This year, the sixteen-year-old Miyako Japanese Restaurant in Doral experienced big changes: new ownership, new chef, and new menu. Short Order was invited to try the latest food additions.
Owner Adrian Arguelles sat down and spoke to us about the concept and dishes that he dreamt up with chef Adrian Rojas. While part of the old menu and beloved staff remain, some things have certainly gotten spicier.
Miyako now hosts body sushi, a biweekly event where sushi is served on a nearly nude model's body. For $40, you can eat off the model's body, which is covered in leaves, raw fish, and sushi rolls that are regularly replenished.
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We started with Arguelles' favorite dish, the rocoto shrimp ($11.95). This lightly-fried shrimp with rocoto chili sauce is super tasty and highly addictive. The shrimp tempura alternative was imagined by Arguelles: "I wanted a lightly-fried appetizer. Something that if you eat it with your hands, you will have to lick your fingers after. Sure, we could take the tail off but we wanted to offer our guests somewhere to grab."
Another Peruvian-style dish we tried was the causa roll ($11.95). It featured their signature tuna tartare topped with cold whipped potatoes, avocado, the same rocoto sauce, and aji amarillo and lime juices.
This dish resembles a sushi roll and it played a trick on our senses. There's no need to bite; this will just dissolve in your mouth. Arguelles says he has to warn customers that it's a cold dish, because when they hear mashed potatoes they expect something different.
The hamachi tiradito ($15.95) featured thin slices of yellowtail arranged in almost a Christmas wreath-shape with bursts of color from the yellow aji amarillo sauce, the red onion, Peruvian corn, and tobiko for a pop of color and texture.
For dessert, we tried the Thai donuts ($6.95) that were a twist on the circular dessert. They were wrapped on a chopstick and placed in a cup of condensed milk. One bite of these light and doughy delights and we found ourselves pushing the fried goodness back to the end of the skewer to double-dip.
We were really impressed with the quality of food, customer service, and thought that went into this strip mall Japanese restaurant in Doral.
Arguelles takes great pride in reading customer comment cards. In these cards, he asks guests to list what they'd like to see on future menus. Sure, he has received "free items" and "red beans and rice" as responses -- but he has also gotten a bunch of good ideas: mochi ice cream, plantains on sushi rolls, and boba teas to the menu. "I never heard of bubble tea before and now I am looking into serving it," he says.
But the spiciest idea is certainly the model. The restaurant just had their second body sushi event, which they'll be repeating every two weeks. Tickets are $40 if booked in advance and include food, drink samples, and happy hour drink specials.
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