Eat; MSSM Ossington

By Jennifer on July 2, 2024

Formerly Tachi, MSSM is an omakase sushi restaurant curated by Masaki Saito (chef of 2 Michelin Star restaurant, Sushi Masaki Saito) and serves as a budget-friendly approach to Saito's $680/person restaurant.

It is not the same standard, but still has some quality at $98/person for 1.5 hour service from the chef's apprentices.

MSSM currently has two locations, one in Yorkville and the other in the Ossington neighbourhood. We went to the Ossington location, which is adorn with graffiti art and loud ambiance. It is the complete opposite of typical omakase experience.

First course is a handroll of pickled radish, bluefin tuna belly, shiso leaf, roasted sesame and wasabi. No picture as the handroll is best eaten once it is handed to you.

Appetizer is Akami (lean bluefin tuna) with wasabi soy sauce. Next are a series of nigiri sushi.

Zuke Salmon (marinated salmon)

Hotate (scallop)

Amaebi (sweet shrimp)

Madai (sea bream)

Hamachi (yellowtail)

The nigiri sushi itself was good, but the sushi rice often was not at room temperature, but warm as though it was cooked 10 minutes ago, seasoned and not given a chance to cool, causing the rice to fall apart when you pick up the sushi. To be honest, the warm rice to cool fish made it hard to fully enjoy, which is strange as the menu itself states the sushi rice is served at room temperature.

Chawanmushi sushi - steamed egg custard with fish broth and dungeness crab

The chawanmushi is one of my favourite course of the dinner.

Akami (lean bluefin tuna)

Toro (bluefin tuna belly)

Anago (sea eel)

Dashimaki with daikon oroshi

After, miso soup was served and there was an opportunity to get add-on for extra cost.

Bafun uni from Hokkaido ($9)

Strawberry daifuku

Overall, it is a decent omakase experience for the price; the fish were good and the chef that served us was friendly, but the warm sushi rice was off the mark. I remember enjoying Tachi alot, especially when Tachi had their pop-up at VELA. If MSSM can fix the sushi rice, the experience would improve immensely.

MSSM Ossington
1221 Dundas St. West
Toronto, ON.
M6J 1X8