Toronto restaurateur to close his upscale Preston St. eatery
“Sometimes things just don’t work out the way we hope,” Toronto-based chef and restaurateur Hemant Bhagwani said in an email Tuesday.
“I’ll be stepping away from the industry to focus on my charity foundation in Toronto, which is where my attention is needed most right now,”
“I’ll be stepping away from the industry to focus on my charity foundation in Toronto, which is where my attention is needed most right now,” Bhagwani added. The new charity to meant to assist people in the hospitality industry, he said in an interview.
In the interview, Bhagwani added that business was “pretty amazing” when Ek Bar opened. But this summer, customers stayed this way. “As soon as FIFA started it died down, it just died down very quickly,” he said. Additionally, Bhagwani said that driving from Toronto to Ottawa regularly took a toll on him.
Since he came to Canada in 2000, Bhagwani has opened 70-odd restaurants across North America and abroad, often based in South Asian cuisine. From 2002 to 2024, he owned the Amaya Group of Restaurants, which includes brands like Amaya Express, Goa Indian Farm Kitchen, Popa Burmese Kitchen, Good Karma, Mumbai Frankie, and Charcoal Biryani, among others. When he opened Ek Bar, Bhagwani said in a release: “Ottawa is ready for something new, something elevated.” Ek Bar was Bhagwani’s first and only Ottawa restaurant.
This year, Bhagwani received an award of excellence from Restaurants Canada, the national organization for the country’s eateries.
After opening Ek Bar, Bhagwani opened a similar restaurant called ORO Luxury Dining in Toronto in the fall of 2025. The same yellowtail crudo dish appeared on the menu’s of Ek Bar and Oro. In the spring this year, Bhagwani transformed ORO into Naari Thai BBQ, which is still open. However, Bhagwani said he was now longer involved with Naari, and, with the closure of Ek Bar, he would not have any more restaurants.
In August, Bhagwani changed the menu markedly at Ek Bar so that it served Burmese cuisine and dishes from Southeast Asia. In his email, he said that for its final two weeks Ek Bar would revert to serving modern Indian cuisine, with a special $55-per-person menu in place.
Before Ek Bar opened, the space in Little Italy’s Sala San Marco Building had been the Indian restaurant Vivaan. Its chef-owner, Sarath Mohan, worked at Ek Bar until early 2026. This summer, Mohan opened Kozhi in Chinatown, which offers his elevated take on fried chicken.
Bhagwani said he had transferred Ek Bar to “a team of seasoned hospitality professionals, and a great new concept will be unveiled soon. I’m excited to see what they bring to it.”