Five years after opening — mere weeks before Covid-19 — Aburi Hana has become one of Toronto’s leading destinations for stratospheric-level sushi. The city has Ryusuke Nakagawa to thank, who uprooted from Japan to offer serious, close-to-meditative kyō-kaiseki tasting menus that are Japanese in ethos but unmistakably Canadian in execution. Nakagawa’s signature touches are subtle and sublime. His spring-summer calling card — a 14-day dry-aged maguro-flower sashimi — invites guests to uncurl each akami and chūtoro tuna petal and dip. The combination is traditional, the presentation modern. In keeping with kaiseki tradition, dishes are seasonally attuned. The winter menu features Ontario lamb, a protein not commonly used in Japanese cuisine. The belly is simmered in lamb dashi for four hours and is served with mukago (Japanese mini potatoes cooked skin-on and deep-fried), sansho pepper, lamb dashi sauce and karashi mustard. During Japanese bluefin season, otoro is covered in caviar and served on a rice cracker tartlet. Service ware is from the town of Arita, in western Japan, renowned for fine porcelain. Sake director Amy Lee covers classical Japanese sake alongside whimsical offerings like Alain Ducasse’s sparkling sake and Alsatian orange wines.
Ryusuke’s MODERN kyōkaiseki is FUN and entertaining. Susanna Cheng
Uni somen (late summer).
Kobakogani ebi-imo croquette sakizuke (winter).
Ontario lamb sakizuki (autumn).
Uni somen (late summer).
Kobakogani ebi-imo croquette sakizuke (winter).
Ontario lamb sakizuki (autumn).
