This Japanese spot from New York just opened its second Florida restaurant in Miami
With new Japanese restaurants popping up around town and two new Miami Michelin stars going to upscale sushi spots, Miami’s love affair with omakase-style dining continues.
It can be an expensive romance, though. Excluding a handful of more reasonably priced restaurants like Mr. Omakase or Ahi Sushi in Little Havana, a Miami omakase dining experience can range from $225 to $350 per person, and that’s not even counting the drinks, sake pairings or other add ons.
Enter New York import Bondi Sushi, which offers a 12-piece omakase experience for $75 (by contrast, Mr. Omakase’s 10 piece experience is $89; Ahi Sushi’s is $130). Bondi, which opened its first Florida restaurant on West Avenue in Miami Beach last year, has just opened its second South Florida spot in Midtown Miami.
Co-owner Aiden Carty says that a reasonable price point is a big part of Bondi’s mission.
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“We’re trying to democratize sushi,” he says. “Omakase is a great opportunity for us to introduce it to people who aren’t familiar with all types of sushi, to make it more accessible.”
There are two facets to the new Bondi: a 1,600-square-foot dining room with an elegant counter that seats 20 as well as a 16-seat patio area with banquette seating.
Next door, there’s a separate entrance for picking up food to-go. The brand launched in New York as a take-out and delivery option in 2017 and evolved to include sit-down spaces for omakase and sushi options. Bondi added crispy rice and its famous hand rolls — including a wagyu hand roll and another stuffed with spicy, delicious blue crab — to its menu.
The Midtown Bondi boasts all of those items, plus something new: A hot entree menu, with choices like a tender miso black cod, sweet and smoky pork belly bao buns and a delicately flavored tempura rock shrimp (or cauliflower, if you prefer a vegetarian option). There area also wagyu dumplings with pastrami, a startling combination that could become habit-forming quickly.
Adding hot entrees is “the natural next step of innovating,” says co-owner David Hess.
Not all of the new menu items are available for take out, though. Carty said the take-out menu is specifically designed to include what travels well. You can’t order the gorgeous Hokkaido scallops to go (though you’ll want to eat them if you dine in), but you can order sashimi, nigiri, rice bowls and crispy rice for delivery or takeout.
Hess and Carty expect the Midtown restaurant to do a brisk takeout and delivery business, with Hess estimating that at some locations delivery and takeout make up almost 50 percent of the orders.
If you choose to eat at the restaurant, you can partake in a cocktail menu curated by Bondi’s sister concept, the Michelin award-winning omakase restaurant Noda and cocktail bar Shinji’s. The drinks menu includes the photogenic Seafoam (citrus sake, cocchi Americano, blue spirulina, yuzu and Seafoam); the Honey Dew (shochu, Midori, cucumber, shiso, lime and sparkling wine); and the Lavender Haze (sake, lemon, butterfly pea and lavender).
Bondi also plans to offer a weekday happy hour that includes not only drink specials but $5 hand rolls (and that includes the wagyu hand roll).
Carty said that though the Miami Beach location was Bondi’s first foray into Florida, he and Hess had their eye on Midtown all along.
“When we first started to look at the Miami market, I looked at this square,” he said. “It’s such a nice balance of residential, office and retail. It’s a great community feel to it. You can tell people live here and work here. It’s comparable to our most successful stores in the Upper East Side and the Upper West side.”
The brand isn’t finished expanding into South Florida. A Brickell restaurant will follow, with a fourth Bondi opening by the end of 2024 in Oakland Park in Broward County. The Oakland Park Bondi will offer a new element: a cocktail speakeasy.
“We really see a place for us for different opportunities here,” Carty said. “We’re always evolving.”
Bondi Sushi Midtown
Where: 3409 NE First Ave., Miami
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily; happy hour 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday; brunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Reservations: Resy
More information: www.bondisushi.com
