Audio By Carbonatix
Chef Shingo Akikuni built one of Miami’s first Michelin-starred restaurants. Now, he’s opening a 24-seat café in Coral Gables serving Japanese egg salad sandwiches and buttery shio pan.
Chef Akikuni and partner Kenzie Motai, the acclaimed duo behind Miami’s Michelin-starred Shingo, will open Stand in Coral Gables on Thursday, June 4. The daytime café will land at 98 Miracle Mile, bringing Japanese café culture to the busy corridor. Expect house-baked milk bread, “sandos” (Japanese sandwiches), matcha, pastries, and bento boxes.
For anyone familiar with Shingo’s intimate omakase experience, Stand might come as a surprise. The new restaurant swaps the hushed exclusivity of Michelin-starred sushi counters for something designed to become part of everyday life. The space seats just 24 guests and draws inspiration from Tokyo’s kissaten cafés and Japanese convenience-food culture.
Photo by Salar Abduaziz
Milk bread, matcha, and Japanese comfort food
For those who have traveled to Tokyo and Kyoto, the menu reads like a love letter to Japanese café culture.
Breakfast and lunch offerings include housemade pastries, onigiri, and sandos layered inside fresh milk bread baked daily. Plus, Stand will serve specialty matcha sourced directly from Japan and single-origin coffee from an award-winning Guatemalan farm.
But one of the biggest stars of the menu is expected to be the shio pan. For those unfamiliar, it’s a buttery Japanese bread roll made from the café’s milk bread dough. Rotating flavors will include cream, chocolate, curry, and sausage-filled variations.
Photo by Salar Abduaziz
Rounding out the menu are toasts topped with cheesy miso caramel, jammy eggs, sweet potato, honey, and roasted tomatoes.
The sandos sound especially dangerous in the best possible way. The sandos menu features Japanese egg salad sandwiches, chicken katsu layered with kewpie mayo and tonkatsu sauce, and even a wagyu filet mignon sando. Bento boxes with karaage, salmon, yakiniku beef, rice, miso soup, and seasonal sides complete the lineup.
Leading the pastry and bread program is chef de cuisine Lania Andrade, most recently the pastry chef at Shingo. Andrade has spent years working with Japanese ingredients and techniques, which will now anchor much of Stand’s bakery-focused menu.
Photo by Salar Abduaziz
From Tokyo inspiration to Miracle Mile
For Motai, Stand is deeply personal.
In a statement, he described the project as inspired by childhood visits to cafés in Tokyo and the quiet atmosphere those spaces created. The goal, he says, was to recreate that same feeling in Miami through a neighborhood café that feels intentional, warm, and approachable.
The restaurant itself was designed by Love Lake Studio and pulls heavily from Tokyo’s intimate café aesthetic. Expect minimalist interiors, natural light, handcrafted materials, Japanese ceramics, greenery, and an L-shaped counter anchoring the room. A small kitchen window allows guests to watch pastries and breads being prepared throughout the day.
At night, though, the concept will evolve again.
Photo by Salar Abduaziz
Evening izakaya is coming this fall
Later this year, Stand will transition into a nighttime izakaya with dim lighting, seasonal Japanese small plates, sake, wine, and beer. The café atmosphere will reportedly shift into something moodier and more intimate while still maintaining the minimalist aesthetic established during daytime service.
The nighttime concept will also place a strong focus on music and sound design, with high-end Lipinski speakers creating an immersive listening experience inside the compact dining room.
Miami has seen no shortage of splashy restaurant openings lately, but Stand is expected to become a neighborhood favorite.
Stand. 98 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables; standstandstand.com. Opening Thursday, June 4.
