Kinton Ramen 4

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Jun 26, 2015

Company: +Will Ives 

Will and I had plans to go on an Escape Room double date in North York and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some good Korean food since we were in the area... little did I know that they had a Kinton Ramen down the street from where we were going! It also turned out that my dad brought back some take-out pork bone soup for lunch that day so I already had my Korean fix. I was very excited to try Kinton since I've heard the name so many times. 

The location looked pretty small from the outside and like your typical noodle bar. We entered to the staff yelling (welcoming) us in and were seated for two at the bar as the rest of the place was already full. It was pretty hot where we were as the staff was right in front of us preparing the soups. It was definitely interesting to see but it made a difficult to talk with all of their yelling. It was a fun atmosphere though and made for a lively dinner.

The menu is very easy to understand, they direct you step-by-step how to place an order and I went with the Regular Original Pork Broth with Thick Noodles and Pork Shoulder. We watched all the orders being made and it was fun being on the front line for that to see their process. I was a bit surprised on how fatty the broth was when I first got it, especially for a regular. Nonetheless, the broth tasted good, pretty rich. The pork shoulder was delicious, such amazing flavour with each bite! The egg was also cooked perfectly, still a bit runny on the inside. The noodles were also amazing, excellent quality and fresh. I can see why Kinton has built up such a good establishment, they really use the finest of ingredients.

Food: 4/5 - Excellent ingredients, only complaint is the fattiness of the broth.
Decor: 3.5/5 - Very clean and simple with wooden decor.
Service: 4/5 - Quick in turning customers over, fast to get the ramen.

Willingness to go back: 2.5/5 - Lots of options to try, would try to go to another location.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.kintonramen.com/

Santouka Ramen

Visited: Early dinner Sunday Apr 21, 2013

Company: Had planned to go after the Jays game with group of 8

With the popularity of ramen growing as rapidly as it has in Toronto the last year, I knew I had to go big for my first experience. I had heard about the hype of Santouka from +Gisele and +Mohan both recently, a noodle bar with people lining down the street to get in and raving reviews everywhere. I was rather excited to taste the epic-ness of this crazed ramen finally, and to experience it with both foodies and non.

When we arrived, there was only one group in front of us, but it was always a worry to be in a group of 8 going to a restaurant with very limited seating. We were told it would be a wait of 5-10 minutes, but really depended on how fast people would be. Waiting in line was quite an interesting time, being asked for money by strangers and getting chirped by someone on the bus for waiting in line to get into the restaurant. The anticipation was building, as were our appetites  Luckily, everyone stuck it out and waited to be seated rather then getting sushi instead :P.   

You can tell from the menu that they aren't messing around, with only four ramen choices and some rice dishes, it's pretty obvious what you should be getting. I decided on a combo to try both. I chose the Shio Ramen which is their signature dish and because I like creamy broths, paired with the Negi Meshi Rice Bowl which I had found out that is topped dried bonito which is a fish (not a vegetable as believed by +Mohan). There is also a minimum order of about $10 in case you were interested in waiting in line just to get an ice-cream. +Jérémie also requested that I point out that butter is $1 on the menu.

Ok, now on to the ramen... They were actually pretty quick with the orders and were presented quite appealingly. I was so excited but had to take a few photos for the blog first... but with that wait, that first spoonful of broth was just heavenly. The taste was very rich with flavour and not too creamy, I don't even know how else to describe it. The temperature was so perfect though, they have that down to a tee. The noodles were good but nothing special, and the toppings were an interesting combo but fun to try with the group discussing what things were. I got quite full from it after a few bites though, maybe it was the salt? I know others had complaints of the fattiness of the meat and in the soup but I think that just comes with Asian cooking. The rice was...rice but I didn't quite enjoy the bonito flakes, it was a lot more fishy then I had hoped so I was basically just having rice with green onions, and that's just weird. I would just go for the ramen next time, the portion was decent sized for myself and didn't stuff me but maybe for others it was too small. I couldn't see myself coming for a meal here, maybe when you're only a bit hungry. 

So that was my first ramen experience... I think after a few more go's, I'll enjoy it more and may have better reviews? Just like all foreign foods, you have to acquire a taste for it and even though I enjoyed the ramen, I don't understand the hype for it. Maybe all the other ramen places are bad and I just don't know because I went straight for the best, but I guess I will find out eventually. Looking through the photos, I definitely crave ramen but it didn't leave that much of a lasting impression on me. What did everyone else think?

Food: 3.5/5 - Good ramen, okay rice.

Decor: 4/5 - Clean, simple, tight, super Asian.

Service: 4/5 - Very friendly staff, I was actually surprised they weren't stuck up and were really nice to us noobies.

Likeliness to come back: 1.5/5 - Would like to try the other broths, but wouldn't wait in line for this.

Overall: 3/5

Website: http://www.santouka.co.jp/en/