Ogawa – a small river of Edomae calm in Little River

Ogawa sits behind an unmarked door in Little River, a once-overlooked corner of Miami's Upper Eastside, where restaurateur Alvaro Perez Miranda built an eleven-seat sushi counter that has become one of the city's most exacting dining rooms. The name, written 小川, means "small river" in a nod to the neighbourhood it calls home, and the restaurant comprises just an eleven-seat bar, nothing more. It opened in late 2023 and, within months, was awarded one MICHELIN Star, on 18 April 2024. At the counter stands Master Chef Masayuki Komatsu, born in Osaka, who leads an ever-evolving Kappo menu that pays homage to Edomae tradition: a sequence of small, seasonal dishes followed by eight to ten pieces of nigiri, closing with a handroll, miso soup and dessert. Perez Miranda, a Venezuelan-born art dealer, was the first Latino named Goodwill Ambassador for Japanese Cuisine by Japan's government, and he designed the room himself around the proportions of a traditional Japanese farmhouse.

01The room and the setting

The interior, conceived by Perez Miranda, draws on the classic Minka house, with wood, silk and gold-leaf walls set against large Nihonga-style paintings and traditional calligraphy scrolls. A private Japanese garden sits at the rear, tended by a local Ikebana artisan, so that guests cross a sliver of cultivated green before they reach the bar itself. The whole restaurant occupies a space of only a few hundred square feet, which is precisely the point: the smallness is the design, pulling attention tight onto the counter and the hands working behind it.

02The chef

Masayuki Komatsu has spent close to two decades on the Edomae path. He began at Sushiden in New York, sharpened his technique as a sushi chef in Monaco, and was later handpicked by Chef Morimoto to lead the kitchen in Miami, work that took him through Morimoto South Beach and Blue Ribbon Sushi in Miami Beach before he became executive chef at Hiyakawa in 2020. At Ogawa, where he is co-owner as well as chef, his sourcing network runs prefecture by prefecture across Japan, built so that each ingredient arrives at its precise seasonal peak. Royce Gaja Appling, who helped open the restaurant in 2023 and has returned as Head Chef, works the counter alongside him, focused on purity and balance across the luxury ingredients that pass through the kitchen.

Insider tip

Open Tuesday-Saturday, two seatings nightly; book ahead, the counter seats only eleven.

03What to order

There is no à la carte at Ogawa; the Kappo menu is the experience. It opens with small, seasonal dishes designed to showcase ingredients at their freshest, before the meal shifts into a run of eight to ten nigiri. Guests have reported courses built around hay-smoked Spanish mackerel and a nanbanzuke of madai, fried and marinated in a sharp vinegar sauce, alongside otoro, baby sea bream and A5 Wagyu worked with precision into the sequence. The evening closes, as the kitchen's own description has it, with a handroll, miso soup and dessert to finish.

04Wine and drinks

The beverage programme is run by Sommelier Luis Martinez, Director of Operations at Perez Miranda's APM Restaurant Group, who curates a list spanning classic wines, artisanal sakes and rare Japanese whiskies. A beverage pairing is offered alongside the tasting menu, built on grower champagnes, premium sake and classic wines chosen specifically to introduce guests to bottles they are unlikely to find elsewhere in Miami. Diners who prefer to bring their own are charged corkage of $75 per 750ml bottle and $150 per magnum, a detail the restaurant states plainly on its own site.

05When to go and booking

Ogawa seats guests Tuesday through Saturday across two nightly sittings, from 6pm to 9.30pm; it is closed Monday and Sunday. The restaurant asks for 72 hours' notice for any dietary restriction, though it cannot accommodate requests for no rice, no fish or fully vegetarian diets, and the same 72-hour window applies to cancellations for a full refund. Arriving more than 15 minutes late risks losing the reservation or missing early courses. For groups of up to 12, the room is available for full buyouts and private dining, arranged directly by email.

06The neighbourhood

Little River is still finding its shape: a stretch near the railway tracks on Miami's Upper Eastside, sitting just south of the Michelin-recognised Rosie's and La Naturel. Perez Miranda was an early arriver here in 2023, choosing the area in part because leases were markedly more forgiving than in the Design District or Wynwood, where he has said operating costs are simply too steep. That early bet has paid off: Little River now carries one of the highest concentrations of serious, small-format dining in the city, with Ogawa as its anchor.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.