Radici Project
588 College St
Toronto
Ontario
CA
M6G 1B3
With all of the great Japanese and Italian restaurants in the city (including the swath of new Italian restaurants that just opened) there's no shortage of either cuisine in Toronto. But Japanese-Italian fusion has yet to become as popular north of the border as it is in places like New York and L.A. So, when Radici Project opened in Little Italy last year, combining Japanese, Italian and local ingredients for its Toronto tasting menu, I was intrigued and, to be quite honest, a little skeptical.
While I loved Don Alfonso 1890's straightforward, Italian tasting menu, there's plenty of talk around Toronto tasting menus that go overboard with flare, without having nearly enough substance. So, I was eager to put Radici Project's tasting menu to the test. What I end up finding surprises me — in all the best ways possible.
Radici Project feels like a true passion project for husband-and-wife duo, chef Emiliano Del Frate and manager Kayo Ito. Del Frate’s creative and skillful cooking deftly blends their Italian and Japanese backgrounds in a beautiful marriage of flavours that feels natural and seamless. The artful mastery and reverence in each dish have even earned it a spot as one of foodism's best restaurants in Toronto for 2026.
Radici Project co-founder and chef Emiliano Del Frate
Valentina Tretiak
Radici Project co-founder, manager and sake sommelier Kayo Ito
Valentina Tretiak
Radici Project: The vibe
The restaurant doesn't rely on flashy presentation in the plates or the atmosphere. Exposed brown brick blends with the humble dining room's earthy tones, while light pink touches add a sense of whimsy. Trees and plants feature prominently throughout the space: flowers decorate every table, branches are displayed as art pieces and a large slice of tree trunk adorns the backbar. It's a fitting backdrop for a tasting menu that's rooted in seasonality and the impact of its ingredients, while also employing playful creativity.
At the back of the restaurant, diners can watch Del Frate and his team through the large cut-out kitchen window as they whip up each course with precision and place it onto the live wood pass-through. On the relatively quiet evening when I visit, chef Del Frate comes out of the kitchen, hand-delivering each course, and its story, himself.
Radici Project: The menu
The meal starts with little flavour bombs and an oyster, each meant to be consumed in one bite. I could eat 10 more of the crispy takoyaki ball that's oozing with a creamy cacio e pepe filling instead of the typical octopus. We're warned not to fill up on the made-in-house sourdough bread (from a six-year-old starter), served with St. Brigid's butter — and for good reason. This isn't the kind of Toronto tasting menu with pint-sized plates that leaves you looking for the nearest fast-food restaurant afterwards. The courses grow in size as the evening goes on, from delicate dishes that pique our appetites to more hearty mains.
Presented inside a hollowed out shell, resting on a bed of hay, the crab salad is as intriguing on the plate as it is on the palate. Delicate Dungeness crab meat is paired with a sunchoke purée and crispy pieces of dehydrated sunchoke, then topped with caviar and a roasted hay foam. The result is buttery, umami and hearty, while still giving plenty of room for the flavour of the crab meat to be at the forefront.
Crispy fried chicken karaage is stuffed with mushrooms (or for pescatarians like me, a crunchy okra shell is filled with tofu scramble) and served with an irresistible sorrel sauce with shaved parsley that I'm tempted to drink from the bowl. A plate sprinkled with mushroom salt allows you to choose how savoury each bite is, tying all the flavours together.
Cod comes swimming in a dashi butter sauce with crispy skin, Japanese ramen is made with Italian ingredients and a twist of pasta is topped with caviar. The subtle flavour of halibut poached in olive oil is paired with robust, smoky maitake mushroom cooked in dashi. Somehow, each bite is both familiar and unlike anything I've tasted before. The combinations of Japanese and Italian flavours fit seamlessly; nothing feels forced. But each dish seeming effortless, as if it came together naturally and organically, is the sign of a true master at work.
It might sound simple by comparison, but the risotto truly impresses me in flavour and technique. To make this reimagination of the classic Southern Italian riso patate e cozze, Del Frate doesn't lean on the usual loads of butter and cheese to achieve the dish's decadently creamy texture and savoury flavour. Instead, he subs in a Japanese rice, and relies on its starch to create the rich, indulgent sauce. He swaps in okra instead of potato and completes the dish with Canadian mussels from Salt Spring Island. It's so creamy and umami, it draws me in for bite after heavenly bite, until I'm lamenting that my bowl is empty and I can't return to order just this dish again and again. But that's the beauty of Radici Project's tasting menu — it's ephemeral, changing with the seasons, the local ingredients and the imports.
For dessert, a mixture of vanilla ganache and apple compote comes formed into a perfect glistening red apple coated in jelly with a dark chocolate stem. It's as sweet as it is beautiful. A little plate of petit fours round out the final course with other flavours.
We've managed to finish every last bite (even the bread), but we're stuffed to the point of bursting by the time we're done.
Radici Project: The drinks
Chef Del Frate brews his own kombucha, and we're treated to a tomato and grapefruit mixture that opens up our palates before the first course arrives. There's a non-alcoholic pairing available, but we opt for the wine and sake.
The pairing showcases the breadth of sake, from sweeter, more fruit-forward varieties to crisp, acidic pours like the one that delicately brings out the flavours of the Dungeness crab. The uninitiated will leave with a new love for the spirit, and a better understanding of their preferences, while those who enjoy sake can geek out on the different levels of rice polish.
On the wine side, Italy and Ontario are represented across the reds and whites, pairing beautifully and adding depth to each course.
Sara Buscema
The entire night balances the humble atmosphere and reverence for seasonal ingredients with the playful creativity and inventiveness that surprises and delights with every bite. Del Frate's expert skill permeates each flawless integration of Japanese, Italian and Canadian flavours and ingredients. It's unexpected, yet familiar at the same time, delivering something exciting in every course. The wine and sake pairings add to an already beautiful evening of flavour exploration and depth.
Immersive Tasting Menu: $180 per person, plus $70 wine and sake pairing or $50 low and non-alc pairing, before tax and tip.
