Miami hooks a Sexy Fish
LONDON-based Sexy Fish is hopping across The Pond, bringing its Asian-fusion seafood — along with a megabuck collection of marine-themed art works by Damien Hirst and Frank Gehry — to diners in Miami and New York.
British restaurateur Richard Caring, 73, is currently scouting locations to launch a Sexy Fish — a celeb hot spot for Kate Moss, Lindsay Lohan and Hugh Jackman — in Manhattan. He’s eyeing possible spaces on Billionaires’ Row as well as downtown and the Upper East Side, where fellow Brits David and Simon Reuben recently bought the Surrey Hotel.
“I hear that downtown New Yorkers will go uptown, but that Upper East Siders rarely leave their neighborhood,” Caring said.
But his 40-year-old, Brazillianborn wife Patricia Mondinni, with whom he has three children, is excited to spend time in Miami first, he said.
As such, Sexy Fish in Miami’s trendy Brickell neighborhood will open in October. Caring commissioned $20 million worth of new art and sculpture pieces from Hirst and Gehry, the legendary 92-yearold starchitect, for the restaurant, at 1001 South Miami Ave.
But that isn’t stopping Caring from scouting for a second flagship location in Gotham, which will also showcase its own unique art collection, Caring tells Side Dish.
“It will be at least the same size investment. Great art maintains its value. That’s why we do it,” he said.
Caring is also the majority shareholder of the Soho House Group. On Monday, Reuters reported that
Soho House in New York plans an IPO to raise $100 million on the New York Stock Exchange.
Caring’s Caprice Holdings also owns Annabel’s, the celeb-hot private club in London, and Ivy Collection. In 2019, Caring sold a 25 percent stake in his company to the ex prime minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, for around $277 million.
Now, Caring is plowing some of those proceeds into an eye-popping art collection to decorate Sexy Fish’s forthcoming Miami location. No — it won’t house any of Hirst’s famous great white sharks in formaldehyde. There will, however, be a 23-foot Hirst octopus and a giant bronze wall relief that’s 88 feet long called “Sea Life,” along with a coral urinal. Gehry, meanwhile, has created fish sculptures “that will be floating in mid air,” hanging from a gold ceiling, Caring said, along with 26 fish lamps.
In addition, foodies will be visually swayed by a 21-foot-long fish tank with live coral and tropical fish. Outside, there’s a garden and koi pond.
“The garden is very special. It will be beautiful but not in a Disney way, because it’s real,” he said.
It’s all in a 10,000-square-foot space that seats 242 inside and 58 outside, created by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, which also outfitted Sexy Fish London. Both spaces are designed like a decadent brasserie from the lost city of Atlantis, covered in scale-like mosaic tiles, littered with raspberry leather tables and banquettes — and really expensive artwork by Hirst and Gehry.
“There’s a huge wow factor. We can have our own show,” Caring said. “I love art. It’s more fun, and in today’s world, it’s a rarity.”
Sexy Fish first opened in London’s Mayfair neighborhood in 2015. If the restaurants take off, he’s prepared to open 10 in the US, Caring said.