My commitment lies in providing authentic and high-quality Japanese cuisine and making it more accessible to a broader audience, as you would experience in Japan.

Chef Shirai is from Fujiidera, a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. He was born into a family that operated a traditional Japanese “washoku” restaurant. Naturally, he was introduced to a professional kitchen and washoku/ Kaiseki cuisine at a young age and started cooking since teenage years.

Upon graduating from Tsuji Culinary Institute, one of Japan’s top culinary schools, he worked at the city's finest Kaiseki restaurants including Nadaman of RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka. His love and passion for Japanese cuisine deepened as he worked for 10 years in Kaiseki. He moved to New York City with a dream of spreading the beauty of Japanese cuisine to the world.

In NYC, he continued to hone his skills at Sushi Zen, and the Michelin-starred Sushi Azabu for a combined 14 years until he opened Towa in the spring of 2022. It’s been over two decades since Chef Shiai has been in Kaiseki. Humble and curious, he is still tirelessly working on mastering his knowledge and skills. 

What started as a chore of helping his parents became the pure joy of cooking and blossomed into a passion and pride for Kaiseki, the finest dining of Japanese cuisine.  

Towa is where you can enjoy high-quality Japanese dining in a laid-back setting. Chef Shirai puts all of his experience and mastery into Towa’s Kaiseki, Omakase, and all the dishes which reflect the style of Kaiseki highlighting the season’s finest ingredients.

Japanese fine dining in a casual atmosphere

Contemporary Kaiseki by Chef Shirai
Towa is a HAND hospitality restaurant