The excellence of the omakase counter Mikuriya, now open to many more guests.
MIYU is back at The Dolder Grand. From 5 June to 2 August 2026, the Zurich hotel reopens its Japanese pop-up, a journey through Japanese cuisine in which traditional techniques sit alongside contemporary influences. The name brings together two Japanese ideas, beauty (美, MI) and gentleness (優, YU), which capture the chef’s signature. At the stoves is Atsushi Hiraoka, who at MIYU carries the omakase philosophy behind his Mikuriya into a different format.
Two ways to take a seat
MIYU offers two routes. The first is the MIYU Tasting Menu, five courses chosen by the chef for 160 Swiss francs, with the option of adding wagyu as a main course for thirty francs more. The second is a generous à la carte selection, designed for guests to compose their own meal across starters, mains, sushi, sashimi and singular dishes. One nuance is worth noting: within that menu, nods to omakase survive, such as the chef’s selections of sushi, in five or eight pieces, or sashimi at his discretion. The choice, in any case, returns to the guest, and that is what sets MIYU apart from the fixed menu served at the counter at Mikuriya.
Produce first
Hiraoka’s cooking begins with produce of clearly defined origin. The wagyu comes from Japan and the Angus beef is Swiss; the otoro and tuna come from the Atlantic, the sea urchin from the Pacific, the caviar from France, the eel from Japan, the salmon from Scotland and the sweet shrimp from the Mediterranean. This mapping of the ingredient underpins a menu that brings together tradition and technique without fuss, faithful to the taste for original flavour and measured seasoning that defines the house.
A carefully composed menu
Among the starters sit the MIYU salad of daikon, potato and cucumber with a miso and sesame dressing, the wild bluefin tuna tartare with karashi miso sauce, natto and caviar, and the hamachi sashimi with yuzu kosho and sudachi. There are more familiar, indulgent options too, such as the wagyu sando on shokupan bread, the MIYU noodles with wagyu and sesame sauce, the agedashi tofu in a classic dashi, and the deep-fried skewers and shrimp tempura.
The signature mains set the level: black cod with a miso and sea urchin sauce, dry-aged hiramasa kingfish with an egg yolk mustard sauce (subject to availability), Angus beef fillet with a soy glaze and wagyu with a soy and truffle glaze. The sushi and sashimi chapter is served by the piece or as a chef’s selection, and is rounded off by the Dolder Roll of shrimp tempura and wagyu with wasabi mayonnaise. Among the specials, the unagi dashimaki tamago with black truffle stands out, as does a chawanmushi of king and snow crab with trout roe and camembert.
The most ceremonial dish is the Dolder Superbowl, available on advance order only, with twenty-four hours’ notice. Conceived for two, it is a tribute to the Japanese ozaramori, the art of generous sharing, with a selection of the finest seafood, wagyu and ponzu sesame. The sweet finale arrives with the MIYU parfait of panna cotta and cherry or, for two, Japanese mango with coconut ice cream.
To drink: from sake to Japanese whisky
The cellar offers two three-glass pairings, one entirely Japanese built around sake and another that converses with European wines, from a Chablis to a negroamaro from Puglia. The sake list is extensive, by the glass and by the bottle, with junmai and daiginjo from various prefectures, and is broadened by plum wine, champagnes and a selection of reds and whites. The Japanese side is completed by cocktails of Japanese inspiration, whiskies such as Suntory’s Toki and the Mars and Kaiyo malts, a Teeda rum from Okinawa, shochu, Asahi beer and a carefully chosen tea listA space and a demandThe initiative was born of a specific need: Mikuriya, with its few seats, was perpetually overbooked. As the hotel’s culinary director Heiko Nieder has explained, the pop-up grew out of a wish to open Japanese cuisine to more guests, in a far larger room than Mikuriya’s tiny counter.
Hiraoka, the hands behind MIYU
Born in Tokyo, Atsushi Hiraoka has spent more than thirty years honing his craft between Japan and Switzerland. Since May 2023 he has led Mikuriya, the eight-seat omakase venue hidden inside a hotel room and awarded 17 GaultMillau points, where he decides a fixed menu and prepares it at the counter, in front of the guest. That counter is precisely the reason MIYU exists: with so few seats, Mikuriya was perpetually overbooked, and the pop-up offered a way to bring Hiraoka’s cooking to many more guests. As Heiko Nieder, chef of the two-Michelin-starred The Restaurant and the hotel’s culinary director, has explained, the idea grew out of a wish to open Japanese cuisine to a wider audience. While MIYU runs, the Mikuriya counter stays closed and Hiraoka devotes himself to the pop-up, which this year returns once more to the space The Dolder Grand reserves for its fleeting dining projects, a room far larger than Mikuriya’s intimate counter.
The Dolder Grand’s pop-ups
MIYU sits within a regular practice of the house. Alongside its permanent restaurants, The Dolder Grand programmes fleeting concepts under the direction of Heiko Nieder. Its kitchens have hosted ideas such as Grand Meatery, devoted to meat; The Grand Heritage, a tribute to Belle Époque haute cuisine for the hotel’s 125th anniversary; the Krug Chalet of fondue on the Saltz terrace, and the Lobster Club. MIYU is the Japanese chapter of that programme.
MIYU
Where: The Dolder Grand, Kurhausstrasse 65, Zurich
When: From 5 June to 2 August 2026.
Opening Hours: Thursday to Sunday, dinner from 7.00 pm. Sunday, lunch from 12.00 pm
Reservations
