Photo by Joel Esposito

Chef Nobu Matsuhisa opened his inaugural eponymous restaurant, Matsuhisa, in Los Angeles in 1987. Thirty-seven years and a partnership with Robert De Niro later, Matsuhisa has established a global empire of Japanese Peruvian hospitality, with 36 hotels and 56 restaurants (called Nobu) dotting the world’s toniest postal codes. Now, with the recent opening of Nobu Toronto, the brand’s first outpost in the Great White North, hungry Canadians can have a taste of chef Matsuhisa’s cuisine at home.

On a charming side street mere blocks from the CN Tower, Nobu Toronto’s stately brick façade stands appropriately tall, a monument to attract the city’s most fashionable foodies. Inside, the 10,000-square-foot two-storey space was designed by Toronto interior designer Alessandro Munge of Studio Munge, who melded Japanese design with Canadian craftsmanship. For example, the ground-level bar and lounge’s soaring backbar is framed by monolithic pillars lined with Japanese kawara roof tiles and bathed in the light from the 28-foot-tall bronze chain-mail Lasvit chandelier.

Chef Nobu Matsuhisa

Alongside simple yet stunning sushi and sashimi, the menu at Nobu Toronto features many of the iconic dishes that propelled chef Matsuhisa to fame, including his crispy rice with spicy tuna, yellowtail jalapeño, and black cod miso, which the talented chefs churn out with metronomic regularity. Executive chef Alex Tzatzos, formerly of Nobu London, has also developed Toronto-only dishes, including some inspired by his native Greece, such as the grilled lamb rack with hacho miso. While there is an expansive list of baller bottles of champagne and burgundy, Nobu Toronto’s cocktail menu is sure to entice with its playful takes on the classics, including the lychee martini and the oni negroni.

And Torontonians eager for the main course won’t have to wait long—the hotel and residences, with 36 guest suites and 660 apartments in two gleaming towers rising above the restaurant, is expected to open in spring 2025.

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