Toshi

Where the Meal Begins Before You Sit Down

There is a particular kind of restaurant in mid-sized European cities where the room does something before the food does. Graz, Austria's second-largest city and the capital of the wine-rich Steiermark region, has been accumulating exactly this type of address over the past decade. The dining culture here is less performative than Vienna and less insular than the alpine resort corridors further west. It rewards patience, and the meal at Toshi, set at Südtiroler Platz 9 in the city's western approach, belongs to that patient tradition.

The address itself frames expectations. Südtiroler Platz sits adjacent to Graz's main railway station, a node that connects the city to the Styrian wine country to the south and east, to Vienna via the Südbahn, and to the broader Austrian dining circuit that runs through places like Steirereck im Stadtpark in Vienna, Ikarus in Salzburg, and the alpine table of Griggeler Stuba in Lech. To sit down here is to sit down somewhere that is, geographically at least, in conversation with a wider Austrian food culture.

The Wine List as Dining Ritual

The most specific thing on record about Toshi is the one that shapes how the meal should be read: a White Star designation from Star Wine List, published in November 2025. In the Star Wine List framework, a White Star signals a list that meets a defined quality threshold across range, sourcing, and presentation. It is a trade-facing credential, which means it carries different weight than a consumer award. The people awarding it are buyers, sommeliers, and critics who work with wine lists professionally.

In Graz's dining context, that credential locates Toshi inside a smaller, more deliberate tier. The city's wine culture draws naturally from Styria's own production, one of Austria's most technically accomplished regions for white wine, but a White Star recognition means the list is being assessed against national and international peers, not only local benchmarks. That distinction matters for how a guest should approach the wine element of the meal: not as a footnote, but as the architecture around which the rest of the evening organises itself.

Wine-forward dining rituals have their own pacing logic. The sequence of a glass, the decision between a regional Sauvignon Blanc from the Südsteiermark or something from further afield, the conversation with service about how the list is structured: these are the beats that define the experience before a single dish lands. For context on how this plays out across Austria's most wine-serious tables, the comparison set runs from Landhaus Bacher in Mautern an der Donau to Kräuterreich by Vitus Winkler in Sankt Veit im Pongau, both addresses where the list is treated as a primary medium rather than a support document.

Graz's Dining Register: Where Toshi Sits

The city's restaurant scene has developed a recognisable internal grammar over recent years. At one end, there are the regionally grounded tables that anchor themselves to Styrian produce and Styrian custom. Mohrenwirt represents this strand, with its regional focus and accessible price position. Kehlberghof occupies the seasonal-produce tier, where the kitchen's relationship with the agricultural calendar dictates the menu's movement.

Further up the register, Artis works in a creative mode at the city's highest price tier, while addresses like Arravané and Genießerei am Markt – Steiermark(t)dinner by Alexander Posch contribute to a mid-to-upper tier that is growing in ambition and visibility. Toshi's position within this map is defined primarily by its wine credential, which places it in conversation with the more deliberate end of the Graz dining spectrum regardless of where the cuisine itself sits on the formality scale.

That is a specific kind of positioning. A White Star does not describe the food format, the price point, or the dress expectation. What it does is signal a commitment to the list that certain guests will clock immediately and others will discover over the course of the evening. In a city that produces some of Austria's most sought-after Schilcher rosé and Welschriesling, and where the Südsteiermark's Sauvignon Blancs regularly draw international comparison, a restaurant that takes the wine program seriously is making a local argument as much as a technical one.

The Ritual of Eating Here

There is a dining ritual common to wine-led restaurants across Central Europe that Toshi, by virtue of its designation and location, likely participates in. The meal tends to unfold around the list rather than despite it. The opening glass is chosen with purpose. The middle courses are paced to the wine rather than the other way around. The conversation about what to drink often happens before the conversation about what to eat.

For guests arriving from the direction of the Hauptbahnhof or connecting through Graz on a wider Austrian trip, the address at Südtiroler Platz 9 requires almost no detour. For those spending more time in the city, the wider context of Graz's restaurant scene rewards proper exploration, particularly the newer addresses that have shifted the city's dining register upward. The bar scene in Graz and the winery landscape around the city extend the wine-focused dimension of any visit, and the city's hotels and experiences fill out the picture for those staying longer.

For a comparison outside Austria's borders, the wine-ritual dining approach has parallels at internationally recognised addresses like Le Bernardin in New York City, where the list's structure shapes the service cadence, and in regional American dining traditions at places like Emeril's in New Orleans, where the relationship between drink and dish is considered a formal element of the meal. The alpine equivalent, where season and elevation inform the list's sourcing logic, can be tracked at Gourmetrestaurant Tannenhof in Sankt Anton am Arlberg.

Planning Your Visit

Toshi is located at Südtiroler Pl. 9, 8020 Graz, a few minutes' walk from the city's central station. Given the White Star recognition, guests with wine-specific questions about the list would be well served raising them on arrival rather than assuming the selection will be self-explanatory. The designation was published in November 2025, making this a current credential rather than a historic one.