Showing posts with label gastro world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gastro world. Show all posts

Kinton Ramen 1 (Toronto)

Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 51 Baldwin Street
Website: http://kintonramen.com/
Type of Meal: Dinner

The crowd of people at the door may scare you off at first.  But, it must be good if people are willing to wait 30 minutes to an hour for a bowl of noodles?  Luckily, although Kinton looks small, given its narrow layout, with efficient seating and quick turnaround the line actually moves pretty quickly.  But, as a warning, in keeping with this get in and out quick philosophy you cannot, under any circumstance or amount of negotiation, be seated until your entire party arrives.

Similar to most ramen places the seating consists of many bar stools and high top tables.  Décor is kept simple with the focal point being the cooking area in the middle of the room where two chefs deftly showcase their preparation skills.  Aside from cooking, the chefs also lead the way in shouting greetings and so-longs to people.  Kinton, like all the restaurants under the Guu chain, has an upbeat and friendly environment. 

On their drinks menu, they have an interesting section titled the “beer cocktail”.  Normally, I don’t like beer, but decided to try the Panache ($6) which is Sapporo mixed with lemonade.  The concoction was refreshing and reminded me of having a Hoegaarden except lighter, sweeter and more lemony.  This would definitely be a great refreshing summer drink!



Kinton’s menu allows customers to personalize their broth intensity – light, regular or rich.  I opted for the regular broth in hopes of avoiding another ultra-salty experience; luckily it worked out as I hoped.  Regrettably, intensity is also linked with the richness of the broth as I found the soup weak compared to Momofuku and Santouka.  It seems like they just dilute the “rich” broth depending on what you order.  What I would like is a broth that is as flavourful as “rich” but as salty as “regular” - is that too much to ask?


This time, I opted for the “shio” or salted broth and am happy to announce I found the version I like.  Although the miso (fermented bean paste) and shoyu (soy sauce) based broths are good, I find both agents overpowering so it ends up masking the natural ingredients present in the broth itself.  Shio, conversely, allows the taste of the pork and chicken bones to shine through.  I also tried some of my friend’s spicy garlic ramen broth; for those who like it spicy this one sure has a kick to it.  But, you definitely wouldn’t want to order this on a date as there is an overwhelming amount of garlic in the soup. 



Kinton’s noodles are thicker than its competitors, so they are chewier and not as “springy” in texture.  Neither is better, but rather a matter of preference.  I prefer the springy bite of the medium width noodles, but also liked that these thicker noodles stayed at the al dante texture longer than its thinner counterparts. 

Where the competition outshines Kinton is in the meat.  Given a choice of shoulder or pork belly, neither is that good.  I prefer the shoulder cut which is surprisingly more tender and also enjoyed the seared smoky exterior. The pork belly, on the other hand, was disappointing.  Cut into long, thick bacon-like strips it was difficult to eat.  Additionally, it wasn’t cooked long enough to render the fat to a melting point. In the end, I just ate the meat and left all the fat as it had a tough and gross texture. 

The distinguishing aspects of the ramen were perhaps the “fixings” that come with it.  I liked that there were scallions and pieces of nori, things that are sometimes left out at other restaurants.  But the unassuming egg triumphs all – fully cooked on the outside but wonderfully soft-boiled and oozing on the inside, the timing that must be required to achieve this is remarkable.


Overall, I liked Kinton but found it lagged behind its competitors.  To be fair, their price ($9.50) is less the bowls from Momofuku ($15) and Santouka ($15.95) that I’m comparing it to.  But, if I was going to wait half an hour to eat some noodles, I’d rather splurge an extra $5 and get something that’s better quality. 

Overall mark - 6 out of 10

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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


CLOSED: Far Niente (Toronto)

Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 187 Bay Street
Type of Meal: Lunch

After having not visited the restaurant for two years, the surroundings still felt the same when walking in - comfortable banquette style tables and open layout of the dining room. This Winterlicious, I had a chance to eat here with my coworkers. Going on a Monday, they weren't overly busy and were able to keep a good serving pace. However, it still took over an hour and a half to get through the meal.

I was skeptical about getting the roasted cauliflower soup as was afraid it would be bland, but, ordered it anyways as felt like something hot on the cold winter's day.  But, the soup was surprisingly rich with a dollop of cream mixed throughout and drizzles of hazelnut oil. Topping the soup were some salty briny bits that tasted like fried capers, which was an interesting contrast to the smooth soup base. 



For the main I had the steak frites.  When ordering, I was surprised that the waitress didn't ask how I'd prefer the steak to be done in terms of wellness, but trusted that the chef knew best. Mine ended up being medium, a little more cooked than I normally prefer, but it was still tender and pink throughout.  The flat iron steak was a nice thick cut, which was great as sometimes restaurants slice it too thinly.

The steak had a Spanish twist of being rubbed in a chimichurri coating.  I appreciate Far Niente trying to mix up different flavours, but would have loved to have a sauce topping the steak instead to dip the generous portion of fries into. The frites itself weren't the normal shoe string thinness of most frites, but to be fair Far Niente did warn it was "home style".  The frites, although thicker, were still crispy and hot.  The garlic ketchup accompanying the frites was light tasting and not overly garlic tasting.  Finished with some vinegary coleslaw, it was nice to have to help cut the heaviness of the meat and potatoes.




I opted for the banana & Nutella s’more for dessert, thinking it would be a real s'more like their regular dinner menu.  But, this one was made "deconstructed" style. As always, the homemade marshmallow was great; although quite dense, it is still smooth in texture and not overly sweet. This dish included some caramelized bananas, drizzles of Nutella and caramel sauces and a sprinkling of graham crackers. All the ingredients went well together and wasn't too heavy.






Is Winterlicious worth it?

As a special feature to the Winterlicious blogs, I will attempt to calculate the savings being offered (based on my meal selection).

Winterlicious - $20

Regular menu - $46 - soup ($9), steak frites* ($28) and banana s'more* ($9)

Savings - $26 or 57%

* The steak frites and banana s'more isn't on their regular menu; prices based on the "bacon steak" and chocolate s'more

Overall mark - 8 out of 10




Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!