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| - "Meh. I've experienced better." is about right. I'm going to get soo much hate mail for this but screw it, if you're going to make people wait in lines just to get in -- it better be damn good.
From the owners that brought you the GUU chain of restuarants, this is Kinton Ramen Noodle house.... got your attention just from that line, cause its all hype.
Don't get me wrong the place is neat and if you were lucky like me you got to sit by the glass area by the kitchen where you can see the noodle cooks going at it hardcore which is impressive ....its like when you first saw donuts being made in a Krispy Kreme factory, that kind of impressive. And if you're used to GUU then you get the warm welcome and such that we're accustomed to.
But lets get down to business I'm here to judge the food not the setup! Oh wait lets get first impressions out of the way. Forget bringing large groups here it was tough enough for me and my bud just to get a seat. Seriously its crazy busy....and I think a huuuge part of it is the GUU affiliation. Don't bother bringing a date here ...at least not in Winter ....if want a second date that is.
Before getting to the menu, I have a basic equation for any soup with noodle dish whether it be Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese and despite whatever they are named. The broth better be tasty as hell, because all the flavors and ingredients are in the broth part. The second part is the noodles that they are cooked properly and sometimes can get away with being tasteless if the texture and broth are done well.
Looking at the menu and the different ramen choices their name were indicative of what was in it miso ramen, shoyu (soya sauce) ramen and so forth. I figure I want to taste the purest flavor of the broth and that I'm not going to muddy it with miso or shoyu...there was the sea salt option Shio Ramen (plus came with pork and seasoned egg). I also ordered that and the Panche drink , not a fan of the name but it was a concoction of lemonade and Sapporo...sure why not.
I patiently waited for the my ramen, when I got it I waited and blew on it so it would get to and edible temp (we've all been impatient before with ramen and what happened...yeah a burnt tongue)
I tasted the broth and there wasn't really any flavor to it. Fine I'll bite into the noodle and take some broth with it. Didn't fare much better. The noodles were more on the chewy side then al dente. Somewhere between squid legs and regular noodles. Either I was not used to the texture of Japanese Ramen or something.
After finishing it I asked the waitress did they have an option of cold broth to be served with the ramen for next time....and she said no. Reason being the texture of this ramen was more like soba, and to me would have been excellent in a tasty cold broth (like a pork bone soup kind of broth) - that too me would have made this fantastic. The pork itself and egg weren't anything special.
Funny enough the Panche was bloody fantastic...after having a hot soup meal the crisp clear cold Sapporo with the tangy lemonade made for a very refreshing drink after all. I love Sapporo but was surprised by that concoction. I don't know if I'll try the other "famous" noodle houses around Toronto, this gourmet noodle fad I think is just a phase.
If you're still hungry I'd suggest going two doors down to Hua Sang for the lobster special and a couple of beers (I also reviewed them)
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