Michelin-starred Coral Gables destination Shingo It is a 14-seat restaurant with $275 seasonal tasting menus and an interior that was built in Kyoto before being dismantled, shipped and rebuilt at its final destination in Florida. Shingo, which specializes in omakase featuring ultra-fine nigiri and signature items like eel with caviar, is at the pinnacle of fine Japanese restaurants in Miami.
But for their next restaurant, Chef Shingo Akikuni and his partner Kenzi Mutai are aiming for something more accessible. standing, Which will begin daytime service in Coral Gables on Thursday, June 4, and has 24 seats cafe With an emphasis on sundos, bento boxes and shio skillets along with matcha and coffee.
“When you grow up in Japan, J“The coffee culture is so big, and these bakeries are in every neighborhood,” Motai, who was born in Tokyo, tells the Observer. “I grew up going to bakeries. In every Japanese home, there is shokoban, Japanese milk bread, inside the house.
For Osaka-born Mutai and Akikuni, Stand is about returning to their roots and the food they enjoy eating day in and day out.
“It’s always been a part of us,” Motai says of his and Akikuni’s love of the Japanese language. Cafés. “We’re trained to do fine dining, but as people, we’re pretty casual. We wanted to create something that was approachable. Shingu is expensive and it’s not necessarily a concept you can go to every night. So our goal is to continue to create more Japanese food concepts and bring more Japanese food and our culture to people in Miami. We just celebrated the three-year anniversary of Shingu. And two years ago, we were talking about creating a nice place in the neighborhood where we could have sando, onigiri and bento for lunch.”
Stand that It will also have private label matcha coffee from Japan and private label coffee from Guatemala, while offering specialty drinks such as matcha with strawberry puree, Inspired by Japanese kisaten culture and convenience store fare. But this new restaurant, of course, takes a chef-driven approach to its everyday food.
Head kitchen Lania Andrade, most recently pastry chef at Shingo, leads a team that bakes chocoban in-house. Research and development of milk bread was an arduous process. Andrade, Akikuni and Mutai traveled to Japan last summer and got a taste of a different kind of chocopan. Mutai, who spent the latter part of his childhood in New Jersey, also had some help from his parents.
“I had them charge the Chocoban from AC“I grew up with it,” he says. “In New Jersey and New York, there are a lot of Japanese people, Japanese bakeries and Japanese stores. Cafés. There’s also something very authentic.”
After six months of testing to perfect Stand’s fluted milk bread, Moutai is convinced that Stand’s Chocopan is completely authentic. The Stand’s chocopan is the base for sandos filled with egg salad, chicken katsu, wagyu and other options. the CThe afé also has toasted bread in flavors like pizza and sweet potato.
Stand uses the same dough for skillet shio (buttered salt bread) with options including chocolate, sausage and curry.
“Curry is a staple in Japanese households, and I probably ate a bowl of curry every day growing up,” says Motai.
In addition to the Stand’s takeout options, which also include onigiri, the restaurant serves sandwiches, salads and made-to-order bento boxes (with seasonal proteins, sides, rice and miso soup). Stand lets you access things with shio pans that start at $3.50, sandos that start at $12, and bentos available for under $20.
“Interest in Japanese food seems to be at an all-time high,” says Motai. “We feel a responsibility to give people the most authentic experience. We’re really excited and happy to be able to share this cuisine in an approachable and affordable way. We feel like Japanese ambassadors here in Miami. It’s about having those authentic products that we grew up with and really enjoy eating every day.”
The stand starts out as a daytime walking destination. The space will add dinner service, with reservations available, in the fall. This will be in the form of a dimly lit izakaya with a set menu, which may include Japanese foods such as karaage and ramen paired with sake, beer and wine.
“We brought in a chef from Japan for the night’s concept,” says Mutai. “I think izakaya allows us to explore a lot of different types of food. If something stands out and becomes really popular, we might look at it and say, ‘Hey, maybe we should open something based on that.'”
The pavilion is located at 98 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, FL 33134, and will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
