Japanese restaurant Toko 2.0 is reborn at new Sydney CBD site

After a 15-year run in Surry Hills, the relocated Toko restaurant reopens on George Street in the CBD on Thursday, October 13.

The original Toko designer Matt Darwon isn't the only return at the restaurant sequel.

"Most of the kitchen and bar staff have come across, we even have some people coming back who worked at Toko years ago," owner Matt Yazbek says.

Toko manager and sake sommelier Paul Birtwistle has also joined the ride north.

In a nod to the original, Yazbek says the private dining room looks the same as the Surry Hills original. "We've used the same ceiling, but multiplied it."

There are differences. Toko 2.0 is in a basement with high ceilings.

The lighting in the artificial skylight is programmed to reflect the time of day, so it's bright during the day.

"At night it's darker and moody, very Toko," Yazbek says.

Long-standing head chef Sunil Shrestha will bring some of Toko's seasonal signature dishes along for the ride, with the Moreton Bay bug tempura, miso eggplant and scampi nigiri with foie gras swapping postcodes.

A new dish of caviar with a rotating tartare of salmon, tuna or wagyu will be included, along with tuna crispy rice and calamari off a robata grill.

With Shell House and Totti's as near neighbours, Toko's arrival in a booming dining hub was deliberate.

"A lot of our clients weren't from Surry Hills," Yazbek says of the decision to close the restaurant in April at the end of its lease and relocate.

"Many of them were coming to us from the city, it was a big part of our decision to move there."

Darwon wanted to retain the essence of Toko: "We didn't want it to lose its architectural identity, and consciously made the decision to keep a similar look and feel."

Large sums were invested at the original Toko in features such as bespoke joinery, solid timber furniture, black timber floors, feature lighting, curved timber ceiling and the iconic Toko sushi counter, he says.

"We have repurposed and reused these elements ... to bring the key fundamentals of Surry Hills to the CBD," Darwon says.

Open Thu-Sat dinner (opening week). From Tuesday, October 18: Wed-Fri lunch; Tue-Sat dinner

275 George Street, Sydney, tokorestaurant.com