US$10,000 sushi? It’s coming to Miami – and that’s just the fee to join members-only Sushi Namba, headed by the chef behind Tokyo’s fifth-best sushi spot

A pair of first-time restaurateurs offered Hidefumi Namba, the chef behind Tokyo’s fifth-best sushi spot, a chance to open a place in the US – in Miami, Florida

To eat at Sushi Namba, guests will first have to pay a US$10,000 membership fee. An actual meal of sushi omakase will range from US$400 to US$500 per person

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How much would you be willing to pay for a sushi omakase meal? A top sushi chef from Tokyo will be opening a members-only sushi restaurant in Miami, Florida. The fee just to get in is US$10,000. Meals will cost upwards of US$400 per person. Photo: TNS

Published: 7:15am, 13 Dec 2023Updated: 7:41am, 13 Dec 2023

When top Japanese chefs and restaurateurs expand to the United States, they invariably head to New York – just look at the jammed counters at the city’s Yoshino, Odo and Sushi Nakazawa restaurants.

However, when first-time restaurateurs Samuel and Jose Tcherassi approached Hidefumi Namba, the revered craftsman behind Tokyo’s eight-seat, referral-only Sushi Namba, the brothers did not offer him a plush spot in Manhattan. Instead, they made a bold offer: open in Miami.

Namba countered with his own suggestion: if he were to expand to the US state of Florida, the space should have a bar – and not just any drinking establishment.

He proposed a US branch of Bar Cocktailante Oboro, the members-only Tokyo spot run by his friend Shunta Yamakawa, which serves exceptional, digestion-supporting, fruit-based elixirs.

In summer 2024, the Tcherassi brothers and Namba will open the multi-concept Ura, a 1,700 sq ft (158 square metre) space that includes Sushi Namba and the Listening Room, a jazz lounge that will also host Cocktailante Oboro.