NIWA Is Coming to West Palm Beach With Japanese-Latin Cooking and a Tea Garden

NIWA arrives in West Palm Beach this October

NIWA: Japanese Cuisine & Tea Garden is scheduled to open in West Palm Beach in October 2026. The intimate, 20-seat restaurant is the newest concept from APM Restaurant Group, bringing together a Japanese culinary foundation, South Florida ingredients, and Latin flavors in a format created specifically for the city.

The name means "garden" in Japanese, and the concept carries that idea beyond the dining room. NIWA plans an outdoor Japanese tea garden with a tea program developed alongside Miami tea specialist JoJo Tea, giving the restaurant a quieter ritual before or after the meal.

Masayuki Komatsu and Osmel Gonzalez share one menu

NIWA marks the first collaboration between chef Masayuki Komatsu of Ogawa and chef Osmel Gonzalez of Emelina. Komatsu brings the sourcing and structure of Japanese cooking, while Gonzalez brings the citrus, smoke, mojo, and guarapo that connect the menu to Latin cooking and South Florida.

Their collaboration starts with premium seafood sourced from Tokyo's Toyosu Fish Market and brings regional ingredients into Japanese preparations. Reported dishes include Key Lime Somen in dashi, Florida blue crab hand rolls with citrus mayonnaise, and steamed black cod with guarapo, turnips, negi, and smoked chili oil. During stone crab season, the claws are planned with Japanese mustard and sweet miso dressing. Charcoal-grilled eel over rice and an omakase plate of nigiri and sushi selections round out the early picture of the menu.

A tea garden and an intimate dining room

The outdoor tea garden is one of NIWA's defining elements. Inside, the reported design uses walnut, celadon green, Japanese lanterns, ceramics, and commissioned artwork around a room sized for just 20 diners. The scale should keep the focus on the chefs' collaboration and the progression from seafood and composed plates to tea.

NIWA's APM sister restaurants

Emelina

Emelina in West Palm Beach is chef Osmel Gonzalez's Michelin-starred Cuban tasting restaurant and NIWA's closest culinary connection. Gonzalez's work there established the Latin side of the collaboration that now meets Komatsu's Japanese approach.

Hiyakawa Miami

Hiyakawa Miami is one of APM Restaurant Group's established Japanese restaurants in Miami. It represents the group's continuing focus on Japanese cuisine and hospitality, and it sits within the same restaurant family now expanding with NIWA.

Midorie Miami

Midorie Miami is another Japanese concept in APM's Miami portfolio. Its place alongside Hiyakawa and Ogawa helps show the depth of Japanese restaurant experience behind NIWA while NIWA develops its own West Palm Beach identity.

Ogawa

Michelin-starred Ogawa is chef Masayuki Komatsu's intimate Miami omakase restaurant. NIWA carries Komatsu's seafood sourcing and Japanese technique into his first menu collaboration with Gonzalez.

What to know before NIWA opens

NIWA remains a coming-soon restaurant, with October 2026 as the announced opening window. Details such as reservations and final service hours have not yet been released, so diners should follow the restaurant and APM Restaurant Group for opening updates. For West Palm Beach, the arrival adds a purpose-built Japanese-Latin concept to a restaurant family already represented locally by Emelina and in Miami by Hiyakawa, Midorie, and Ogawa.