Last weekend, after a three-month build, Bazara Asian Cuisine opened on the ever-growing Ossington strip. Owned by chef Sammy Yang and his wife Suzanne, the new restaurant takes over the space previously occupied by Goed Eten. It’s a dramatic change from the previous diner.

Designed by King Kong (yes, that’s really his name, and he’s also worked on Riz North on Yonge Street), the restaurant offers a classic, higher-end atmosphere, with a dramatic chandelier, customized murals, vintage framed photographs, exposed red brick and plush banquettes.

The menu at Bazara features Japanese, Thai and Chinese cuisines, making the most of Mr. Yang’s 17-years of experience in the industry (previously, he worked at Riz North). Bazara boasts the quality of its ingredients, including the sushi rice, the black rice, the organic sauces and the organic miso.

To start, there’s tom yum soup with shrimp ($7) or a kaniko salad ($8) with cucumber, crab, roe and homemade mayo. The menu features a dozen signature maki rolls ($10 and up), including a grilled sushi roll, riceless rolls ($10-12) and sushi pizza ($9-12).

For mains, there’s wild-caught salmon teriyaki ($19), pad thai ($14) with chicken and tiger shrimp, General Tao’s chicken ($13) and the signature dish, a Vietnamese yellow curry with soft-shell crab ($20).

The restaurant has just received a liquor license and it plans to soon offer a good variety of sake and wine.

Published on: Jan 31, 2013