet. I would order this every single time.
I also saw someone order the French Toast Cappuccino and it was adorable. It comes with cute little mini french toast bites. If you’re a cute-drink person, that’s your move.
These were unreal.
They’re topped with pistachio cream, fresh berries, white chocolate, and cookie crumble — and I genuinely could not put my fork down. The pistachio cream is rich but not overwhelming, and the berries balance everything out so it doesn’t feel overly sweet.
This is one of those brunch dishes where you take one bite and immediately know you made the right decision.
I would order this every single time and not even pretend to debate the menu.
This one is brioche with dulce de leche, berries, and whipped cream.
It was very, very sweet. Not bad at all — just sweet. If you love dessert-for-breakfast energy, this is absolutely for you. For me, it leaned a little too sugary, but I completely understand why people love it.
If your brunch personality is “bring on the syrup and don’t hold back,” this is your dish.
So good.
It’s layered with scrambled eggs, bacon jam, avocado, and tomato confit inside a buttery croissant.
The bacon jam and avocado give you that salty, creamy balance, and the tomato confit adds just enough sweetness. The croissant is flaky without falling apart everywhere (which matters). It felt elevated but still comforting.
I loved this one.
The next time I went back, I ordered the French Breakfast Burrito and I’m glad I did.
Instead of a tortilla, it’s wrapped in a thin crêpe and filled with cheddar eggs, peppers, onions, avocado, potatoes, and Turkish yogurt spicy mayo, with your choice of protein.
It’s basically a French brunch twist on a breakfast burrito, and it’s big. The crêpe makes it feel lighter than a typical tortilla burrito, but the fillings still make it very filling.
If you’re in a savory brunch mood instead of pancakes or French toast, this is a great option.
Or if you’re like me… you order both.
Even though we didn’t order these, they were constantly being delivered to tables around us:
Smoked Salmon Benedict
Steak & Eggs
Ben’s Favorite Omelette (goat cheese, bacon, avocado)
Israeli Breakfast (a big, colorful spread moment)
Bae’s Shakshuka
Short Rib Bun
And then there’s the bakery case.
Pistachio croissants. Crème brûlée croissants. Nutella croissants. Monkey bread.
It’s dangerous in the best way. If you think you’re just “looking,” you’re lying to yourself.
Café Bastille Downtown Miami was founded by Paris natives Estelle Bellegy and Benjamin Amsallem. Instead of opening a formal white-tablecloth French restaurant, they built something brunch-forward and relaxed — French baking meets Miami portion sizes.
They lean into:
All-day brunch
Creative coffee drinks
French classics with modern twists
Big, shareable plates
The menu is creative without being confusing. It feels elevated but still approachable. And the important part? It actually tastes as good as it looks.
They’re also transparent about ingredients — cooking with butter and extra virgin olive oil, using beef tallow for frying instead of seed oils, offering free-range chicken and cage-free eggs, and even seed-oil-free non-dairy milk options. That’s not something most brunch spots advertise, and I appreciated it.
If you’re in town for a cruise, this is the ideal pre-embarkation breakfast. It’s right in the heart of downtown, making it ridiculously convenient if you’re staying near the port. If you need help deciding where to stay near the Miami cruise port, start by finding hotels in downtown Miami here so you’re within easy walking distance of brunch.
It’s also close to Bayside, which makes it easy to grab brunch and then walk over to explore the shops, marina, and waterfront restaurants. If you’re planning to visit, check out my guide to Bayside Marketplace Miami: Things to Do, Where to Eat & What to Know. Planning to explore the area more? Learn more in my post about Best Restaurants in Downtown Miami so you can map it all out.
You walk out full, caffeinated, and happy — which is exactly the energy I want before boarding a ship.
If you’re flying in, Skyscanner makes it easy to compare flight options into Miami. And if you want to add an activity before or after brunch, you can browse Downtown Miami tours here to turn it into a full day. I really loved this tour.
