T.O.A. Asian fusion restaurant opens in East Islip

With the opening Thursday  of T.O.A. Asian Fusion in East Islip, the restaurant group has added its fifth location in 10 years. It was in 2015 that the first T.O.A. opened in Huntington; Farmingdale (2017), Sayville (2018) and Melville (2022) followed. T.O.A. stands for "taste of Asia," and the menu at all five locations blends Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Malaysian and Vietnamese flavors.

Evan Chen, who owns the chain with Eric Lin, said that the appeal of the concept is its range. "If a family is going out and one person likes Chinese, another likes Thai, another likes sushi — they can all have what they want."

Chen likes doing business on the South Shore and had initially been looking for a space in Bay Shore, but he could not find a location. He was happy to make a deal on the freestanding building on Montauk Highway in East Islip that, up until a month ago, had been another Asian Fusion concept, Ushin House.

"The deal was good, the parking was good," he explained. Ushin just opened last year and Chen said "it was a new build out and we didn’t have to do much except change the kitchen equipment. Ushin was mostly Japanese and we needed woks, steamers and a grill."

Its immediate predecessor was H20 Seafood & Sushi (2016 to 2022), the second location of Bohlsen Restaurant Group’s seafood restaurant (the first one is still going strong in Smithtown after 24 years). H20 replaced the very first Bohlsen establishment, Beachtree Café, which opened in 1983.

With partner Kelly Zhou, Chen owns 10 Yaaas Tea locations, Potasia hot pot restaurant in Hicksville is another partnership.

T.O.A. Asian Fusion, 166 W. Main St., East Islip, 631-650-5718, toaasianfusion.com, Open Monday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 pm, Friday 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Saturday 12:30 to 10:30 p.m., Sunday 12:30 to 9:30 p.m.