There are few restaurateurs quite like Kamen Sun, the co-owner of Sushi Yugen. Serene and almost eerily calm, she’s both imperturbable and impenetrable — which is impressive for someone running what was named this year’s third best new restaurant (charting at No. 49 of 2024’s 100 best, too) in Canada.
Dressed in all white with a slick bob, her voice is soft but commanding as she quietly floats from the chef’s counter to the centre bar to the kitchen to reception.
Tucked unassumingly into a side corner of the Medcan building by York and Adelaide, it’s easy — and tragic — to miss Sushi Yugen, which is as unexpectedly bold and powerful as Sun.
After spending a decade working in finance and accounting — including as a senior manager at KPMG — Sun made a hard pivot, deciding to live out her foodie dreams.
But first, a little background: born and raised in Hong Kong, Sun comes from a long line of business execs, with her aunt and uncle even being partners at Deloitte China. When the family immigrated to Canada, Sun was just 10 years old, and quite shy. Instilled with her father’s beliefs in hard work and dedication, she buried herself in schoolwork; all straight-As and Type A.
After attending the University of Waterloo, where she studied accounting, Sun became a chartered accountant and, soon after, joined KPMG, working with high-profile clients like Rogers and Nortel. So, while jumping from the finance world to the food world might seem odd, it’s actually where Sun learned how to juggle high-pressure situations, diverse clients and hefty demands.
A bump in the road came in, however, when her father, who she was especially close to, was diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and given a five per cent chance of survival. It marked her first unexpected detour: keen to be by her father’s side as he sought treatment, she resigned from KPMG, and flew back to Hong Kong to care for him full-time.
“My dad was very important to me, we were so close,” Sun says. “I was on the path to becoming partner, but it would have meant I would have no time for him. So [being with him] was a no-brainer.”
It was during that period that Sun shared with him how she was debating what route to take when she returned to work — the same, or something new. Although he was regimented, Sun’s father had an “entrepreneurial spirit”, and told his daughter she should always chase a challenge — and besides, he was a food lover himself. In fact, it was Sun’s father who, since she was young, taught her the importance of a great dish and a quality restaurant, having taken his daughter to all the best there was to offer in Hong Kong and Toronto since she was a child.
Fate struck: the same person who would end up referring her father to a cancer treatment in Hong Kong would also come to confide in Sun that he was looking to open a few restaurants through his private business group and needed someone with a little business savvy to help. Not interested in taking on any full-time work, Sun offered some part-time help, all as a volunteer out of wanting to give back.
“My personality is that I can’t just do a little here and a little there,” Sun says with a laugh, sharing how she soon realized she was doing it all (and well): operations, legal, accounting. So, eventually, she got a significant promotion, becoming the CFO and COO of the business group. Through it, she helped build several of Canada’s best Japanese restaurants.
Sun left the group in 2021 and took six months to decide what her next plan might be. Her father, who preached “life is short,” pushed her to go after her dream of opening her own restaurant and leaving finance behind.
Cut to the winter of 2023, and the launch of Sushi Yugen, Sun’s baby (alongside co-owner Rocco Wang) — for all intents and purposes. The name (loosely) translates to “something profound and serious,” a sentiment that is echoed not only in the restaurant’s elegant design but its meticulous omakase menu.
The space itself feels like Sun in brick-and-mortar: unlike its financial district shell, it exudes tranquility, with Zen gardens in the reception, a mural symbolizing sunset and sunrise in the interior, and an overall minimal space with oak finishes and stoneware. Just about everything, from the dishes to the floral arrangements to the curtains to the maple tree with 500 hand-made cranes, is Japanese and handpicked by Sun, whose eagle eye makes notes on all even as she enjoys her meal and chats away.
“The right amount of anxiety makes you stronger,” she tells me, again with her small, signature smile. I believe her. “And really, 80% of the job is people.”
That’s why she’s always studying those who drop by the chef’s counter and keeping an eye on reservations, while chatting with the guests and chef as dinner service bustles.
Speaking of the chef, he, too, hails from Japan. Highly experienced, Kyohei Igarashi boasts 15 years of experience in high-end kaiseki and sushi restaurants in Japan. His dishes are his craft, and while they’re steeped in authentic ingredients and flavours, they’re also uniquely in his style. On this day, some of his chef’s counter creations include a surprising sweet potato soup to start, truffle egg custard, miso-marinated black throat sea perch, hokkaido sea urchin risotto, the list goes deliciously on.
For both Igarashi and Sun, it’s all about “the food and the culture.” Still, ever the perfectionist, Sun has notes: she wants there to be more conversation between the chefs and the guests. And she’d like to add a few personal favourite whiskey options to the impressive drink menu.
What’s especially refreshing about Sun is that, if you ask her if she ever felt nerves or like she couldn’t pull this off, she will firmly tell you: “No! It’s important to have some worry. But I put in 200% effort. I am confident in what I do, and I believe sometimes life just has a path for you, and this is mine. I don’t know about a higher purpose, but I know I’m doing what I really enjoy.”
Ultimately, though, it seems Sushi Yugen is Sun’s ode to her father, who inspired her to leave her promising career and tenure in finance, and instead devote herself to what she loves most: food, which was what connected her to her father from the very beginning.
Although Sun’s father lived longer than projected (by 9.5 years!), his cancer eventually spread, and he died just before Sushi Yugen’s opening. “Even as he was dying, he was so strong, so fearless, fighting all the way,” she says. “Of course he is my inspiration.”
As we discuss her father, and she wipes away tears, Sun says, “Food is meant to be an experience, a memory that stays with you. I think of him wherever I look here. My hope is that the food and the restaurant will leave you, too, feeling something that words can’t describe, and that you’ll always remember.”
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