Hiyakawa Miami – sushi beneath a wave of laser-cut oak

On the ground floor of the Cynergi Building, at North Miami Avenue and NW 27th Street in Wynwood, Hiyakawa opened on 22 October 2020, its debut delayed from an original spring launch when the pandemic halted work on the space. The room belongs to Alvaro Perez Miranda, an art dealer who also owns Blackship Gallery and whose restaurant group includes the Michelin-starred Ogawa, Midorie and Wabi Sabi. For his own sushi counter, Perez Miranda turned to chef Shuji Hiyakawa, already known locally for the chirashi bowls at his all-day spot Wabi Sabi, and to New York-trained itamae Masayuki Komatsu, formerly of Sushiden, Blue Ribbon and the since-closed Morimoto in South Beach. Between them they run a contemporary Japanese kitchen that limits itself to fifty meals a night, built on agemono, yakimono and sushi served inside a single oak-framed room. It holds a place in the MICHELIN Guide selection, earned on the strength of its kitchen rather than spectacle.

01The room and the setting

Interior designer Bea Pernia, commissioned by Perez Miranda for what she has called her most ambitious commercial project, built the dining room around a single architectural idea: oak slats, cut by laser for precision, bent into a wave-like ceiling that arches over the room in concentric rings.

The structure plays out as a three-dimensional composition of wood paneling that frames an eight-seat showcase sushi counter and the handful of tables set beneath it. Against the pale wood, Hiyakawa shows off its minimalist take on sushi set against a backdrop of Perez Miranda's own collection of modern art and antiques, inspired by the sushi dens of Tokyo's Ginza district, so the room reads as much as a private gallery as a restaurant.

02The chefs

The kitchen carries two names. Shuji Hiyakawa, the restaurant's namesake, spent years perfecting the elegant chirashi bowls at his casual omakase spot Wabi Sabi before expanding into a fuller range of grilled, fried and simmered dishes for this more ambitious room.

Insider tip

Dinner Wednesday to Sunday, 6–9.30pm; closed Monday and Tuesday. Booking advised given limited covers.

Alongside him, Masayuki "Masa" Komatsu — the itamae, ex of New York City cult classic SushiDen and Blue Ribbon, along with the now-defunct Morimoto — commands the counter and now oversees sushi across Perez Miranda's wider restaurant group, including sister restaurant Ogawa. In recent seasons, head sushi chef Hiro Asano has worked with Komatsu to build a nine-course Washoku tasting menu drawing on regional Japanese ingredients, among them Ibaraki prefecture's Hitachi wagyu and Ibaraki melon.

03The cooking

The menu moves through the traditional vocabulary of a Japanese table — agemono for anything fried, yakimono for the grill, nimono for what's simmered, tsukemono for pickles — built around a sushi program that shines thanks to Komatsu's sashimi medley, assembled with fish flown in from Tokyo's Toyosu Fish Market.

Nothing is treated as an afterthought: from aged soy sauces to freshly made, not tubed, wasabi, the kitchen is obsessively dedicated to its craft, and the nightly cap of fifty meals keeps every plate within reach of that attention.

04What to order

Start with the usuzukuri, thinly sliced white fish in ponzu, or the sugata-mori, aji sashimi served with its own crisp fish chips. From the grill, the gindara miso turns a three-ounce portion of black cod in saikyo miso, while the A5 Hitachi wagyu arrives with wasabi crème and roasted potatoes. The yuzu kosho-glazed lamb chops and the Kagoshima wagyu gyoza make the strongest case for ordering beyond the sushi case.

At the counter, nigiri runs from hamachi, sake and akami through botan ebi and anago to the richer oh-toro and A5 Kagoshima wagyu, and the moriawase platters — Tsuru, Kame, a ten-piece sashimi assortment, or the full Sushi & Sashimi selection — offer a structured way through the case. To finish, there's yuzu honey mochi or a bowl of shaved-ice kakigori.

05When to go and booking

Hiyakawa serves dinner only, Wednesday through Sunday from 6pm to 9.30pm, and stays closed Monday and Tuesday. Seating splits between the open sushi counter and a small run of tables; the counter is more for the show, while the tables suit guests who don't want to keep conversation low.

Given the nightly cap of fifty covers, booking ahead — by phone or through the restaurant's own site — is the only reliable way in, particularly at weekends.

06The neighbourhood

Hiyakawa sits at street level in an apartment building on North Miami Avenue, in the middle of Wynwood's gallery district. From the street, it glows like an illuminated sculpture displayed inside a gallery, a deliberately quiet presence in a neighbourhood more often defined by murals and warehouse-scale exhibition spaces.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.