Masaki Hashimoto, chef and owner of Hashimoto Kaiseki Yu-zen, was born in the southern island of Japan called Shikoku. After graduating from an arts university, he trained in Kyoto and Tokyo at a cuisine called "Kocho" to become a master chef. Training there for 10 years, Hashimoto honed his skills to become a one of a kind Kaiseki chef.

Hashimoto came to Canada in 1983 and trained chefs in various restaurants in the Toronto region. Through the 1990s, he owned a business in Mississauga catering his own unique style of Japanese bento boxes (lunch boxes). In November of 2001, Hashimoto decided to change his catering service to a Kaiseki cuisine, a dream that had been with him since he had arrived in Canada. With the skills he learned in university, he designed and built the interior of the restaurant all by himself.

Kaiseki cuisine has a reputation of being very expensive and not available to most people so Hashimoto added the word "Yu-zen" after "Kaiseki" in the name of his restaurant. This word "Yu-zen" allows Kaiseki be a little more flexible in the way it is prepared and served. Hashimoto's goal was to let those who enjoy Japanese cuisine also be able to enjoy Kaiseki at a very affordable price. The word "Yu-zen" allows Kaiseki to be prepared according to the customer due to allergies and other food concerns. Of course, there is no menu of any sort; ingredients and courses served will be the chef's choice, but changed at the customers request.

Hashimoto's Kaiseki cuisine is based upon the four seasons. He constantly changes the menu day after day depending on what is fresh for that season. Each season will have its own special items, which will only be fresh and available at that time. For example, in the Spring; it may be "Ayu" which is a river fish in Japan which can only be caught in the Spring. For Summer, it would be "Hamo" which is a "conger pike" and so on. Every time a customer comes, Hashimoto keeps a record of the meal they have had that day, so that when they come the next day, they will have something different making the visit to the restaurant more enjoyable and different from last time.

ACHIEVEMENTS
In August of 2007, Hashimoto had entered into Japan's first type of culinary arts competition called Japanese Culinary Arts Compeition. There, he had represented Kyoto city and finished in 3rd place putting him into the final competition in February of 2008. With 11 of the top chefs across from Japan gathering to Kyoto city where the final competition is to take place, Hashimoto was in the top 11 finalists. With a black box concept, the chefs did not know what materials were available for their use until the start. Hashimoto had successfully finished the competition as one of the 5 top chefs in Japan, and was awarded with the Technique Prize Award. Using his signature item, the crane carved out of Daikon radish in the competition, you can experience his master piece works for the dinner course.

Hashimoto's eye for design and his unmatched culinary skills will provide guests with a dining experience unlike any other.