Mottai Miami
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Coral Gables has a new sushi restaurant that blends Japanese cuisine, Miami flair, and a touch of Brazilian identity.
Mottai marks the first U.S. restaurant from Brazil-based Attivo Group, a hospitality company with more than ten restaurants across Brazil. Each concept has its own cuisine and personality, but all share the same commitment to creating distinctive dining experiences.
“Mottai is our first project outside of Brazil,” says Marcelo Simões Abrão, founder of Attivo Group. “We did extensive research on how to successfully build something for the Miami market while also keeping our identity. Our team did a wonderful job with the location, the design, and the menu.”
Mottai Miami
A Brazilian restaurant group finds a home in Miami
Behind Mottai’s culinary vision is Miami chef Brian Nasajon, who worked alongside the owners, executive chef Moritz Esser, and sushi chef Hiroshi Shintaku to create a menu that respects Japanese tradition while embracing Miami’s multicultural food scene.
“I wanted to stay within two really specific parameters: really honoring traditional Japanese cuisine, techniques, and ingredients while celebrating the fact that we are in Miami,” Nasajon tells New Times. “We had to really understand the group’s vision, finding the roots of that identity. Once we got there, we just put that against the canvas of what Miami is.”
Mottai Miami
What to order at Mottai
The expansive menu offers plenty for first-time visitors.
Among the small plates, standouts include hamachi with white soy ponzu, a crab roll finished with togarashi brown butter, blistered shishito peppers, and rock shrimp served with spicy aioli.
For larger plates, Nasajon recommends the black garlic chicken, pork belly, and suji katsu. One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is the Kinoko Hot Pot, prepared tableside with yuzu soy butter, egg yolk, furikake rice, and chili crunch.
Mottai Miami
The sushi counter
Behind the sushi counter, Shintaku leads the seafood program. “I’m lucky that I have Chef Hiroshi right there next to me, because he gave me a lot of guidance,” Nasajon says. “I have experience with Japanese cuisine, and I’ve always been passionate about it, but there’s a difference between how I interpret it versus how someone who was raised in that culture interprets it.”
Guests can choose from an extensive selection of nigiri and sashimi, including toro, akami, kinmedai, sake, ama ebi, hotate, anago, tako, uni, and ikura. Those looking to leave the decision to the chef can order an omakase-style selection of 5 to 12 pieces of the day’s best fish.
The maki and temaki lineup includes the salmon tataki maki, layered with snow crab, cucumber, avocado, salmon, micro shiso, and chili garlic mayonnaise. Cocktails range from classic creations to a matcha cocktail, while the beverage program also features an extensive sake selection.
Photo by Saladino Design Studio
One of the world’s most beautiful restaurants
The accolades have already started rolling in for Mottai. Last month, the Coral Gables restaurant was named one of the 16 Most Beautiful Restaurants in the World for 2026 by the prestigious Prix Versailles, an international architecture and design award that recognizes standout spaces worldwide. Mottai was the only Florida restaurant and one of just three U.S. restaurants to make the list, joining acclaimed restaurants in cities including London, Dubai, Monaco, Hong Kong, and Cape Town.
Designed by Miami’s Saladino Design Studios, the 150-seat restaurant blends European architecture with Japanese design influences. Prix Versailles praised its open sushi counter as an “interactive ritual,” while the space features marble tables, deep blue velvet seating, and striking white crane artwork that transforms throughout the day as the lighting changes. Mottai remains in the running for one of Prix Versailles’ three World Titles, with winners to be announced later this year.
Mottai Miami
The first of more to come
Although Mottai is Attivo Group’s first restaurant outside Brazil, Abrão says it won’t be the last.
The hospitality company began about a decade ago after Abrão, who previously owned a fashion brand in Brazil, joined forces with his children to pursue their shared passion for hospitality and Japanese cuisine.
“I remember when my children decided to invest in the first restaurant,” Abrão recalls. “With my experience, I was in charge of the concept and building the brand. We started growing and eventually opened a second location. Now, it has been ten years since we started Attivo Group. The company now belongs to my children, but I’m always following things closely, and I’m really proud of them and how far the group has come.”
Mottai Miami. 2881 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables, at The Plaza; 305-454-2488; mottaimiami.com.
