Sisterholics in MIAMI - Me and Julie go for an amazing Asian fusion dinner

Ladies and Gentlemen, Hi, Hello, Hola! We cordially invite you to come join us for some Japanese cuisine at Katsuya by Stark*.

Please, join us, have a seat! Here ya go:

Well, now that we’re comfortably seated, let’s act normal, as we naturally are.

Yup, that seems to be going well. We’re blending in…

But…wait! What is that? A pouty lip menu? I must have a look!

Pucker up honey! Gimme some sugar!

Okay Rosie, enough with the puckering around, let’s get down to business.

I was first introduced to Katsuya during my trip to Dubai in December 2013. Katsuya is located in the Dubai Mall and overlooks the fountains, so it was an easy choice to make to wine and dine there, but little did I know that I would be this impressed. When I found out they had a Katsuya in Miami, it took less than 5 seconds for me to book.

The Katsuya in Miami is located in the SLS Hotel and was super packed by the time we arrived. We were led to our table and promptly ordered up some cocktails. The speciality of Katsuya is that they have three different kitchens: the raw (sushi) kitchen, the hot kitchen, and the robata (japanese barbeque) kitchen… and to top it all off, they also have a specialized the cocktail bar.

Since Katsuya is well-known for their amazing cocktails it was only natural we just had to get some…

I ordered up the Berry Evocative, a Bacardi rum, hand-crushed strawberries and freshly squeezed lime juice cocktail that is finished with a splash of citrus soda.

Julie went for the Kiwi Envy, a Elderflower liqueur with gin cocktail with hand-pressed kiwis, freshly squeezed lime juice and sparking water.

The drinks arrived and we clinked our glasses away and started sipping…

Julie, who I know had been eyeing my cocktail since it arrived, kindly offered “would you like to switch for a while?” and so we did. You always want what you can’t have, right?

Soon after the food arrived: edamame, vegetable tempura and creamy rock shrimp tempura, all pictured below:

the seared tuna with Japanese salsa,

the agedashi tofu balls,

the vegetable roll,

And my personal favourite, the Lobster Dynamite . What a name!

The night went on with Julie trying to prove to me what a big, strong girl she is by eating the jalapeño pepper that accompanied the tofu balls.

and bravely bit into it.

What came next was a series of unfortunate expressions from my dearest sister that (fortunately for her) we were unable to capture fast enough. You can see below a shot of me trying not to crack up at her though (and you may see a glimpse of a facial expression I just mentioned as well!).

The spiciness of the jalapeño called for urgent refreshments, so quickly came The Dragon, vodka shaken with Japanese yuzu and ginger, and The Watermelon Cucumber Mojito, Bacardi rum, crushed watermelon, cucumbers, mint and freshly squeezed lime juice.

Some cough of us were eyeing some drinks that some cough did not order, so the glasses were switched and instead it ended up like this:

This ended up to be a switch we were more than fine with.

Well fed and hydrated, we headed back to our temporary home, where we may or may not have gotten up to some tomfoolery.

It wasn’t until the elevator door opened and strangers saw us looking like this when we decided its probably best we go back to our beds and get some snooze for the next day.

Time to zZz,

Rosalina