This new bar in Little Italy pairs Chinese food with wine and sake

Name: Chez Wa Contact: 617 College St., @chez.wa
Neighbourhood: Little Italy
Owners: Tianchen (Tia) Zhang, Yuanxin (Kevin) Guo Chef: Zheng (David) Wei Accessibility: Not fully accessible

The latest bar to open on College—a strip that continues to evolve from its Italian beginnings—has roots that stretch back nearly a decade. In 2016, Tianchen (Tia) Zhang, an engineer and designer living in mainland China, moved to Toronto for a job. While her work gave her an outlet to express her creativity, her true loves were food and wine. “Pairing food wine with my friends became a real hobby of mine,” says Zhang.

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During the pandemic, Zhang returned to Asia to work in Shanghai. “While I was there, I noticed there were so many bars that were pairing Chinese food with wine in the most delightful and inspiring ways,” she says. So when Zhang came back to Toronto, she set out to introduce the city’s wine drinkers to the world of Chinese pairings.

From 2022 to 2025, the concept that would become Chez Wa took shape as a monthly pop-up called Wine Pairing Company. In 2025, Zhang met her business (and now life) partner, Yuanxin (Kevin) Guo, a PhD candidate in computer engineering. Though he was, at the time, a self-proclaimed cocktail guy, Guo quickly caught Zhang’s enthusiasm for wine and began volunteering at her events.

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Eventually, Zhang and Guo joined forces, deciding to make what had been a pop-up project permanent. “We looked at multiple spaces but finally landed on College Street,” says Guo. “It was important for us to be somewhere where there was a lot of foot traffic.”

Now open from noon to midnight, Wednesday through Sunday, Chez Wa operates as a specialized wine and sake bottle shop and café by day. By night, it’s a minimalist bar serving modern coastal Chinese cuisine, with a menu designed to complement and elevate its thoughtfully curated beverage program.

The Food

Sharable small plates designed to be enjoyed with wine or sake, the dishes showcase refined yet punchy flavours from across China. They’re rooted in mainland traditions, with forays to the eastern seaboard and the bold, spice-driven cuisine of Sichuan. A highlight is the silken mapo tofu campanelle: a velvety, tongue-tingling pasta with ground beef, fermented chilies and Sichuan peppercorn. It cries out for a light chilled red or a clean, mineral sake.

The Drinks

Japanese sake shares the drink list with low-intervention wines, including both old-world hits and some lesser-known varietals from places like the Canary Islands, Slovenia and Ontario. The by-the-glass list—10 wines and three sakes—starts at $14, which is very much appreciated in today’s dumpster fire of an economy.

The Space

Taking its cues from the minimalist wine bars of Copenhagen and Berlin, the intimate room pairs a cool stainless steel bar with warm walnut millwork, Scandi-style furniture and an easy wash of natural light. If you can, snag the table by the front window looking out onto College Street.