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/

Nguyen Huong

Date Visited: Lunch on Tuesday Jan 27, 2015

Company: Myself

After talking about Vietnamese Sandwiches at pho dinner last week, I was craving one ever since. Luckily, there is a shop right by my work that my aunt told me about. She brought some banh mi over to my house for lunch last year and I forgot how good they were as I hadn't had them since I was a kid. I decided to check the place out during my lunch break and grab a sandwich to eat at the office. 

The location is in a huge plaza beside the T&T Supermarket and among all the Asian stores, it's easy to miss unless you knew it was there. I walked in and it was half groceries half sandwich/made-to-order with lots of ladies were there making fresh sandwiches in front of you. I ordered a Spicy Vietnamese Assorted Sandwich for just $2.25 and they had it there in hand immediately. They had a lot of different options of sandwiches so I'd try something else next time but I wanted to just go for the classic.

I headed back to the office to eat and enjoyed how compact everything was inside the fresh bun and not falling apart. The size was good for me but I'm sure some people could easily eat two. The Spicy part of the sandwich is just adding some jalapenos inside which I probably won't do in the future. Everything tasted as it should otherwise but the bread was definitely my favourite part. When I saw them making it, the only sketchy part was the mayo which looked like it was out in the air for a while and starting to harden. All the other ingredients tasted fresh.

Food: 4/5 - What a deal for $2.25, classic Vietnamese Sandwiches, nothing else.

Decor: 3/5 - Bigger than I thought it would be, lots of things to buy also.

Service: 4.5/5 - So fast, no nonsense.

Willing to go back: 5/5 - Will be a go-to spot for lunch when I'm in the office now.

Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.nguyenhuong.ca/

Craft Dog

Date visited: Dinner on Friday Jan 4, 2014

Company: Grabbed food with +Will before seeing Aladdin

+Will and I walk down Church street quite often to get meals and we happened to spot Craft Dog one time while getting lunch at another restaurant. We noted that we had to go back to try their gourmet home-made hot dogs one day. We tried to go there early on a Sunday before but unfortunately they were only opened at noon. Hot dogs are one of +Will's favourite foods so he was pretty keen on returning. We only had an hour or so prior to seeing Aladdin at Ed Mirvish Theatre on Friday night so we thought this was a great chance to finally try Craft Dog nearby for dinner.

This newly opened restaurant has very comical and eye-grabbing signage outside for anyone walking by which is how we first noticed it. Even entering the place, the decor is very bright and similar to a fast food joint. All their order options are hanging on the wall written on hot dog-shaped black boards. There's about 12 different choices in addition to a daily special. Each hot dog has different meats infused into the wiener and an arrangement of different toppings. They ranged from $7-$13 not including a drink or fries. Their 'meal' option gives $1 off the order of a drink and fries which isn't much of a deal. They also have unique, house-made pop flavours instead of the regular ones you get everywhere else and craft beer.

Checking out the menu, there actually wasn't many options I really wanted, either there was a topping I didn't like on it or I didn't want the meat it was made it. I finally decided on the Chicago Shout-Out after debating between that or the Naked Dog but there were so many toppings you could choose from for the Naked Dog, I didn't feel like deciding. The Chicago Shout-Out was made of Beef Chuck and Pork Shoulder topped with Yellowy Mustard, Sweet Pickle Relish, Raw Onion, Tomato, Pepperoncini, and Celery Salt. Will ordered the Philly Cheese Steak Dog made out of Local Beef topped with Sweet Peppers, Onions, Provolone, and House-Made White Cheddar Wiz. We also got Fries and a Drink to share. 

We sat down to wait for our order which they said they would bring over to us. Our fries came first and they said there's home-made condiments we can dress them with. We walked to the counter and indeed they had Smoked Ketchup, Curry Mayo, Petter Mayo and Homemade Mayo. My favourite was the Curry flavoured one but they were all very well made. Their fries were very delicious, lightly salted, and home-made.

So our hot dogs finally came and they looked so huge stuffed with all their toppings! The wieners fit perfectly in their buns and wasn't falling apart. The hard part about eating these were the falling toppings everywhere. The Chicago Shout-Out had a lot going on in terms of flavours, the mustard and onions were very overpowering. I did noticed that the dog was filled with lean meat and didn't taste like regular preserved hot dogs. It was fine quality. The Philly Cheese Steak Dog had a much smaller dog than the other and the didn't have very much flavour not did it taste like Philly cheese steak. There was a lot of cheese on this and I didn't really enjoy the Wiz. Both of the dogs fell short for us in terms of flavour. 

+Will is a huge hot dog fan and he was very disappointed in our meals especially for how much they costed. I appreciated the concept and what the Craft Dog is trying to do for hot dogs here but it wasn't for us. I have to mention that the guys serving us though were extremely friendly and attentive. They filled up our pop when it was done and let us try another one of their funky flavours. The Cola Root Beer and Vanilla Cola were great!

Food: 1/5 - Good quality hot dogs but nothing came together to make it a good meal.

Decor: 3/5 - Very shiny and clean, reminded me of a average fast-food sit in place.

Service: 4/5 - Awesome service, so nice and welcoming. 

Willingness to come back: 1/5 - Unlikely I'd go back, but if I did I'd definitely get a Naked Dog and dress it myself.

Overall: 2/5

Website: http://www.craftdogs.com/