Celebrity chef Akira Back will be opening his first Canadian namesake restaurant, Akira Back, in the Bisha Hotel Toronto, a luxury property scheduled to open later this year in the city’s Entertainment District.
The restaurant will be a partnership with Toronto-based hospitality company ICONINK. Back is renowned for blending Japanese cuisine with Korean ingredients and flavours.
“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. “The menu will feature a number of my signature dishes along with some new ones that were inspired by my time spent in the city.”
Born in Korea and raised in Aspen, Colorado, Back is a professional snowboarders turned chef. He 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 eponymous restaurants in Singapore, New Delhi and Jakarta. He also owns Dosa in Seoul. It is one of the top fine dining restaurants in South Korea. Most recently, he launched a luxury steakhouse—his second restaurant concept—in Jakarta.
In 2017 and 2018, Akira Back restaurants are scheduled to open Dubai, Bangkok, Vietnam, Dallas and San Diego as well as Toronto.
“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.”
“Akira Back is an extremely talented chef on the cusp of exploding internationally and we’re excited that Bisha will be his first location in Canada. After interviewing many recognized chefs over a three-year period, I felt that Akira Back’s talen and uniqueness would be the perfect match for Bisha Toronto to make it a complete hospitality experience,” says Charles Khabouth, chairman, ICONINK. “The restaurant is not only great for the hotel but will also be an exciting addition to the Toronto dining scene.”
Bisha Hotel Toronto will stand 44 storeys and 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-square-foot lobby bar with street-level patio access, a 24-hour café and a 44th-floor rooftop restaurant with an infinity pool and view of the lake, city and CN Tower.
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