Sushi Masaki Saito is a typical sushi omakase restaurant with a high-end feel. It is Canada's first and only restaurant to have a two-Michelin-star chef. Chef Masaki Saito, a Hokkaido native who received his training in Tokyo, places a premium on the purity and origin of his materials, demonstrating his respect for Edomae history while incorporating his own distinct vision.

Saito creates his own version of traditional Edomae sushi (Tokyo was previously known as Edo). While sushi served Edomae-style used to indicate just nigiri, it's now come to mean any fish that has been aged in some way, whether it's overnight or for five nights. Age is a novel concept for North Americans, although it is popular in Tokyo. All of the ingredients are from Japan, yet there isn't a drop of sauce on the plate. While the menu changes weekly, a recent lunch saw the chef place uni right into the hands of customers, who happily slurped it up.

Address: 88 Avenue Rd, Toronto, ON M5R 2H2, Canada
Website: https://www.masakisaito.ca/

Shunoko is a sushi bar headed up by the same person behind the now-shuttered Sushi Nomi in Roncesvalles, Jun Kim. This Sushi restaurant was moving to a St. Clair space that’s large enough to offer an omakase menu - the sushi version of a prix fixe. Inside, white brick-clad walls and blonde wood ceiling beams work to frame this minimalist restaurant interior.

Next to the fish options on the menu are useful taste descriptors: The polarized sea urchin is the "butter of the ocean", while the red sea bream is the "lord of white fish". The Sushi Saiko menu is a great way to get into the world of sushi for those who have never ventured past California rolls. The traditional nori wrapping is replaced with popped rice, and toasted coconut is added to a popular maki alternative that combines spicy tuna and avocado. More serious diners order omakase, which involves watching a parade of nigiri - a mound of rice cradled by fish - pass by the sushi counter. Chef Kim gets his fish from all over the world, with seasonal wild fish from Japan and mackerel from Canada's east coast.

Address: 1201 St Clair Ave W, Toronto, ON M6E 1B5, Canada

Website: https://www.shunoko.com/

Tachi is the traditional way to eat well and eat conveniently. They are part of the same restaurant group of Sushi Masaki Saito (with the only Michelin 2 star chef stationing in Canada) and Shoushin. This is a calm location amid the crowded Assembly Chef's Hall, similar to a Tokyo train station, and a great pleasant way to experience sushi while stretching those office chair gams. The space, which seats eight people standing, is the first of its sort in the country, as it turns out, “tachi” means standing.

The omakase meal - the only option here - progresses from subtle to more distinct flavors at just the right pace, which is exactly how sushi should be eaten. The chefs carefully examine how to highlight the flavor profile of each piece of sushi while creating a balanced dance with the others, with freshness and seasonality dictating what fish is actually presented. Bites may begin with hirame (fluke) and progress through hotate (scallop) and ebi (shrimp) before concluding with a handroll. Specials are popular, and patrons are now raving about the succulent wagyu beef. If you're lucky, you'll be served Miyazaki's award-winning A5 wagyu.

Address: 111 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON M5H 2G4, Canada

Website: https://www.tachistandup.com/

Located in the heart of Markham, KaKa is one of a kind Japanese all-you-can-eat restaurant. KaKa is a lot of fun, originated in Markham, and lucked out when it opened on Bay Street. Rather than being a somber monument to sushi, the restaurant has a bustling environment and cuisine that includes everything from crunchy chicken karaage to beef tacos to sushi.

KaKa was the first AYCE sushi restaurant to deliver premium blowtorched sushi to patrons, setting the bar high. Nigiri and aburi oshizushi with house sauces are among the aburi options. Salmon is paired with candied smoked salmon and seared scallop in this signature bite, which is topped with spicy mayo, sweet and sour unagi (eel) sauce, and tobiko for crunch. Their Chef Frank Special Roll is loaded with crab salad, avocado, and cucumber, drizzled with spicy mayo and unagi sauce, and topped with a salmon and scallop cover that makes it almost impossible to eat.

Address: 655 Bay St. #5, Toronto, ON M5G 2K4, Canada

Website: https://kakaallyoucaneat.ca/

Sushi Kaji, founded by Mitsuhiro Kaji in 2000, was the first restaurant in the city to put elevated sushi and omakase in the spotlight over 20 years ago. A giant koi fish decorates the sushi counter wall where chef Kaji prepares his exquisite bites for no more than 30 diners at a time.

Detail is everything, Chef Kaji has spent the better part of his life perfecting his approach to sushi, so it's no surprise he's so attentive. Kaji has fish flown in from Tokyo Bay within 24 hours, refusing to offer anything that isn't as fresh as possible to his clients. This is just one method for achieving excellence, which takes years of practice beginning at the age of 13. Scallop, sea bream, shrimp, fluke, and sea eel are just a few of the fishy options on the seasonal menu.

