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| - Kinton is a very noisy and bustling place, one of the more popular ramen places at the moment. It's gets busy very early so be prepared to wait for a spot during lunch unless you arrive at 11:30 AM or earlier. The waitresses are polite but they will make you stand close to the door and constantly urging you back against the coat rack.
The place is incredibly small and all the seats are high stools. You can either place your purse in a basket that they'll provide you at your table or in between the legs of the stool on a little shelf that's been designed into the chairs. The seating is communal so be prepared to sit close to your neighbour.
The chefs are positioned in the middle of the restaurant, and you can watch them cook from most spots in the restaurant. The regularly shout greetings to the customers and are generally quite gregarious. Unlike most other ramen places, the typical bowl of noodles doesn't come with a soft boiled egg, so if that's a must-have for you, make sure you add it to your order.
My friend and I both ordered the spicy garlic ramen with pork shoulder in regular broth. When it arrived, there was a generous serving of minced garlic on top...this is most definitely not for the faint of heart. The meat was beautiful torched and caramelized making the fatty edges just so unctuous and melt-it-your-mouth... I was in ramen heaven! The noodles had a good chew and the broth was very rich and flavourful, with a good amount of heat.
The only downside was that I felt that the bowl had too much bean sprout compared to noodle. It kind of felt like filler. Still, in the race for best ramen, I would put Kinton ahead of Kenzo and Ajisan, but behind Sansotei. Overall, a good addition to the Baldwin neighbourhood.
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