Restaurant 16 Information

When Restaurant 16 first opened its doors in 2011, Chef Toru Ryus aim was to bring together the flavours of fresh Italian cooking with the Japanese cuisine of his heritage. The name 16 came to be from the unit number that Chef used to live at long ago Having many fond memories from his time there, it was an obvious move to name his restaurant 16! On his days off, he would invite his co-workers and friends over for a feast of food and drinks to practice his cooking skills. After a while, everyone began to call the place 16. The place was filled with smiling faces and a wonderful, happy atmosphere, and we wanted our restaurant to be a place that made everyone feel welcome and happy to be there. On some of these marvellous occasions, Chefs friends and colleagues would come to try out his cooking and to also improve their own skills. Sometimes they would bring their own wine and liquor, sometimes the chefs would cook for each other, and the place would always be filled with happy, joyful moments! We hope 16 will be a enjoyable and welcoming place for all our visitors! Chef Toru Ryu was born in Kurume City, Fukuoka Japan. As a young man his passion was Baseball. His parents home was also a restaurant made famous for its handmade Udon Noodles; it was one of the many Japanese soul food restaurants in Kyushu. From a young age, he grew up watching his parents make noodles and all the other dishes. After losing his dream of playing professional baseball, he then went to culinary school. His specialty was Japanese cuisine. After graduating from culinary school, he worked for many years at Kappo Ryoutei which is traditional Japanese restaurants in Osaka and Fukuoka, where he acquired even more skills. After that, he came to Australia as a working holidaymaker and travelled around Europe, where he fell in love with the extraordinary cuisine of Sardinia, Italy. Returning to Australia, he trained under Armando Percuoco at one of Sydneys top Italian restaurants: Bon Ricordordo and he further expanded his knowledge and ...