Also, after the omakase dinner, you may order more off the a-la cart menu if you wish. The menu changes depending on the season and our favourites were the scallops and sea urchin from Japan! Sublime. Attentively, he asks if the rice and wasabi portions are to your liking, and brushes soy sauce on each piece as appropriate. The two hour meal is a wonderful experience - 18 pieces of exquisitely prepared sushi of excellent quality combined with amazing service. ![]() Two chefs expertly prepare individual sushi bites based on the very best of what the waters had to offer from Japan, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Boston, Alaska, Norway, Beirut, and even here in Canada. Without the time to travel the world for good sushi, this is the next best thing. This small sushi bar focuses on nothing but sushi and watching each chef prepare each and every piece is truly showmanship of perfection and dedication to the art of food. Recommended.Yasu is definitely giving my all-time favourite, Sushi Kaji, a run for the title, Best Sushi Restaurant in Toronto. That said, Yasu itself is close and deserves a visit for anyone who likes sushi and is in Toronto. So what keeps Yasu from being at the very top of my rankings? The rice isn’t perfect. The cherry on top is that none of the “a la plate” options had been served during the omakase meal. ![]() Why give customers an a la carte menu, when they can literally pass around an a la carte plate showing all the fish available for order. Even better is what Yasu does at the end of the omakase. For instance, when we had the Scorpion fish (Kasago- pictured right), a server came around with an IPad to show pictures of what the fish looks like in the wild. In terms of interior and service, the restaurant is small with 12 bar seats and 2 small tables. And that’s a sentiment that I’m sure I can’t be alone in thinking. For the fish quality you are getting, I think YASUs price is worth it. When I go to any restaurant, I want to feel like they got this. What makes Yasu stand out are the little things. ![]() Once the meal settled in though, it went smoothly, and the 2.5 hour meal time went as quickly as one could hope. If I had to nitpick, the drink orders were slow in being taken, and the drinks themselves were slow to come out. The sushi chefs are personable and eager to interact, as are the staff who are omnipresent. The Atmosphere is exactly what I personally prefer from any sushi restaurant. Other highlights include the layered Ikura (pictured above right), and the O-Toro, which garnered my highest “like” total on Instagram for any picture in 2014 (if that means anything at all). Smartly, the nice sushi chefs don’t tell customers what it is until after they are done trying it. To the right you’ll see one of the meal highlights, which was – not joking here – cod sperm (Shirako). All of that would be moot if it the food didn’t deliver, but fortunately it does. Sure that’s a lot to pay for a meal, but when you compare it to the minimum $150 that a similar meal in New York City, Chicago – even Seattle – might cost, it becomes incredibly great value. I’ve put plenty of pictures up on this review, but let’s be clear here about a few things: There were 18 courses of sushi, 20 courses in total The fish was sourced from all over the world, including Japan, Chile and Spain Everything was delicious This meal cost $80 Seriously – a delicious omakase with fish from around the world, and it cost $80. Unlike another restaurant I reviewed (Shuko), Yasu is classy and understated, with plenty of room for the 12 seats at the L-shaped sushi bar (pic in the top right). ![]() Predictably, it has quickly taken the city by storm, with reservations being fully very hard to come by (they are accepted – and usually fully made – a month in advance). Enter Yasu, an “omakase only” sushi restaurant in the Bathurst and Harbord area just northwest of downtown Toronto. I love that their selection varies based on seasonality, we got to try some very cool items (cod milk. Compared to New York City, where premium sushi joins seemingly appear overnight on every corner, and you can see why I felt that the fourth largest metropolitan area in North America was under-served. So fresh, so intimate- overall a lovely experience. There is Sushi Kaji, one of my highest rated sushi restaurants – and that’s pretty much it. For those reasons, it has always surprised me how few high-end sushi options there are in what is known by locals as the T-dot. Another relevant piece of information? The city is large – and full of foodies. Part of that multiculturalism obviously means a very strong Japanese population. When Chef Yasu dreamed of opening his sushi restaurant, his single focus was to share his passion for bringing out. For those that have never been, not only is Toronto a beautiful city, but it’s a very multicultural one as well.
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