What’s on the menu at Dasha, Michelin-starred chef Akira Back’s flashy new Chinese restaurant with private karaoke rooms

Name: Dasha
Contact: 620 King St. W, 416-601-0662, dashatoronto.com, @dashatoronto
Neighbourhood: King West
Owners: Honeycomb Hospitality (Petty Cash, Baro)
Chef: Akira Back (Akira Back) and Bi “Alan” Shuang (Lebua Hotels and Resorts in Bangkok)
Accessibility: Fully accessible

The food

Unlike Back’s other spots that focus on Japanese and Korean flavours with some American influence mixed in, Dasha serves modern Chinese dishes made with traditional techniques—and plated very fancifully. As it’s Back’s first foray into the cuisine, he’s recruited Shuang to oversee the kitchen. Guests can expect dishes like sweet-and sour-chicken, Kung Pao chicken and salt-and-pepper prawns alongside traditional fried rice and a Mongolian-style steak served with a black truffle sauce. There’s also Peking duck and some familiar dim sum items, like har gow.

The drinks

Wine, beer, shochu, sake and baiju. There are also signature cocktails made using ingredients like soju, genmaicha tea, wasabi, ginseng and ube. For the karaoke rooms, a cocktail cart makes the rounds, and bottle service is available, too.

The space

Geared to be a one-stop shop for dining and entertainment, Solid Design Creative Inc. designed the two-level space with custom murals, fancy furniture and neon accents. A large spiral staircase leads up to the second-floor private dining room and five karaoke rooms—each equipped with high-quality sound equipment and a library of 60,000 songs from classic rock to J-Pop.