Top 5 Japanese restaurants in Toronto
Published May 16, 2025 at 4:43 pm
Japanese restaurants in Toronto celebrate all the big flavours that come out of the tiny, island country. Japan may be a long way from Canada, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get great tempura, noodles, donburi, okonomiyaki and more without leaving Toronto.
The city’s Japanese restaurants range from cozy noodle houses to roaring izakayas, dim and buzzy snack bars to sophisticated sushi spots. No matter what your favourite Japanese food is, you can most likely find an exemplary version of it in Toronto without having to pay for airfare.
Here are some top Japanese restaurants in Toronto.
5 – Raku
Thick, elastic udon noodles are the specialty of this minimalist restaurant on Queen West, available in a plethora of forms from steamy soups to cold dishes. You can order udon with duck, crab, veggies, clams, shrimp tempura or many other accompaniments.
The gyunan is a popular option, an impossibly large bowl of clear but rich broth swimming with a generous portion of noodles along with strips of chewy, fatty beef balanced out by sharp Tokyo negi (onion). All the greens in the soup add an element of freshness that feels definitively Japanese.
4 – Okonomi House
This is where to go if you want to try traditional Japanese okonomiyaki, a type of pancake-like dish, in Toronto. Tucked away on Charles Street near Yonge and Bloor, the homey but bustling restaurant has been around since 1978.
The pancakes are made out of flour, egg, milk, chopped cabbage, green onion and pickled ginger, and are all given a lacquered coating of sweet and savoury okonomi sauce and topped with a dollop of rich homemade mayo. Add on aonori (seaweed flakes) and katsuoboshi (preserved tuna flakes) to complete the picture.
The most popular okonomiyaki styles are pork, beef and shrimp in that order, but they also offer bacon, chicken, squid, veggie and scallop varieties, as well as other Japanese dishes aside from okonomiyaki. The pork okonomiyaki is hearty enough to possibly even share amongst two people, packed with crispy meat and crunchy cabbage.
3 – Yuzuki
For a truly premium Japanese experience, check out this unassuming but elegant restaurant near Yonge and Bloor. Raw fish dishes are assembled before your eyes at a traditional sushi bar, and servers are dressed in Japanese-influenced apparel.
Their claim to fame is luxurious donburi crowned with options like silky uni or high-grade tuna. To get a taste of what Yuzuki has to offer, try a sashimi sampler that showcases a range of the freshest seasonal seafood such as melt-in-your-mouth chu-toro and hamachi.
2 – Hanmoto
Blink and you’ll miss this postage stamp space tucked away just off Dundas West on Lakeview. Marked only by some industrial lamps, slip through what looks like a side door to find a pocket of Japanese wonders.
Offerings here aren’t strictly traditional, with options like Japanese-influenced devilled eggs, stuffed chicken wings, and a surf and turf hand roll.
Some classic options are their tuna tartare and salmon aburi, both served with nori sheets for DIY assembly. The salmon aburi comes on a fluffy bed of rice, the fish lightly charred and smokey on the outside, sweet and soft on the inside. The whole dish is set off by a creamy sauce as well as crunchy toppings of tobiko and onion.
Head to this intimate yet lively restaurant on Dundas west to share in a wide range of Japanese small plates underscored by a great music played on a high quality sound system, inspired by Japan’s listening rooms.
The ebi fry is textbook. Giant, snowy shrimp are encased in the crunchiest panko coating drizzled with a smoky, savoury sauce. A creamy tartar on the side adds richness, while an accompanying lemon wedge and frizzle of cabbage break up the heaviness of the fried dish.
