Hashimoto Restaurant

My husband and I dined at Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto in December, 2018, and thoroughly enjoyed the unique experience of dining on exquisitely prepared, authentic Japanese dishes outside Japan. The private dining room and the attentive service further enhanced our enjoyment. We opted for the five-course dinner menu at lunch time in order not to miss out on anything. In hindsight, the three-course lunch menu may have sufficed as the five-course dinner menu consisted of three fish dishes, which, though all equally tasty, seemed a bit redundant.

A unique cultural and culinary experience

Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto is our best authentic Japanese kaiseki experience ever. Again, simply the best. As with anything "best", all the components and parts of our experience were top notch, from the cordial welcome, to the traditional Japanese unique architectural and interior features (such as Shoji, the sliding panel that is made of translucent paper in a wooden frame), to the private dining rooms, to the beautiful, elaborate, extremely light, delicate and highly delectable food featuring the best ingredients, rare and imported from Japan, everything merited highest praise.
Even though Hashimoto is quite distant from the central Toronto (it is located in the Flemingdon Park, in the city's North York district), especially for tourists and visitors, the 20-plus minutes' drive from the Old Toronto (Uber is about 20 USD one-way) was more than worth it.
No words can describe the pure deliciousness of the food. Some of the items, such as Tachiuo (silver belt fish) or Shizuoka musk melon are not widely served even in the best Japanese restaurants outside the country of the origin. Hashimoto has been promulgating the traditional Japanese cuisine (and not its all-you-can-eat-sushi American/international transformation of the former) for about 20 years now, long before kaiseki and omakase became next trend in the big cities all over the world.
To be honest, the prices are kind of steep. Kaiseki lunch is priced at $200 per person (drinks, tax and gratuity not included), whereas kaiseki dinner sells for $300 per person (drinks, tax and gratuity not included). This is almost 40% more expensive than a high-class Michelin star Hirohisa in NYC, but on par with many other expensive Japanese restaurants. But, again, our 436 USD check for a party of 2, including tips but excluding alcohol was a right price tag for the unique experience, totally one of a kind.
Reservations required, as well as a credit card for a deposit. Please allow 2 hours for your lunch experience. The restaurant's cancellation policy could be viewed on Hashimoto's website.
6 stars out of 5.

very nice food. fair price. atmosphere is great

Nice ambience and perfect foods! The staff was very gentle and polite, explained each course in detail, and the overall service was perfection. We were lucky to experience the Japanese traditional tea ceremony after our meal, worth every penny:)