KŌST ★8.9

Forty-four storeys up, the evening starts when the glass wall folds away

KŌST is a rooftop room built around one moment: the hour when the sun drops behind the Entertainment District and the terrace turns gold. It opened in September 2017 on the top floor of the Bisha Hotel, and it is not simply a view with a menu attached — it is a full restaurant that happens to sit above the skyline, a Baja-coast idea transplanted forty-four storeys into the Toronto air.

The Concept · The Story

The venue belongs to the hospitality group ICONINK and was designed by Studio Munge with Wallman Architects: a beach house rebuilt at altitude. The brief was a coastal escape rather than a formal dining room — warm wood on the walls, custom oak trellises overhead, a bar clad in marble that shifts from peach through ivory to seafoam green, wicker chairs and white couches. Ben Heaton wrote the opening menu around California and Mexico; the kitchen is now led by executive chef Sung Won Hwang.

What to Order

Start light, the way the room wants you to: hamachi crudo with avocado, pickled strawberry, jalapeño and pistachio, octopus carpaccio dressed in nothing but olive oil, citrus and herbs, or tuna ceviche with leche de tigre and plantain chips. Coconut shrimp with mango salsa is the terrace order. Among the mains, branzino with cherry tomato and an olive-and-caper relish is the coastal argument, the long-bone short rib in mezcal barbecue sauce is the counter-argument, and ricotta agnolotti with basil pesto, sundried tomato and pine nuts holds the middle; the steaks run from a Canadian prime striploin with jack-cheese potatoes and broccolini to a ribeye under roasted sesame mole. Dessert is the tres leche with house-made dulce de leche and toasted almond crumble.

The Space

The room runs to roughly 7,700 square feet and seats about 200, and a 92-foot operable glass wall folds away so that the interior and the 4,200-square-foot terrace become a single space in warm weather. The terrace is where the infinity pool sits, with loungers pointed at the CN Tower. The day comes in three distinct shifts: a calm, bright brunch, a slow mid-afternoon, and a loud, dressed-up evening once the light goes.

Good to Know

Do I need to book? Yes, and early for anything close to sunset in summer — the terrace fills first.

When is the best time to arrive? About an hour before sunset: you get the light and the view before the room turns loud.

Is the terrace open all year? The glass wall opens in warm weather to merge terrace and dining room; in the cold months the same view is enjoyed from indoors.

Is there anything for vegetarians? Yes — the burrata al fresco, the watermelon salad and the ricotta agnolotti are proper plates, not garnishes.

Is it a dinner place or a daytime one? Both, and they feel different: brunch is calm and bright, the evening is a going-out venue.

Opening hours