[Japanese] Kinton Ramen 1

Restaurant: Kinton Ramen 
Location: 51 Baldwin Street, Toronto ON M5T 1L1
Price Range: $$

[wp-review]

If my memory serves me correctly, Kinton was the first ramen restaurant to open in Toronto, and it share the same owner as Guu Izakaya. Fast forward, Guu Izakaya and Kinton now have several locations throughout Toronto, which mean the lineup at both original restaurants have reduced significantly :). Since I’m sure a lot of people has been here already, I will not go into too much details of the food!

The restaurant is spacious with bar seats and a big communal table at the back. If you are sitting at the bar, you can see the entire ramen making actions.

For $6 there was only 4 pieces of karaage, which for me it’s overpriced. Other than that, the karaage is pretty good with a thin and crispy batter, while the inside was juicy and tender. The sauce was a spicy ketchup sauce, instead of the usual mayonnaise, and it was quite delicious! The sauce wasn’t too spicy, and I love ketchup so anything with ketchup is guuuuuuud! 😀

Not my favourite. The takoyaki was very soft and doughy with one tiny piece of octopus inside.

A few years ago, Kinton only offered 100 bowls of chicken ramen per day. Eventually they revamped the entire menu and you can now pretty much order the chicken broth with any type of meat and toppings.

It is definitely one of the most spiciest ramen I have had in Toronto so far, and the heat from the Jalapeno didn’t give a burning sensation, it was more of a kick and lingers for a few seconds in your mouth. With that said, the broth was too oily and salty for me. The chicken was tender and cooked just right, but it was cold… Not lukewarm, just icy cold.

My fried ordered the spicy garlic ramen but I have had it before. That round yellow ball in the middle is freshly grated garlic and I usually mix it into the broth. Despite the color, the ramen wasn’t as spicy as the jalapeno ramen, and I found the fresh garlic to be quite strong and overpowered the broth’s flavor.

Overtime I find Kinton to be overrated and with an abundance of ramen restaurants in Toronto now, one could find a better option somewhere else. The broth here tends to be oily even if you choose the light option. Noodles are a bit hard, and it can be considered as undercooked for some people. Moreover, just like Guu Izakaya, the atmosphere here is very loud and you will have to shout over your partner while talking, so I wouldn’t recommend Kinton for a date :p (I’m speaking from my own experience lol).