Taste your way around Tampa Bay, Florida’s emerging food hotspot

Tampa Bay’s food scene has long been rooted in beloved local staples, including the iconic Cuban sandwich. Piled high and pressed, this dish was said to have been invented here as a simple worker’s lunch during the city’s cigar industry heyday in the late 1880s. Today, Tampa Bay’s culinary scene honours its roots while continuing to evolve — and a toasty Cuban sandwich, thick with meats and cheese, is still a must-try at the city’s many sandwich shops and bakeries. A host of innovative food offerings have appeared here in recent years, including a handful of Michelin-recognised spots — while waterfront beer gardens, elevated food halls and pub-style neighbourhood restaurants provide something more casual. Discover some of Tampa Bay’s best dining experiences.

Enjoy a traditional sandwich 

Ask anyone in Tampa Bay what the must-try meal is and they’ll tell you it’s a Cubano, the city’s quintessential Cuban sandwich. Pressed with roasted pork, ham, salami, cheese, mustard and pickles, it wraps up the flavours that helped shape the city. One of the most beloved places to try a Cuban sandwich is La Segunda Bakery and Cafe in Ybor City, Tampa Bay’s Cuban neighbourhood. The shop bakes more than 20,000 Cuban loaves daily, and people line up to buy the bread and sandwiches alike.

Enjoy Havana-inspired vibes in Ybor City at Café Quiquiriquí, just off the lobby of stylish Hotel Haya. The cheerful cafe and bakery serves a delicious Cuban sandwich as well as perfectly sweet Cuban coffees, empanadas and pastries filled with guava and cheese called pastelitos.

Across the Hillsborough River, Cousin Vinny’s Sandwich Co was dreamt up by entrepreneurial New Yorkers looking to bring their city’s Italian-American flavours to Tampa Bay. The restaurant is known for tomato and mozzarella sandwiches served on fluffy focaccia. Back across the river in the downtown area, Supernatural Food & Wine has people lining up for breakfast BLTs and bacon, egg and cheddar sandwiches alongside its cult sourdough doughnuts.

Splash out with a Michelin-starred meal

The Michelin Guide has discovered the city in a big way in recent years, with several downtown restaurants garnering coveted Michelin stars. A few blocks from the Tampa Riverwalk, a pedestrian zone that runs along the Hillsborough River through the heart of downtown, Swedish chef Ebbe Vollmer delights diners with seasonal five and 11-course tasting menus at Ebbe - Chef’s Counter, blending Florida ingredients and Nordic techniques.

Also with one Michelin star, Koya has just eight seats at the counter and brings diners on a multi-course Japanese journey. The restaurant uses a plethora of standout ingredients, including blue fin tuna flown in from Tokyo’s Kagoshima fish market. A salty-sweet finish in the form of yuzu ice cream topped with uni (sea urchin) from Hokkaido is a must-try.

When The Tampa Edition opened in the Water Street district in 2022, it ushered in a new era of luxury for the city as Tampa Bay’s first five-star hotel. Here, chef John Fraser’s Lilac restaurant wows with tableside preparations of Florida red snapper, caviar service, and a champagne cart proffering flutes and effervescent cocktails to kick off the evening.

Another Michelin-starred downtown restaurant known for its showmanship is Rocca in Tampa Heights, all done up in blonde woods and cobalt blue accents. The tableside mozzarella cart here widens eyes as it arrives. Dishes including the tagliolini al ragu finished with 30-month-aged parmigiano are equally breathtaking.

Find a local haunt

Neighbourhood restaurants everywhere from downtown’s Water Street and Channel District areas to Seminole Heights and Ybor City draw local crowds for trivia nights, brunch and any other reason to get together and dig in.

At Sparkman Wharf in the Channel District, a lively complex of shipping containers filled with restaurants and a busy beer garden cluster at the edge of Garrison Channel. Among them, Gallito Taqueria does brisk business in mojo chicken burrito bowls, elote (grilled corn in a creamy sauce) and quesabirria (beef and cheese) tacos, which diners enjoy at umbrella-shaded tables on the waterfront lawn.

Ybor City’s go-to restaurant for Spanish and Cuban food is Columbia, which has been a venerable neighbourhood hangout since opening its doors in 1905. Be sure to order the cult 1905 salad with its generous lashings of julienned ham, cheeses, olives and tomatoes doused in the restaurant’s famous garlic dressing. Just south of downtown, Tampa Bay’s SoHo neighbourhood brims with youthful energy and beckons for a weekend brunch at Psomi, with its organic Greek wines, spanakopita (spinach and feta filo pie) and Greek custard-stuffed French toast.

In Water Street, Boulon is contemporary French American dining at its best. Merging Floridian flavours with French tradition, the restaurant's menu is home to favourites such as the lobster bisque and blue crab beignets. North of downtown, Rooster and The Till is the go-to for date nights in Seminole Heights, with its prix-fixe menus that showcase hometown chef Ferrell Alvarez’s culinary savvy for modern American food. And to the south of downtown, in a residential area near Bayshore Boulevard, trivia nights at English pub Mad Dogs and Englishmen lure locals for cold draught beers, authentic fish and chips and even a hearty shepherd’s pie.