Kinton Ramen is one of Toronto's highest rated ramen - it's on every listicle of Toronto's best ramen. After trying the excellent ramen at Kinka Izakaya, Kinton's sister shop next door, I was eager to try the famous ramen specialist's noodles.
Kinto Ramen is a glass box restaurant right beside Kinka Izakaya along Church Street in Toronto. (Nearest subway station is College, 5 minutes walk away.)
No frills inside this little box. Window seats on two sides, and inside, the open kitchen with wooden bar seats around it. That's all.
I ordered Kinton's signature Tonkotsu Shio Ramen (CDN12.99 before tax and tips). It's ramen noodles in a rich pork bone broth served with soft boiled egg, pork shoulder and pork belly, and dressed with red ginger, wood ear fungus, scallion and nori. The ramen is sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds.
Kinto's pork broth is medium bodied, cloudy and milky in looks and feel. It also felt very smooth without being greasy. It has a mild sweet-savouriness from the natural pork flavour complemented with sea salt. I like this rather mild broth even though my favourite broth is heavy in body with deep intense layers of savoury flavours.
After the excellent ramen from sister shop Kinka next door, I was expecting some noodle wizardry at Kinto, the ramen specialist sibling. There was even an add-on charge of CDN1.90 for extra noodles, so that raised my expectations (as some places give noodle top-ups free of charge, so Kinton must have something for charging). Alas, there was no magic. The chef cooked the noodles to al dente but the noodles felt and tasted mass produced, generic.
Nice ajitama marinated soft boiled egg with waxy, runny yolk.
The thin slice of pork shoulder was lean and tender. It's nice though a little flat tasting with just gentle natural pork flavours.
The real treat was this pork belly.
Nice mix of lean and fat layers yielding shades of savoury-sweetness with interesting soft to subtle crisp texture. My regret was there was only one small slice 😂
👉 I like Kinton Ramen's tonkotsu ramen because of their nice broth, good pork shoulder and excellent pork belly chashu. But, I didn't like the noodles as much as they felt mass produced and generic.
Toronto is a clean air and bicycle friendly city. Subway and smokeless electric street cars are the main means of public transport downtown.
Restaurant name: Kinton Ramen
Address: 396 Church St, Toronto, ON M5B 2A2 (Kinton Ramen has several outlets in Toronto)
GPS: 43°39'37.3"N 79°22'43.8"W | 43.660360, -79.378830
Tel: (647) 348-8555
Hours: 11:30am to 10:30pm
Non Halal
Date: 5 Mar 2017
There is another Kinton restaurant on Yonge, just north of Empress. I go there often. Excellent ramen. The cooks talk a lot and would not fail to greet you and say goodbye after your meal.
ReplyDeleteYes, Thank you :-D
Delete