The Chef·
Akira Tanaka.
Twelve years before the counter.
Akira trained at Sushi Yoshitake in Tokyo and at Sushi Saito's Hong Kong room before opening Hokusai. He believes omakase is a conversation, not a performance, and he prefers Toronto winters to Tokyo summers because the shari behaves better in the cold.
Background
Tokyo, Hong Kong, Yorkville.
Akira began as a kitchen apprentice in Setagaya at seventeen, washing rice for two years before he was allowed to touch fish. He moved to Sushi Yoshitake in 2009, where he spent six years under Masahiro Yoshitake learning Edomae aging, vinegar tuning, and shari temperature. In 2015 he joined Sushi Saito's Hong Kong room as a senior counter chef. He opened Hokusai in 2021with a single rule: twelve seats, one seating on weeknights, same chef every night.
Philosophy
The rice is the dish. The fish is the season.
Akira teaches new staff that an omakase counter is built on the shari, not the fish. The rice is dressed with three vinegars in a ratio that changes with the temperature of the room. The fish is selected at four in the morning at the Toronto distribution houses, and aged in the prep room for between thirty minutes and seven days depending on the cut. Nothing on the counter is in season because the menu says so. It is in season because the fish came in that morning and the rice agreed with it.
He believes a chef should be quiet at the counter. Speak when spoken to. Let the room set the pace. The chef is not the show.
The counter
One chef. Twelve seats. Every night.
Akira works the counter every service. There is no rotation, no second chef, no off-night. He cuts the fish, he forms the nigiri, he places it on the counter in front of you. The kitchen behind him handles the hot dishes, the soup, and the tamago bake. The plate that arrives at your seat was touched by one pair of hands.
Reserve the counter
The best seat is the one directly across from the chef. Ask for it when you book.