UMAI Omakase: the Rio coast at the counter

A Japanese technique need not begin with an imported ingredient. At UMAI Omakase, the October 2025 report placed the Rio coastline inside the working vocabulary of a small counter in Copacabana.

The account described ten seats and a sixteen-stage menu, led by founder and executive chef Menandro Rodrigues. Opened in 2024, the restaurant connected the idea of continuous refinement to repeated decisions about season, fish and preparation.

Rodrigues selected fish and seafood locally, including species identified in the archive as piraúna and perna-de-moça. Whole-ingredient use linked sushi and sashimi to other preparations, including the house’s dashis. The menu moved from more delicate flavours towards stronger ones before ending with Japanese-influenced sweets and tableware.

The report also situated UMAI alongside Haru Sushi, opened by the chef at the same address in 2014, and mentioned his later work combining food, cocktails and vinyl. These connections establish the broader practice without implying that every project described then has the same current form.

The counter’s interest lies in that meeting of method and place. Japanese kitchen techniques provided a structure; the Brazilian coast supplied material that required its own decisions. This remains an article, not a fresh tasting or a confirmation of today’s number of courses.