French tire manufacturer, Michelin, brought its popular series of restaurant guides to Florida for the first time in November 2021, at the behest of Visit Florida—which seduced (paid) the company to come to the Sunshine State (or rather Tampa, Orlando and Miami metro areas) for an estimated $800,000.
Each year, Michelin adds a new cohort of restaurants to the ever-growing list, and they recently made headlines for the release of the 2024 additions, which only included five Orlando restaurants. And from what I saw, it’s very clear that Michelin loves the recent omakase wave that Orlando has been riding.
Michelin gave Zaru a nod for its “upbeat playlist,” “attractive dining room” and its “chewy noodles” made with wheat sourced from Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture. Photo courtesy Zaru
Zaru
A new Japanese udon shop that opened in August 2023, Zaru is a 25-seat dining concept located in the under-redevelopment Tien Hung Market in the Mills 50 District at 1114 E. Colonial Drive. It’s a new effort by James Beard-recognized restaurateurs Jimmy and Johnny Tung.
“We wanted to carry on the 500-year-old noodle-making tradition,” says Johnny Tung. “Traveling throughout Japan earlier this year, I loved how the udon tasted there, and wanted to bring that experience back to Florida. We’re sourcing premium udon flour and working with a local Japanese company for custom equipment from the Kagawa region.”
Michelin gave Zaru a nod for its “upbeat playlist,” “attractive dining room” and its “chewy noodles” made with wheat sourced from Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture.
They’re open daily for lunch and dinner but they don’t take reservations so your best bet to score a table is to get there a bit early. Obviously, the star of the show is the udon noodles, served both cold and hot, but don’t sleep on the miso-fried chicken or dumplings.
Sushi Saint, which opened in Parramore in 2023, is known for its temaki sushi, or hand rolls. The rolls are made by wrapping a thin seaweed sheet (nori) around proteins, rice and vegetables. Decadent protein choices include Kobe beef and snow crab. Photo by Roberto Gonzalez
Sushi Saint
A new 12-seat temaki bar that opened in December 2023 on the edge of the Creative Village in Parramore, at 400 Pittman St., also made the list. This shouldn’t be a surprise since it’s owned by
Michelin-recognized chef Michael Collantes of Soseki in Winter Park, an incredible chef-driven omakase concept that’s dripping in awards and recognition.
Temaki sushi is also known as hand roll sushi in Japan and is made by wrapping a thin seaweed sheet (nori) around a curated assortment of proteins, rice and veggies.
Sushi Saint serves a curated menu of small bites and nori hand rolls alongside sake-based cocktails and in-house brewed craft beers in a fresh, intimate atmosphere. The beer comes from its partners at The Brew Theory, which brews their beers out back and even helps with brewing for other local brands like Ivanhoe Park Brewing.
Rolls cost anywhere between $6 and $25 depending on the protein, which ranges from snow crab to Kobe beef. The product is something simple but beautiful to look at that really showcases the ingredients without being too precious or pretentious.
Natsu Omakase has a 10-seat dining room with just two seatings a night. Photo courtesy Natsu Omakase
Natsu Omakase
Located at 777 N. Orange Ave. in Orlando’s North Quarter/Uptown neighborhood, the restaurant got a nod for its 10-seat dining room which hosts just two seatings each night.
The dining room is a lesson in Scandinavian minimalism, with no real distractions to take your attention away from the chef and their team while they prepare your meal.
Natsu serves multi-course dinners—and I must drive this home—that doesn’t mean like your granny’s three-course Thanksgiving free-for-all, I mean sometimes 15 or 16 courses of hand rolls, scallops and uni, and the one thing everyone keeps talking about at Natsu, the ice cream, which changes seasonally.
French Vietnamese-inspired Camille serves Instagram-worthy cuisine. Photo courtesy Camille.
Camille
The French Vietnamese-inspired pop-up that started in the second-floor event kitchen space in East End Market before opening a fancy storefront at 4962 New Broad St. in Baldwin Park also scored a mention.
Chef Tung Phan’s sweet potato brioche with gold chocolate ice cream and Vietnamese coffee sauce got a special nod for excellence, and I couldn’t agree more. I actually got caught licking my plate last time to which chef Phan hollered, “Must be good!”
Camille’s gorgeous dining room is reminiscent of a set from some utopian garden planet in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” You’d expect everyone to be wearing white robes and be hiding some secret man-eating computer somewhere, but it’s just a bunch of cute staff who love good food and beverage.
They have an eight-seat, intimate omakase counter where they host seasonal, multicourse dinners showcasing Phan’s trademark modern take on Vietnamese dishes but there are also seating options if you’d like to dine a la carte and order your own entrees. You may find yourself getting jealous of all the pretty little diorama-like plates hitting the omakase counter though.
Chuan Fu focuses on Szechuan-style family classics and opened at the former home of Orlando Meats last year. Photo by Roberto Gonzalez
Chuan Fu
A new concept by the owners of Chuan Lu Garden, opened in the former home of Orlando Meats (which was once a whole animal butcher shop and restaurant) at 1035 Orlando Ave., just on the edge of Maitland and Winter Park last year. And they use the massive space much more efficiently than their predecessors ever did.
The Szechuan-focused menu at Chuan Fu serves up family-style classics that will have you smiling through the sweat. And that’s because the chefs are from the Sichuan Province, and they know what’s up. Cuisine from that area of southwestern China is known for its incredibly bold flavors; it’s spicy, oily, peppery, and known for the numbing qualities of its peppercorns.
Some standouts for me have been the five-flavored eggplant, the slurp-it-up-into-your-face-hole Sichuan wontons and the too-gorgeous-for-Instagram whole fish plate.