Address: 860 The Queensway, Etobicoke, ON M8Z 1N7, Canada

Website: http://sushikaji.com/

Shoushin is a Japanese word that signifies 'craftsman's heart'. The characters reflect innovation as a whole. Shoushin, as the name implies, invests its collective heart and soul into making the best sushi and providing the best gastronomic experience. Shoushin launched in Toronto's posh Bedford Park neighborhood in October 2015. It's more than just a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant that specializes in Edomae-style sushi. Shoushin resembles a classic high-end sushi restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo, and is distinguished by a 200-year-old inconspicuous hinoki wood bar for its natural aroma and beauty.

Customers wait at the hinoki wood counter for chef Lin to offer them his immaculate sushi pieces. The majority of the seasonal seafood comes from Japan, and it's all wild-caught and primarily line-caught, except for the tuna, which comes from Canada's east coast. Golden eye snapper, sea perch, or Hokkaido uni (aka sea urchin) may be served depending on the season, gratifying genuine sushi connoisseurs.

Address: 3328 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4N 2M4, Canada

Website: https://www.shoushin.ca/

JaBistro is practically invisible to passersby cha-cha-ing down Richmond Street, with only a cute whale image indicating its presence. When it was the first in town to nail aburi-style sushi in 2012, the basement venue had a lot of sushi fans talking. Chefs flame roast the fish on nigiri with a blowtorch, adding that umami—the sixth taste—flavour to the pieces. After a few years, the place is still packed with people looking for a good time after work. When the weather warms up, diners may head to the spacious rooftop patio, which is decked out in wood and lit by twinkling lights.

The restaurant serves high-end sushi at a more moderate price point, acting as a bridge between an expensive omakase meal and all-you-can-eat. The JaBistroll is a signature meal that combines salmon, snow crab, uni, and tobiko in delicious packaging. The outcome of vinegared rice is packed into a wooden mold and topped with fish is oshizushi, which emerges with a roof of cured mackerel. The kyukyoku set is the younger sister of omakase, with the chef bringing over his freshest fish over the counter. The final oh-so-buttery o-toro (fatty tuna belly) bite is the dreamiest of the trio of increasingly fatty tuna nigiri.

Address: 222 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON M5V 1V6, Canada
Website: https://www.jabistro.com/

Chef David Lee wowed Toronto foodies with Nota Bene, his Queen Street resto where well-heeled locals would head for the tasting menu. In a bit of a surprise move, the chef opened Yorkville’s Planta in 2016, a plant-based resto for the same style of the patron. It has done so well that Nota Bene has been transformed into Planta Queen. While the original Planta plucks culinary inspo from across the globe, this one sticks to Asia, with walls papered in dragons, faux trees dotting the space, and eats including vegan sushi.

Watermelon has worked effectively in poké as a tuna substitute at the original Planta, so it was only natural to use it in sushi. Chef Lee isn't attempting to duplicate real fish, but he is attempting to give vegan sushi more body and flavor. Dehydrating the watermelon enhances the flavor while also giving it a unique texture similar to raw fish. The fruit can be found in ahi watermelon nigiri and hot maki, where the watermelon is both dehydrated and pickled, and chickpeas replace mayo in the spicy aioli sauce.

Address: 180 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5V 3X3, Canada
Website: Plantarestaurants.com/private-events-venue/planta-queen-toronto/

In contrast to its futuristic eating style, Aburi Tora's roots are entrenched in Japanese history. Seigo Nakamura, a native of Miyazaki, Japan, took over his father's Sushi Tora restaurant in 1996 when he was only 20 years old. Seigo put his mind to bringing a traditional form of a sushi restaurant - Kaiten - to Canada, but in a modern way with greater quality items, after four successful restaurants and ten years. He dubbed it Tora as a nod to his background.

Salmon aburi oshi is a crushed and torched dish featuring salmon both within and on top of the rice, as well as a round of jalapeno. The albacore tuna oshi, which is uniquely available at Tora, is flame-seared tuna with asparagus and ginger sauce. The Edoprime section of the menu features their greatest sea findings, such as Japanese sea bream and madai, and is made possible by a close relationship with Japanese fish markets.

Address: 3401 Dufferin St #612B, North York, ON M6A 2T9, Canada

Website: https://www.aburitora.com/

Yasu has a sister restaurant in LA's super-swish Beverly Hills, which should tell you everything you need to know about its vibe. That being said, the Toronto site is the original (and best) from chef and owner, Yasuhisa Ouchi.

In a world where borders are blurring and everyone has access to the freshest seafood, Jasu took advantage of the chance to return to the basics of sushi, where simplicity was the key to bringing out the sea's flavor. They use traditional methods to extract the umami flavor of seafood. For a perfectly balanced bite, the fish is freshly cut and laid atop warm, loose rice, then dusted with a touch of nikiri soy. In a nutshell, Yasu aims to capture the essence of sushi. For optimal flavor and freshness, the seasonal ingredients are cooked at the sushi bar and presented right away. Come in for an authentic omakase sushi experience.

Address: 81 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S 1G4, Canada
Website: https://yasu-sushibar.com