Our original review of Gallery was about eight years ago, so it was time for a revisit. (We went there a few months ago and haven't had time to write it up... too busy!) We went for dinner this time.
It appears to be smaller, but otherwise has the same interior as last time. Disposable chopsticks are still used unfortunately, but we brought our own (again!) Ordering is still old-school onto paper three-course menus. Included tea was quite good. Ginger is not dyed pink. Soy at table a bit salty but not bad. There is also free WiFi.
Miso soup was fantastically rich and savoury with no shortcutting the dashi. Agedashi tofu was excellent and had a very good sauce. Green salad was excellent with a simple effective vinaigrette dressing, and not sweet.
Shrimp tempura were very good, not oily and with a delicious sauce. Vegetable tempura had a light batter and was not oily Philadelphia roll was very good with plenty of cream cheese. Honestly-labeled tilapia aka red snapper sashimi fresh and good also crab. White tuna sashimi was a bit aromatic, and not completely fresh, though not off. Salmon sashimi was much fresher and not oily like our first visit... much improved. Sushi pizza was tasty and we enjoyed it though we rarely order this. Spicy salmon sushi was not excessively spicy which was a welcome relief.
Chicken katsu donburi was excellent with a sauce not too sweet, but rich and different from the chicken katsu without rice which was also good. Chicken teriyaki was very good and I liked the sauce a lot and Mishy said it was only a little rubbery. Beef teriyaki was delicious, and we enjoyed the sauce.
For dessert, mango ice cream good and fresh enough, banana tempura good even without sauce, red bean was good but not spectacular, green tea good and at least none were freezer burned. Weekday dinner was $29.99 however again this was months ago so may have changed, but it was somewhat better than average then. It was certainly an enjoyable dinner with a couple of minor shortcomings.
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Original review follows:
Gallery Sushi can be found at 275 Dundas St. W. in
Toronto. It's conveniently just west of the St. Patrick subway station
at Dundas on the University Ave. line, and is so named due to its
proximity to the Ontario Art Gallery just to the west. Mishy loved the
brighter wood interior, and jazz station CJRT, one of our favourites,
was heard, so the ambiance was good. Low sodium soy sauce bottles are
present, but the sauce in them was completely indistinguishable from the
"regular" soy sauce. Tea was excellent and at the perfect temperature.
We also liked the smart ordering sheets with "1st", "2nd", "3rd" columns
so the same sheet can be used for three orders.
The miso
soup was a little bland but not bad. Green salad was crisp and we loved
the vinaigrette dressing. Gyoza/dumplings were delicious and Mishy loved
them. Only Mishy had the Wakame/seaweed salad (she needs the iodine for
her thyroid) and she loved it, and both of us loved the excellent
spring rolls.