Toronto’s Top-Notch New Sushi Experience

Toronto has no shortage of fantastic Japanese food. From izakaya to ramen, curry to udon, local gastronomes can feast on food from the Land of the Rising Sun for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, seven days a week. In any of the city’s many neighbourhoods, each with its own diverse food scene informed by an array of cultures, it’s nearly impossible not to stumble upon a Japanese dining option. And the quality is superlative too—of the city’s 13 Michelin-starred restaurants, five serve variations of the country’s famously exacting cuisine. With all this in mind, it may appear a fool’s errand to try and enter the fray with a new Japanese fine-dining concept. But fortune favours the bold, and with its recent opening, Sushi Kiwami has added yet another stop to the list of Toronto’s standout Japanese dining destinations.

Sushi Kiwami is helmed by executive chef Yuta Arase, whose 25-plus years of experience crafting artful sushi has taken him from Japan, where he hails from, to Hong Kong, Texas, and now Canada. When he arrived in the Great White North in 2021, chef Yuta first made for Richmond, B.C., where he opened the original Sushi Kiwami. That rendition of the restaurant made waves with its ultraluxurious tasting menu that excited Vancouver’s even more sushi-obsessed populace. But then, in 2023, a space at the foot of The Gloucester on Yonge condo development in Toronto opened up, and chef Yuta, along with his business partners, decided to head to Hogtown.

The space, a modern take on historic Japanese architecture, features traditional materials and design cues throughout. Wrapped almost entirely in Japanese hinoki wood, the interiors evoke a sense of gentle calm, quieting the senses for absolute focus on Arase’s subtly arresting cuisine. After being greeted at reception, where pebble-lined floors give the effect of a garden path, guests are whisked to one of two rooms, seven and nine seats respectively, where from Tuesday to Sunday, at either 6 p.m. or 8:30 p.m., Arase and head chef Teo Chen guide diners through a traditional omakase (“chef’s choice”) menu.

One of Sushi Kiwami’s major differentiators in its crowded market is Arase’s playful style. As those who frequent high-end omakase restaurants no doubt know, the style is often associated with over-the-top decorum, often to the point of unsettling severity. But at Kiwami, where the quality of the cuisine matches or even exceeds that of other comparable Toronto omakase restaurants, a sense of joviality pervades. Diners speak between groups, sharing stories and drinks, as Arase playfully presents ingredients, smiling as he cuts a piece of just-caught tuna and introducing small crabs as his “friends.”

While the menu makes use of seasonal Canadian and Japanese ingredients, the latter of which is flown in directly three times a week, guests can expect some variation of broth-based palate-prepping appetizers followed by a seafood platter—which, upon my visit, included goose barnacle, octopus, and tiny sawagani crab—before progressing to the main course: 10 glorious pieces of sushi. Prime cuts of tuna, otherworldly scallops, and decadent piles of uni are gently sliced and scooped at the hand of Arase before finding their home atop a fluffy mound of expertly cooked rice—it may be a simple pleasure, but it was one well worth indulging.

And for those who like to show off their omakase obsession online, Sushi Kiwami offers a dessert that has quickly taken Toronto’s foodie social media scene by storm. The melon cake, an airy sponge cake layered with whipped cream and fruit, is served in a hollowed-out section of melon rind, further proving that even at the most serious of Toronto’s omakase experiences, there is room for a little bit of whimsy. And that’s exactly what sets Sushi Kiwami apart from the crowded pack.

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