As Vancouver Blooms, Tojo’s Restaurant Offers Traditional and Thoughtful Sakura Offering
As over 40,000 Vancouver cherry trees burst into bloom this sakura season Chef Hidekazu Tojo of Tojo’s Restaurant celebrates with new omakase experiences and a la carte dishes. Tojo’s sakura specials are available now.
Omakase Experiences
Sakura Gozen Omakase $220.00 per person
Tojo’s Ultimate Omakase $330.00 per person
Chef presents two omakase experiences bursting with spring ingredients. Diners will be treated to a collection of seasonal seafood both local and from Japan.
Unique spring sprouts appear through the menu, including an edible flower fuki, nanohana, which celebrates the end of winter in Japan and taranome (angelica tree bud). This bud is only available early spring has a slight bitterness and earthy flavour. Chef dishes up taranome this season in a tempura course alongside baby carrots and a collection of sweet seafood. A video of chef explaining taranome can be seen here.
Menu highlights include a Gindara Sablefish with shio koji marinade, braised daikon, fuki miso, asparagus and pickled cherry blossom garnish. The pickled cherry blossoms are sourced from Japan and soaked in ume plum vinegar to preserve the pink colour. The blooms add a unique floral aroma and slightly salty flavour, enhancing the sweet shio koji marinade.
Another standout dish is Chef’s Awabi (Japanese abalone); the fresh mollusc’s prized tender and delicate meat pairs perfectly with the umami flavours of shiitake and morel mushrooms and a rich awabi reduction.
Both the Gindara Sablefish and Awabi dishes are available to enjoy as a la carte items for $48.00 each or as part of an omakase experience.
View the menus here.
About Tojo’s Restaurant
Tojo’s Restaurant is internationally recognized for creating exquisite food served as an art form. Fresh, unique and modern rooted in Japanese fine dining traditions with a distinct Pacific Northwest perspective, using the finest seasonal, local and organic ingredients. Tojo’s celebrates its 33-year anniversary in October 2021. Chef Hidekazu Tojo has received a long list of awards and accolades throughout his culinary career and has earned respect as a Master Chef for his extraordinary ability to prepare Japanese cuisine. Chef Tojo gained his culinary skills and knowledge while working in a Ryotei, a high-class traditional Japanese restaurant in Osaka in his early twenties. Tojo felt limited by the strict traditions of Japanese culinary culture and jumped at the opportunity to move to Canada and settled in Vancouver, in 1971. He was the first to introduce Omakase to Vancouver’s culinary scene and is the creator of countless dishes and techniques that are ubiquitous today. Among the most influential is the inside out Tojo Roll, which is now universally known as the California Roll.
www.tojos.com
Media release and images provided by Tojo’s Restaurant.
