It’s not often that a restaurant has both scene and substance, but the Forge is that rare exception. The decor is mad, trashy, Miami-baroque – wood panelling, over-sized chandeliers with lamps at crazy angles, huge gilt mirrors, random collections of divans and thrones to lounge on. The menus come backed by heavy mother-of-pearl stuff and the bill comes in the same sort of box with a mirrored interior (we expected 1/2 a gram along with our credit card back to be honest).
The people – well, on first glance it was more family orientated that I’d thought. There were lots of large, inter-generational tables noshing down. But on closer inspection, perhaps they were more Families with a capital F – the fathers were distinctly hard-eyed and twitchy, the daughters just the wrong side of tarty, the mothers overdyed and overstuffed. There was a lot of Russian being spoken. One party consisted of a guy accessorized with enormous blingy chains with diamond crosses, a skintight t, steroids, his girlfriend and – of course – his mum. He attracted attention from the other patrons like a celebrity and we wondered whether he was a minor reality star or a major player in the local sub-economy. It was all a bit Scarface 2011 and I loved it.
But apart from the local fauna, I’d come to the Forge to eat anytime based on this first meal. Every plate was beautifully presented and portions were European without being stingy. Oysters were lovely (perhaps not quite as good as The River but no matter) and tuna tartare and citrus-marinated salmon starters were nicely sized and extremely tasty. For seconds, a grouper fillet special was topped with an enormous scallop with mash on the side and went down very well, as did grilled salmon which let the fish shine through rather than being overpowered with Japanese flavours. Our smallest co-diner had the largest dishes, disproving the adage that you shouldn’t eat anything larger than your head. His burger and fries disappeared swiftly, followed by the excellent, enormous pre-ordered chocolate souffle with very good ice-cream, which the rest of us helped him out with. Mr. R&R then had a nougat cheesecake chaser, which he very much approved of. The service was speedy, accurate and solicitous (after initial experiences with BLT this week that was a relief) and the bill was a pleasantly reasonable surprise, probably reflecting the slightly out-of-Miami-beach location.
Overall – go dressed for Jersey Shore, but expect superb food.
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