Near the corner of Yonge and Wellington in downtown Aurora, a new Japanese restaurant is bringing a family together and serving fresh sushi and teriyaki.
“At the beginning, we just wanted family together, so opening a small business, we can be together. That’s the first thing we think,” said Evan Tang, one of the owners and chefs at Feza Izakaya, a new Japanese restaurant in town.
Tang is the husband of fellow owner Hana and son of the other co-owner, Kiki.
“Then if our business is running stable, then we’re going to dream big, right? Open a second one, a third one,” he chuckled.
Evan Tang, 31, said he has worked at a variety of restaurants over his decade in the business, largely throughout the Greater Toronto Area, learning new techniques and picking up new dishes with each place he has worked at.
Tang, who immigrated to Canada from China in 2012 and now lives in Belleville, said he gravitated toward cooking Japanese food as it’s relatively healthier than Chinese, while still tasty.
Feza Izakaya offers a diverse menu of dishes, with Tang pointing to the beef teriyaki and the restaurant’s wide array of sushi rolls as some of its signature dishes. The sushi is prepared fresh at a counter in the dining room.
For dessert, the mousse and cheesecakes are home-made by Evan Tang’s mother, Kiki, and have long been popular in the Tang household.
Evan Tang said he searched over a wide area for around six months before settling on the Yonge Street location.
“I’m quite proud of what they’ve accomplished. The design, they’ve done a lot of it themselves,” said Evan’s father, Gerry, who runs his own heating and cooling business in Belleville.
Evan Tang did most of the renovations work himself, including building a pair of distinctive wooden booths at the back of the restaurant. They resemble a gazebo, decorated with colourful painted flags and lit by red lanterns. There is also a re-creation of a cherry blossom tree in the centre of the dining room.
“I was very proud of how he’s handled it,” added Gerry. “When they first took over that restaurant it was a mess, so I was quite surprised with how well it turned out.”
The restaurant marked its official opening on Christmas Eve, and while it had a hectic first few days, Evan Tang said they had received a good response from the community.
Feza Izakaya, 15229 Yonge St., is hosting its grand opening event on Saturday, Jan. 25 from noon to 3 p.m.