Chotto Matte Toronto takes private events from cocktail receptions for 80 guests to a full buyout for 400 standing or 250 seated. The Japanese-Peruvian restaurant and cocktail bar is at Brookfield Place, 161 Bay Street, in the Financial District of downtown Toronto.
Seminars and company events
The restaurant lists corporate gatherings among the private events it hosts. Its format suits an evening better than a working day: a client dinner, a team celebration after a conference, a launch party or a holiday reception. The Akachan Lounge works for a networking hour with cocktails and canapes, the main dining room for a seated dinner, and the full buyout for a company party with the whole restaurant to yourselves. Live DJs and entertainment are part of the house style and can carry the evening once the speeches are over. Brookfield Place is an office and retail complex, so guests working in the district can walk over at the end of the day.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings, rehearsal dinners, bachelorette parties and birthdays are among the events the restaurant books. A rehearsal dinner fits the main dining room, while a wedding reception or an after-party can take the covered patio or the whole venue.
Rooms and capacities
Four options are published. The main dining room seats 200 or holds 250 standing and has a full view of the bar. The outdoor patio is covered overhead, looks out over the city and takes 150 seated or 350 standing. The Akachan Lounge is a standing space for 80, set up for cocktail-and-canape events. A full buyout covers the whole venue for 250 seated or 400 standing, subject to availability. Layouts, music and audio-visual needs are confirmed with the events team.
Catering
The kitchen cooks Nikkei food, the cuisine that grew out of Japanese communities in Peru. Menus are built around sharing plates, sushi prepared at the Itamae counter and dishes from the robata grill, with a cocktail list to match. Chotto Matte was founded in London in 2013 by Kurt Zdesar, and the executive chef is Jordan Sclare. Group menus and drinks are set with the events team for each booking.
History and setting
The Toronto restaurant follows the Chotto Matte formula of restaurant, bar and nightlife in one place, with music and lighting that change through the evening. Regular service runs from lunch to late evening, until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and a happy hour called Chotto Hour runs on weekday afternoons. Private bookings work around this schedule, so ask early for Friday and Saturday dates.
Getting there
Brookfield Place stands on Bay Street in the heart of the Financial District, a short walk from Union Station, Toronto's main rail and subway hub. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is close to downtown, and Toronto Pearson International Airport is linked to Union Station by the UP Express train.
