Update: On September 14, 2019, I went back to Tachi, and while it was still good, it was not as good as the first time below. Apparently, they changed the rice they use. The first time, it was perfect, this time, a bit off. 8/10
Tachi is a stand up omakase sushi bar located in the Assembly Food Hall in downtown Toronto. This was my first time visiting Assembly Hall and won’t be my last. I observed a ton of interesting places to check out from ramen, to a full bar, to pizza etc.
Tachi is brought to you by the same owner as Shoushin, a high end sushi bar in Toronto. In my opinion, Tachi is much better sushi than Shoushin, and at a better price. If you have read my blog before, you will know that I love Kabuto in Vegas and consider it some of the best sushi in the world. Surprisingly, Tachi, to me, comes very close, if not on par, with Kabuto.
At the front of the place, you will see the menu for the day, as well as any extras not included in the omakase. On this day, there was Uni from Hokkaido.
I definitely recommend you make a reservation as the place only has 8 spots and the meals are served at set times.
In true omakase style, all the sushi is served one at a time, placed in front of you, already sauced, and you eat it with your hands. The meal started with hotate (scallop) from Hokkaido.
I knew the meal would be fantastic from this first piece. The rice was perfect in texture, and seasoning. The wasabi amount was also perfect and came through at the end of each bite. Second piece was sea bream.
Then king fish – torched Aburi style.
The torching brings out the fats and imparts a very nice grilled flavor. Sublime. Next, marinated salmon.
Followed by the “Holy Trinity” – lean tuna, Chu Toro (medium fatty tuna), and O Toro (fatty tuna) – the tuna was from Mexico. Mind blowing.
Now usually, the blue fin (or uni) will be the highlight of an omakase meal, but this place is so good, they make the “secondary” nigiri shine. One of my favorite pieces was actually the tako (octopus). It had a delicious piece of nori underneath and brushed with an amazing unagi sauce.
The next piece was my least favorite if I had to pick one – bonito.
Followed by Uni from Hokkaido (not included in omakase – $18 supplement).
Ikura – delicious and I believe they put a little dashi in it.
THEN, tied for my favorite piece of the meal, anago (sea eel – salt water). The sauce, texture, and taste was mind blowing.
The meal ended with a tuna hand roll and I ordered an extra piece of anago and o-toro.
We were lucky because we came at a later seating, were the only 4 people at the bar. This allowed us to engage more with the friendly chefs. Surprisingly, one chef was from Korea and the other from Hong Kong, but someone from Japan could not of made this better. Almost perfect in every way. 10/10
i plan to eat at tachi today chef fft! thanks for the review! now the Assembly Hall is called Chefs Hall and markets itself as an incubator where innovative chefs can join like minded others. I do wonder how they manage competing cuisines but I like the idea of going to one place and having many independent restaurants under one roof