If you’re not staying downtown, Café Bastille also has locations in Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Weston. Same French-meets-Miami concept, just different neighborhoods.
But if you are in Downtown Miami?
Don’t overthink it. Go here.
If I went back tomorrow?
Iced chai latte and pistachio pancakes. No hesitation.
And maybe a croissant for the road. For research purposes.
If you’re visiting Miami before or after a cruise, brunch here fits perfectly into a short stop in the city. I also put together a guide on Cruise Ends in Miami? Here’s What to Do Before Your Flight if you have a few extra hours before heading to the airport.
Let’s talk about when to actually book that Dubai trip you’ve been pinning for two years. I get asked this constantly, so here’s the honest breakdown: October through April is your window. Anything outside that and you’re basically touring in a sauna!
October and November give you warm days and cooler nights, which is basically the sweet spot for wandering around without melting. December through February is peak season: gorgeous weather. March and April are the quiet insider pick, right before summer heat shows up and ruins everyone’s plans.
Saving this for later? That’s what it’s here for. Full breakdown linked in bio.
If you’re chasing energy, beaches, nightlife, and nonstop luxury, Dubai takes the crown. If you’re craving culture, iconic architecture, and meaningful landmarks at a slower pace, Abu Dhabi shines.🤍
My advice? Base yourself in Dubai and do Abu Dhabi as a day trip! The perfect balance of excitement and culture in the UAE.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Dubai and Abu Dhabi guide for tips, itineraries, and must-sees!
I do not like seafood. 🐟 So when I booked a tasting menu at a restaurant built around aquarium walls at Atlantis The Palm, I was nervous.
Ossiano sits underwater fish gliding past the whole meal, moody lighting, the kind of room that makes you lower your voice without meaning to. It’s not cheap, and it’s not trying to be. You’re paying for the entire experience.
Here’s the honest part: they have a vegetarian tasting menu, and I assumed it would be an afterthought. It ended up in my top five meals of all time. Course after course, the same care and precision as the seafood-forward menu everyone comes for. They even swapped in a steak for the main and it still felt cohesive with everything around it.
By course four you’re full. They bring out three more breads anyway. I ate all of it. No regrets.
Small detail that stuck with me my dress was black, so they swapped my napkin from white to black without me asking. That’s the kind of thing that tells you everything about a place.
Full breakdown of the menu, the vegetarian option, and what to expect linked in bio.
Dubai is all skyline until you drive an hour into the dunes and it goes completely silent. Bab Al Shams was that shift for us: slower, quieter, more intentional than anything we did in the city.
If you want nightlife or walkable everything, this isn’t your stop. But if you want a night that feels like a reset, it delivers, polished service, food I’m still thinking about, and a setting that never tries too hard.
Full review (and whether it’s worth adding to your Dubai itinerary) is linked in bio. 🏜️
I flew @emirates economy to Dubai fully expecting to just survive the flight. We booked seats by the exit row — @bradplummer1 got the legroom (he’s 6’7”), I got a normal seat right next to him, and it saved us money over booking two extra-legroom seats. Smart trick if you’re traveling with someone who needs the extra space and you don’t.
The food alone earned this post. Warm chicken, a Waldorf salad that actually tasted fresh, real butter on the roll, and a breakfast spread that put most airport brunches to shame. Add in the twinkling-star cabin lighting once dinner wrapped, and it felt less like a flight and more like the trip had already started.
Not everything was perfect — the wifi didn’t work for me at all, so if you’re planning to get work done in the air, download what you need beforehand. But that was the only miss in an otherwise excellent long haul.
If you’ve got Emirates lounge access in Dubai, use it. Showers, buffets, quiet corners to nap it makes the layover feel like a reset instead of a slog.
Full review seats, food, lounge, and the wifi situation is on the blog. Link in bio. ✈️
Follow @travelwithwendyplummer for Beautiful Beach Destinations, City Guides, Foodie Spots, and Luxury Hotel Recommendations.
