TORONTO — Celebrity chef Akira Back, known for blending Japanese cuisine with Korean ingredients and flavours, is opening a restaurant bearing his name in the Bisha Hotel Toronto — a luxury property scheduled to open later this year in the city’s Entertainment District.
The restaurant, a partnership with Toronto-based hospitality company ICONINK, will feature a number of Back’s signature dishes along with some new ones inspired by his time in the city.
“Toronto is a cultural epicentre with a diverse and multi-cultural food scene, which is why I always hoped to have a restaurant here,” says Back.
Born in Korea, Back was the youngest executive chef for Nobu Matsuhisa before opening his own restaurants — Yellowtail by Akira Back and Kumi by Akira Back — on the Las Vegas Strip. Since then, he has opened restaurants in Singapore, New Delhi and Jakarta and also owns Dosa in Seoul.
“Back has a growing reputation in the hospitality industry for being an inspiring and respected chef with successful restaurants,” says Hanif Harji, CEO, ICONINK. “His signature style of blending Japanese and Korean cuisine brings the perfect cosmopolitan touch to Bisha and complements our other dining offerings in the hotel.”
The 44-storey Bisha Hotel Toronto will feature 96 luxury boutique hotel rooms, including 14 suites, and 355 residential condominiums. It will have four dining concepts, all led and managed by ICONINK, including a 2,200-sq.-ft. lobby bar with street-level patio access, a 24-hour café and a rooftop restaurant with an infinity pool.
