A One-Night-Only Culinary Collaboration: Park Hyatt Toronto × MICHELIN-Starred Aburi Hana Unveil the Sakura Season Finale Dinner Event
Aburi Hana × Park Hyatt: Chef Ryusuke Nakagawa & Chef Jonathan Williams is a first-of-its-kind dining experience between Park Hyatt Toronto, one of the city's most iconic luxury hotels, and Aburi Hana, Toronto's top MICHELIN-starred Japanese kaiseki destination. Marking the finale of Sakura Season, the dinner showcases the refined techniques of Chef Ryusuke Nakagawa, trained under a master chef to the Emperor of Japan, alongside the contemporary Canadian style of Chef Jonathan Williams, the creative force behind Park Hyatt Toronto's culinary resurgence.
Only 30 guests will experience the 8-course tasting menu, with dishes presented in alternating courses by chef Ryusuke Nakagawa and chef Jonathan Williams. The menu features Chef Ryusuke's famed Lobster Kimiyaki with uni and chia seed soy and Maguro Flower Sashimi, paired with Chef Williams' locally inspired creations, including Aged Duck and Mimosa Springs Trout. The meal concludes with a Miyazaki Mango dessert by Aburi Hana's Executive Pastry Chef Aiko Uchigoshi, whose 15+ years of award-winning pastry experience reflect her roots in Yamaguchi, Japan.
The evening begins with a welcome cocktail and canapés, crafted in partnership with Roku Gin, set against the sweeping skyline views from Park Hyatt Toronto's 17th-floor Terrace Room. Live music will accompany the dinner, creating an immersive, multi-sensory experience.
"I'm excited to be teaming up with Chef Ryusuke for this event," says Chef Jonathan Williams. "It's always inspiring to work alongside other chefs in Toronto who are pushing boundaries. This dinner is about more than great food—it's about celebrating the incredible talent in our city and giving guests a new perspective on what fine dining can be."
Chef Jonathan Williams, Executive Chef at Park Hyatt Toronto, has built an international reputation in kitchens such as The Clove Club and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. His approach highlights local ingredients, modern Canadian cuisine, and thoughtful wine-forward pairings.
"I'm thrilled about this unique opportunity with chef Jonathan to honour the beauty of the Sakura season, which is a profound symbol of renewal in Japanese culture. It's a beautiful way to showcase the rich tapestry of both Japanese and Canadian heritage through culinary expression," says Chef Ryusuke Nakagawa.
Chef Ryusuke Nakagawa brings a deep connection to traditional Japanese multi-course dining, reinterpreting kaiseki through a Canadian lens. His work at Aburi Hana has earned critical acclaim and a MICHELIN Star for its precision and elegance.
Event Details
Date: Sunday, June 1, 2025Time: 6:00 PMLocation: Terrace Room, 17th Floor – Park Hyatt TorontoTickets: $600 per guest (+13% tax & 20% gratuity)Includes: Welcome cocktail, canapés, 8-course tasting menu, curated wine pairingsSeating: Limited to 30 guests only
Reservations are now open. Reserve your seat HERE.
About Chef Ryusuke Nakagawa
Executive Head Chef of Aburi Hana, Chef Ryusuke, brings the soul of Kyoto's kaiseki to Toronto. Having trained in elite Japanese kitchens, including under a master chef to the Emperor of Japan, Ryusuke made the bold move to Canada to lead Aburi Hana's vision. His reverence for Japanese culinary tradition is matched by his passion for local Canadian ingredients, helping earn the restaurant a Michelin Star in the program's inaugural year.
About Chef Jonathan Williams
Executive Chef at Park Hyatt Toronto, Jon Williams, has led some of the most celebrated kitchens in Toronto, London, and New York. With roots in Richmond Station and Michelin-starred experiences at The Clove Club and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Williams is redefining modern Canadian cuisine with a focus on sustainability, regionality, and wine-forward gastronomy.
About Park Hyatt Toronto
Park Hyatt Toronto is a refined urban retreat recognized among the city's most distinguished hotels. One of the few properties in Toronto awarded a MICHELIN Key, it blends understated luxury with deeply personalized service and immersive cultural and culinary experiences. Located in the heart of Yorkville—Toronto's most fashionable neighbourhood—the hotel features 219 elegantly appointed guestrooms, including 40 suites, and is home to Writers Room Bar, named one of Canada's 50 Best Bars. For more information and reservations, visit parkhyatttoronto.com or follow @parkhyattto on Instagram.
About Aburi Hana
One-MICHELIN-Star Aburi Hana brings an unprecedented Kyō-Kaiseki experience to Toronto, a traditional Kyōto-style, course menu steeped in history and ritual. Executive Chef Ryusuke Nakagawa's modern interpretation embodies and elevates the tradition to create a distinctively contemporary experience. Starting with a foundation of the finest Japanese ingredients from the land and sea, he incorporates local produce to reflect the changing seasons. Aburi Hana ranked #29 on Canada's 100 Best Restaurants of 2025.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250512735228/en/
Contacts
Jessica BertoloDirector, Marketing & CommunicationPark Hyatt Torontojessica.bertolo@hyatt.com
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Chicago Tribune
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Column: The Stratford Festival of theater rediscovers a beating Canadian heart
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That's always moving, especially when you have a deep well of an actor like Graham Abbey playing Leontes. But Shakespeare leaves Leontes and Hermione's son, Mamillius, dead. He died from distress at his mother's arrest and he usually just lingers at the end, unseen and unspoken. Not here. In this production, he arrives accompanied by an angel. Leontes thinks he has got him back, too. But no. Not all of our mistakes can be corrected, Cimolino first seems to be saying. But the exquisite moment then suggests that Mamillius can still forgive from immortality, and thus Leontes still can be forgiven. It's affirmative and deeply sad. I won't quickly forget the end of this summer telling of 'The Winter's Tale.' On this trip, that leaves me with director Robert Lepage's 'Macbeth,' a wacky production that imagines the Scottish play as a feud between coke-snorting bikers. Settings include a roadside motel, from a balcony wherein Lucy Peacock's all-in Lady M falls most theatrically, a gas station and a parking lot with outdoor grills, the flame-throwing lair of the twisted sisters. When Macbeth meets his pre-ordained fate, Birnam Wood arrives in the form of bikers riding what look like real bikes, all carrying little verdant trees on their handlebars. There's another rub too. Tom McCamus, who plays Macbeth, is a 70-year-old actor and a great veteran star of this festival, as is Peacock, a fine foil. That's a cool idea. Most of Shakespeare's characters shift in age according to which scene you are in. No reason not to push that envelope a bit with an actor of this skill and lucidity, Alas the concept, which uses the cinematically fused iconography familiar to we longtime fans of LaPage, doesn't really work because it doesn't establish enough gravitas among the biker gangs to really make you believe they are dealing with matters of honor and destiny; it is as if the characters are putting on the drama, which can work fine with many of the Bard's works, but not this one. Macbeth is meta all by itself. It does not need any frame for it work its horrors. Still, any festival of Canadian identity — even if I think that mostly is unconscious — has to deal with the Quebecois, the yang to the yin of rural Ontario, which isn't far removed from Minnesota nice. That only gets you so far with the Scottish play. Lepage always offers a little Francophone disruption wheresoever he roams, disruptingly, and 'Macbeth' never really works, anyway. Except on us poor suckers who fall prey to its curses.

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