99 Sushi Japanese & Thai

 99 Sushi Japanese & Thai is located at 170 Eglinton Ave. E. in midtown Toronto, a few mins. walk from  Eglinton subway station, thus very transit-accessible. Reusable chopsticks are included which is good. 99 Sushi has a nice brighter modern interior with a custom mural. Ginger is dyed pink. Soy at table had a more intense flavor than usual, but without being salty.

Miso soup was excellent, savoury with a hint of sweetness, and delicious, not dilute at all. Mishy loved the avocado salad saying it was good and well-sized bite-sized chunks and delicious. Kushiyaki beef skewers were amazing, moist and not dried out at all, very well seasoned and savory and wonderful. Chicken teriyaki was excellent, also moist and flavorful, and the sauce was very good. We both loved the chicken skewers as they were delicious and very smoky.

Pan fried mushrooms with butter were very good and buttery. We both love the cheese wontons as they were very well seasoned including the sauce. Gyoza were delicious and the sauce was among the best I have had, smokey and a perfect blend of flavors. Tonkatsu pork cutlet sauce was similarly excellent without being acrid as at many other places. Shrimp and yam tempura were both a bit oily, but the sauce was similarly very good. Red curry beef was too spicy/hot and burned my tongue to the point of no enjoyment but this is possibly to be expected.

Mishy indicated that the salmon nigiri fell apart, but it was very fresh with excellent rice. Philadelphia roll was delicious, fresh and with a good balance of cream cheese and other ingredients. Red snapper aka tilapia also fresh and very good as was tofu nigiri. Spicy salmon and spicy tuna nigiri were very good without being overly hot.

For dessert, we both loved the mango ice cream which was amazingly flavourful and super-fresh. Fried banana was very good not oily and tasty sauce not overdone. Green tea ice cream was also super-fresh no freezer burn and tasty. Red bean had that wonderful flavour which I expected it would as everything else was top-notch. Weekend lunch seems expensive at $28.99, however 99 Sushi offers 10% discount for paying cash and there is an ATM onsite; the fee is $2.50 so even for a single diner using it there is still a savings; for two or more bringing cash it is significant and reduces the cost to $26. The offerings are basic; there is no sashimi, salmon rose or beef teriyaki for example, but the excellent kushiyaki skewers made up for the latter. So since at least one place in Toronto can offer the same for about $5 less there is a point off, but most importantly: what is there was excellent and worth a return visit.

Rating: 8.5 - 9 / 10