Seasonal Japanese
Cuisine.

The room

Small, and meant to stay that way.

A pale wood counter with the live edge left on, a handful of tables, and a view straight into the kitchen. Guests describe it as cosy more often than anything else. It is the single word that comes up most in our reviews.

Minho works the counter himself. If you sit there, you will watch your food being made.

“I don't want to be crazy busy. I just want to make delicious food, and each guest visit us, they enjoy it.”

The chef

Minho Lee.

Minho trained specifically in traditional Japanese cooking and has spent a decade in Japanese haute cuisine. He moved to Canada from Korea about seven years ago.

The cooking here is seasonal and traditional rather than clever: sushi and sashimi, kaiseki, tempura, donburi, chawanmushi. The premium sushi set and the unagi don are what people order most.

Before the restaurant

It began as a catering kitchen.

For several years before Kotori, Minho and Ashley cooked privately: birthdays, corporate evenings, dinners in people's homes. That work still runs alongside the restaurant as Washoku Hana, a private omakase service.

Ashley is Canadian, Minho is Korean, and the restaurant is the two of them. There is no alcohol licence yet; it is coming.