A London restaurant known for marrying Mexican food to Japanese knife work has chosen West Palm Beach for its first home in the United States. Los Mochis says it will open in 2027 inside one of the city's waterfront towers, in a building developed by Related Ross, the company behind much of the new downtown skyline.

Los Mochis has two restaurants today, both in London: the original in Notting Hill and a larger one high above Broadgate Circle in the City of London. Its owner, the Thesleff Group, has also lined up Beverly Hills, but that one is not due until 2028 and the company itself describes it as its second American outpost. West Palm Beach goes first, and it is also the brand's first restaurant in Florida.

What Los Mochis actually serves

The idea is a pairing most people have never thought to try and then cannot stop thinking about: the heat and color of Mexican cooking alongside the cool precision of Japanese technique. The restaurant calls itself the global pioneer of the combination and sums up the mood as Tokyo meets Tulum.

In practice that means a menu built for sharing, with sashimi and maki rolls next to ceviches, tiraditos and tacos. The tacos are the house signature, and they are where the two kitchens meet most obviously, with raw fish and Japanese seasonings folded into Mexican shells. One detail will matter to a lot of South Florida diners: the entire menu is gluten free, nut free and celery free, so a table with allergies can order off the same list as everyone else.

The drinks side leans Mexican. Each London location has what it calls an agaveria, a bar and lounge built around tequila and mezcal, and the company says its collection is one of the largest in Europe, from the brands everyone knows to small batch bottles from individual producers. In London City the bar runs late on weekends, and Fridays turn into a party the restaurant calls Tulum Nights.

The hidden counters

The part of Los Mochis that food people talk about is not the dining room at all. Both London restaurants hide a small omakase counter inside them, where a sushi chef serves a set progression of courses to a handful of guests. In Notting Hill it is a six-seat private room called JUNO. In London City it is called LUNA.

London City also runs a twelve-seat event called TENrei, a tuna ceremony that begins with a whole, uncut bluefin being broken down at the counter with traditional Japanese knives. Guests taste the cuts as they come off the fish, from the lean akami to the fatty otoro belly, and the night ends with a ten-course menu. It runs a few Tuesdays a month and costs £195 a person, roughly $260.

Whether West Palm Beach gets its own hidden counter or tuna ceremony has not been announced. The company's own page for the Florida opening promises bold cuisine, cocktails and an immersive approach to hospitality, reimagined for what it calls a new generation of the brand, and the pattern in London suggests the counter is part of the plan.

Why West Palm Beach

Ten years ago an international restaurant group planning its first American opening would almost certainly have picked New York, Los Angeles or Miami. Choosing West Palm Beach says a great deal about how fast the city's dining scene has grown up, and about who is now eating there on a Tuesday night.

It also fits a pattern. Related Ross has been filling its West Palm Beach buildings with restaurants that already have a following somewhere else, betting that residents and the people who work in the new office towers want a destination dinner without driving to Miami. A London name with a cult tuna ceremony is a bigger swing than most.

For the waterfront, it is a meaningful addition. West Palm Beach's waterfront towers look across the Intracoastal to Palm Beach, and a restaurant built around sunsets, rooftop drinks and late nights, which is what Los Mochis is in London, is the kind of place that turns a business district into somewhere people stay after six.

What we do not know yet

Los Mochis has not published an exact opening date, an address, hours or prices for West Palm Beach. Its own site says only 2027 and a waterfront tower, and it has opened a waitlist for early previews and priority reservations. London prices are a loose guide at best, since menus and portions usually change when a restaurant crosses the Atlantic, and the American menu has not been released.

It has also not said whether the Florida restaurant will keep the London habits, such as breakfast on the roof, the late-night lounge menu and the Friday party, or settle into something closer to a South Florida dinner rhythm.

What it means for you

If you live or work downtown, you are getting a restaurant London already treats as a destination, a year before Los Angeles gets one. If you have a gluten or nut allergy, you are getting one of the rare upscale rooms where the whole menu is safe by design. And if you are the person in your group who always finds the hard reservation, the waitlist on the Los Mochis site is open now, which is the only way to be near the front of the line when it opens next year.