WIND Japanese and Thai is located at 131 King St, in St. Catharines, which is about 100 km west of Toronto around the “Golden Horseshoe.” It is close to the St. Catherine's GO station, which is easily accessible from Toronto, so can be considered transit-accessible. We had already covered the WIND in nearby Niagara Falls. Very similarly to East Izakaya, they not only both have a location in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, but St. Catharines East Izakaya is strangely the next building over from WIND... coincidence?
WIND has a modern wood-lattice interior with contemporary music and good atmosphere. Thankfully reusable chopsticks are used, as well as iPad ordering menus. Ginger is dyed pink. Soy at table was excellent, only slightly salty, and as we got there just at opening was cold, so it is kept in the refrigerator to preserve it. Sadly there is no sashimi on lunch, but has torched nigiri. AYCD pop is available for $3. They also have a serving robot.
Mishy loved the seaweed salad saying that it was very fresh. We both loves the mango and green salads as the dressing was excellent with a minty tang and they were both very fresh as well. Unfortunately the miso soup was diluted and lacking in dashi savour... the broth was little more than cloudy water. Dumpling soup was also understated but not as much, but beware it also has enoki mushrooms in case you don't like those; the dumplings’ flavour was muted but good. Wonton soup was pretty much the same, with the same mushrooms and broth, although it was more flavourful and the wontons were delicious.
Broccoli and shrimp tempura were both very good, not oily, and the sauce was good although it was a little excessively sweet for my taste. Mishy loved the broccoli tempura so much ordered that she seconds which she would never usually do. Crab tempura appetizer is probably surimi but was still quite good. Mishy said the spring rolls were absolutely fantastic. I tried one, and agree it was very good but amazingly what brought it out was simply a little black pepper. Deep fried scallops are also probably surimi but were quite good, not oily and the sauce was enjoyable.
The skewers had an Indian/Thai type seasoning and were a bit muted, but the understated seasoning was quite good and made up for it... they come with a Thai peanut sauce that Mishy said did not go well with beef, but I didn't mind it at all and ended up finishing the sauce completely on both orders. Beef and chicken teriyaki were both excellent, with a little bit of shredded carrot and other vegetables accompanying, and the sauce was excellent. Mishy didn't have any of the chicken but I'm sure she would not have described it as rubbery. Thai basil chicken was very good although it could have used a little more basil and a little less spice.
Salmon nigiri was very good although the rice tended to fall apart a little, but at least it was very fresh. Red snapper aka tilapia nigiri was also very fresh, as was albacore tuna which is a wonderful shade of pink and is not found at most other places. Honestly-labelled escolar nigiri was also very good and fresh, and at least they didn't call it butterfish. Salmon cheese roll is the house version of Philadelphia roll and was a bit short on cheese and long on avocado, but otherwise good. Chipotle salmon sushi is served on a Pringle, and was pretty good.
For dessert there is ice cream and a fruit combo. Ice cream flavours are green tea, mango, vanilla, red bean, strawberry and coconut, my favourite along with ginger. Coconut as expected was absolutely fantastic and must be the same brand as being used next door at East Izakaya. Vanilla was may have been French vanilla and was very good and fresh. Mishy did not like the mango ice cream said saying it had a orange un-mango flavour, and I know that the flavour was muted, but what was there was good. Green tea ice cream was quite good, even though it had a few crystals of freezer burn on it. Red bean ice cream was good, but did not have that elusive flavour. Weekend lunch is $32.99. This is the same price as East Izakaya with pretty much the same offerings (again, coincidence? same owner?) but there were a few more minor shortcomings, and although it was an enjoyable lunch I’d say they were possibly worth crossing the street over for future visits, given the proximity.
Rating: 8 – 8.5 / 10
