From Tokyo to Brickell, With Love… Paperfish Sushi
Nestled in an alleyway-like area behind bustling South Miami Avenue and its restaurant sibling, Barsecco, there lies the newest born dining establishment in the V&E Restaurant Group family, Paperfish Sushi. Brickell area celebrated its latest dining hotspot with a very grand, grand opening last night of this contemporary, Tokyo-inspired izakaya with Japanese cuisine elevated with Peruvian flavors. A noteworthy design with a dramatic red torii gate entrance, VIP guests symbolically left behind the profane world to enter the sacred one. Torii Gates have special significance in Japanese tradition as they’re typically located at the entrance of Shinto shrines.
Abandoning the hustle of Miami for a moment, guests walked up the stairs to a terrace, where they were greeted with cold sake by a tall, angelic beauty in a floral halo. Then it was onward to the indoor, open-air dining experience with DJ beats, live drumming and a sensual, fire-dancing, fire-eating performer, in a room adorn with Japanese paper lanterns and cherry blossoms that can only bloom here yearlong. It was a clean and modern design, with traditional appeal.
Guests stepped in from the streets of Tokyo to find live entertainment, specialty cocktails, lightly flame-seared sushi with the essence of truffle and other decadence. While the relevance of such a grand portal into Japan was that of entering a sanctuary, on this night, it had all the dazzling, pomp and circumstance of a Miami opening that is expected and so dearly missed after a year of quarantine, especially with food and drink stimulation that came from every direction.
And if you’re still not convinced to take a shot on this Brickell-ish newbie by making a full-on dinner res, then give it a good look-see with their surprisingly reasonable Kanpai (cheers in Japanese) happy hour every day from 4pm – 7pm, where they boast a $6 happy hour menu of vast specialty cocktails, beers, wines and sakes, along with small plates of sushi nigiri, sashimi, ceviche, rolls and so on… And yes, I said every day for $6! From the downtown foodie scene with love, Paperfish brought it swimmingly and so we say, yōkoso (welcome and nice to meet you) and arigato (thank you) for an amazing first impression. We will be back.