Shitake Sushi & Thai (Japanese/Thai)

Shitake Sushi & Thai is located at 4411 Hwy. 7 in Woodbridge, a municipality bordering Toronto's northwest and is part of Vaughan. The eponymous mushroom is usually spelled as "Shiitake" but not here. Shitake has a darker interior, very new and stylish decoration, iPad ordering, reusable chopsticks, and soy sauce was slightly salty but was fresh and quite rich. Ginger is not dyed pink. There is also free Wi-Fi. AYCD pop available for $1.75. I liked that many of the offerings were given in smaller portions, which prevents wastage and also prevents overeating; one can just order more if required. It's also very helpful for me because I can sample more dishes.

Miso soup was a good balance with enough dashi, but was slightly dilute, although not enough that I minded. Hot and sour soup had enough sour and traditional flavour which I enjoyed; it was excellent. Beware the "Shitake Salad" which is not made with shiitake mushrooms, but instead is mixed seafood and cucumbers; I found a tentacle in it, but ate it anyway. Other than that it was not bad. Kimchi was good however not exemplary. Wonton soup's wontons had an interesting flavor, but the broth was a bit thin and needed some seasoning. Green salad was good, although it was nothing but lettuce, as it had a nice house wasabi dressing.

Beef teriyaki was good in steak-like strips, although they were a little tough. The sauce was good. Fish fillets were very good to excellent in a sweet mustard sauce that worked very well with them. Chicken katsu was excellent, not dry and the sauce had a nice balance and was not too sour or acrid. Bacon wrapped asparagus was awesome because well, bacon, and more places should have this. Tempura dipping sauce would have been better if it wasn't diluted. The shrimp and yam tempura themselves were light, flaky and not oily. Chicken teriyaki was a little tough and had some chewy parts, but the flavor was excellent, it was smokey and the sauce was quite good.

Szechuan beef was good, not sure whether it was completely authentic but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Red chicken curry was exemplary, with an excellent flavour balance, just the right level of heat, and it seems a little touch of coconut in there, it was wonderful and one of the best curried Thai dishes I have had so far. Chicken skewer was good, though it really didn't taste of anything but chicken, however was cooked long enough that it was still enjoyable. Gyoza were good, not stale or freezer burn, and the sauce was good.  General Tso's chicken was good, the spicy was rather unique, and although it may not have been completely optimal, I do appreciate the originality. Breaded scallop (probably surimi) was also good.

Philadelphia roll was very good. Salmon nigiri was very good as was very fresh and with good rice. Red snapper nigiri was slightly less fresh, but was still good. Surf clam nigiri was very good and fresh, and nice texture. White fish nigiri probably Escolar, but was very good and fresh. Crab surimi nigiri was also fresh and good and not excessive rice. Spicy butterfish maki sushi, again probably escolar, is unique to Shitake Sushi and was good. It was much better than the classic salmon spicy maki sushi here, which was unfortunately missing almost all of the spicy sauce and was very bland.

Mocha, mango and raspberry mousse cakes are the same brand as are used at many other places, however there is also carrot cake which is pretty much unique and was delicious with very good spicing. Banana tempura was good, the sauce was not overpowering. Coffee and green tea jelly are unique to Shitake; coffee was quite good with the coffee flavour being strong and bitter, and green tea was even better with a subtle wonderful flavor. Strawberry Jell-O in a shot glass was very good. Strawberry ice cream, although it had no pieces of strawberry, was delicious. Mango ice cream was very good. The red bean ice cream had that fantastic, indescribable and hard-to-find flavour I love. Chocolate ice cream was also extremely rich and had a wonderful honey-like flavour I have not tasted in any other ice cream before. Green tea ice cream was good. None of the ice creams were freezer burned, all were fresh. Service was exceedingly fast, not only in food delivery, but I could barely put an empty plate down before it was being picked up. I went for weekend lunch, which for $18.98 I found to be a very good to excellent value, with most items good to excellent, although there were a few shortcomings they were not enough to dampen the enjoyment.

Rating: 8.5-9/10