Toronto brunch staple is extending its hours for new late-night eats
Tatsuro's is a Toronto Japanese-inspired breakfast and brunch spot in Leslieville that, since it opened in spring 2025, has exclusively operated between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Excitingly, the team has broadened their horizons and is now bringing the city a new menu of late-night bites to tickle your taste buds.
Co-owners Charlie Fung and Oscar Lau first met working together in Markham. Their friendship grew into a business relationship through every service industry worker's only moments of rest after a long shift, after hours.
Much of after hours in the service industry is spent laughing about the antics that transpired during the day's shift, experimenting with dishes, or sharing a drink with a co-worker in silence to commemorate a day of hard work.
Now, the duo takes inspiration from the early days of their friendship and applies it to their newest business venture, AFTERHOURS.
"It's like going into a closed cafe or restaurant at night, Soprano's style without the cigarettes," Lau tells blogTO.
Fung is taking the lead on the dinner menu, which gives Lau the chance to partake in one of his favourite activities: manning the charcoal grill.
The pair has a blackboard from the University of Toronto that they use to write off-menu grill specials — whatever they feel like cooking that day but couldn't serve at brunch.
"If you like our day stuff, the night stuff will strike the same chord," Lau says.
More than just a collection of dishes, the menu represents the restaurant's home neighbourhood of Leslieville, while bringing together Japanese techniques, local collaborations and bold, thoughtful flavours.
Expect koji dry-aged burgers made with Atomic Burger patties, grilled over Japanese binchotan charcoal and topped with whey teriyaki sauce, desserts from East Chinatown's Bakerrae, a Latin-Japanese-Inspired salmon crudo, beef shank and tendon ragu and a two-sheet udon lasagna, subtly infused with Chinese spices like cinnamon and star anise.
Fung, a man of many talents, is also curating the wine list to accentuate and honour the food menu with Naturale!
Lau's describes the offerings at AFTERHOURS as "an Izakaya wine bar situation with a charcoal grill going in the back and a small wine list."
The atmosphere is relaxed yet sexy, while a smaller wine list may mean fewer options but a harder time deciding between the tightly curated few they have.
The mystery leaves room for interpretation and repetition; coming back is always exciting because there are always new opportunities to discover between moods, foods, and wine.
With just two running the kitchen, the team has kept the menu intentionally intimate, focusing on dishes they are genuinely excited to serve.
It's this balance of technique, creativity and community collaboration that gives the menu its character: a neighbourhood-driven approach with Japanese cooking techniques and a carte-blanche attitude at its heart.
AFTERHOURS is located at 1378 Queen St W. and open Thursday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Fareen Karim
