Zuma
270 Biscayne Boulevard Way
Miami, FL (Located in the Epic Hotel)
(305) 577-0277
Web Site: http://www.zumarestaurant.com/zuma-landing/miami/en/welcome
Since I’ve moved down to South Florida I have been concentrating more on the “ethnic eats” rather than the fine dining aspect of food blogging. But as I’ve been having more and more business meetings in Miami, I’m starting to get exposed more towards the high-end cuisine offerings here.
I recently had the opportunity to dine at Zuma, which bills itself as “modern Japanese”. Zuma is part of the Azumi restaurant group, which has branches of Zuma in different parts of the world, including London, Hong Hong, Istanbul, Dubai, Miami and Bangkok.
My understanding is that the original Zuma restaurant in London was a partnership of two very wealthy Indian businessmen who had dined at the London branch of Nobu and decided that they could create a similar concept restaurant on their own. Certainly Zuma is very “Nobu-esque” in its menu format (including the miso black cod that every high-end Japanese restaurant seems to copy from Nobu these days) and also overall presentation.
I will also state I have no idea what anything at this restaurant costs. I was treated to lunch here by a very generous client, and I never saw any prices because I never looked at the menu, someone else did the ordering, and the online menu has no prices either. So if your interest is piqued in dining here, just take that into consideration.
The bar area of the Miami outpost of Zuma. This is one of the few dining room photos I was able to take, as the management got quite annoyed with me after observing me just taking a few casual shots of the general dining area and told me to put my camera away.
Nobu too rich for your blood? Well, so is this. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.
Zuma’s open kitchen.
Another shot of the open kitchen.
Edamame appetizer with chili and garlic. Really like this one.
A sashimi dish, I believe either seabass or yellowtail.
Rock shrimp with lime and chili mayonnaise. Excellent.
Ribeye steak with wafu sauce and garlic chips
Crispy fried squid with green chili and lime
Rice hotpot with wild mushrooms and Japanese vegetables. As a general rule I liked the vegetarian dishes here more than anything else.
These are sweet potatoes in a teriyaki-like glaze.
Tuna Tataki.
Miso Eggplant.
One of the signature sushi rolls. Spicy Tuna roll with green chili sauce and tobiko,
Spicy yellowtail roll with serrano pepper and wasabi mayo. While I thought all the sushi and sashimi dishes at this restaurant were solid, at the rather high prices Zuma is charging for straightforward preparations I am not sure I would consider this a destination sushi restaurant in terms of overall dining value. I’d focus on the appetizers and the mains.
Off The Broiler 