99 Sushi Bar

99 Sushi Bar has opened its doors for the first time outside of Spain as part of The Galleria’s Dining Collection. Amid some confusion of its location guests can valet park at The Four Seasons Hotel, Abu Dhabi and once inside the hotel take the lift at the end of the corridor, which will lead outside 99 Sushi Bar.

The entrance features a beautiful gold waterfall, as you walk through the door you will notice the venues contemporary design, infusing a variety of textures and colors from gold mosaic wall coverings to red velvet chairs and intricate Spanish floor tiles, acknowledgment to the brand’s heritage. 99 Sushi Bar boasts a lounge bar, restaurant and terrace. The terrace is equally as beautiful, with spanning views and a deep green moss walls, it almost feels like your own private hideaway.

To start we order the Okonomiyaki, a corn tortilla topped with tuna usuzukuri and tare sauce. Best described as a Japanese pizza, we are impressed with the quality of the tuna, later we discover that 99 Sushi Bar only serves bluefin tuna, ensuring the highest quality.

Next, Tiger Prawn Tempura with spicy creamy sauce. This dish is one of the best sellers and we can see why. The prawns are thick and juicy, the batter is light and crisp and the sauce adds just the right amount of flavor to compliment the dish.

Moving on to the sushi, we select the Lobster Maki and the Soft Shell Crab Roll. Both come served in 8 pieces. The lobster is delightful and extremely fresh but the crab is our favorite, it offers a transition of flavors. The rice used for the sushi is also notably much fresher than that we had experienced elsewhere.

From the warm nigiri sushi we choose the Golden Bricks, tuna tartar, avocado with tobiko and golden leaves, served in 6 pieces. This dish is exquisite, if they did Oscars for food this dish would surely be worthy. The Golden Bricks are not only perfectly presented but taste sensational, upon the bed of warm nigiri sits a thin slice of avocado which is then topped with a large spoonful of tuna tartar and tobiko, finished with finely cut strips of seaweed and golden leaves.  This dish gives you a texture and flavor unlike any other we’ve tasted in a while.

Finally, we cannot resist trying the 99-Black Cod, au gratin with two layers of red miso. This black cod measures up to others in the city extremely well, plus the portion side is almost double that of other restaurants. If you love the taste of miso this is the dish for you, the two layers give the dish a much bolder taste.

Throughout our entire dining experience the quality of produce became undeniable, echoing through every dish. Only having 99 seats we hope that 99 Sushi Bar will be able to maintain the level of personalized service we received on our visit. We predict that this haute Japanese restaurant will be an enormous success amongst diners in the city.

Okonomiyaki AED 99
Tiger Prawn Tempura AED 109
Lobster Maki AED 129
Soft Shell Crab Roll AED 90
Golden Bricks AED 159
99-Black Cod AED 209

99 Sushi Bar, 02 672 3333  

*Prices subject to 10% service charge.