TOMO Restaurant

At TOMO, a table can eat two different ways on the same evening. The à la carte menu runs a premium raw bar — crudo, nigiri, sashimi, and rolls built on Japanese A5 Wagyu, seared foie gras, and truffle — while a separate counter, HIKARU by TOMO, runs a sixteen-course omakase for diners who want the kitchen to set the pace from first bite to last. Both share an address on Clarence Street, in the thick of Ottawa's ByWard Market, and both are built for the planned dinner rather than the casual drop-in.

The raw side is where the kitchen shows its hand. Crudos arrive dressed with restraint and precision — scallops with yuzu ponzu and truffle salsa, sliced ocean trout as Masu Tataki with truffle ponzu and apple chili crunch, hamachi cut through with jalapeño and yuzu. Sashimi and a chirashizushi bowl of fish over seasoned rice round out the cold offering, and the nigiri can be taken as a Chef's Choice of six pieces, the cleanest way to read the seafood without committing to the full tasting. Even the rolls aim higher than convention: the Ginza 6ix stacks Black Tiger tempura, A5 Wagyu, seared foie gras, truffle salsa, and gold flakes into a single, deliberately excessive bite meant to be shared.