Fulfilling Bowl of Ramen at Kinton Ramen

A few weeks ago in Toronto, I tried out Kinton Ramen on Baldwin Street in Toronto. Now most people probably would not eat a hot bowl of ramen in the middle of 30 degree C weather (with humidity), but I heard so many promising reports about their noodles & soups. My lunch companions were all for it-despite the hot weather!

Kinton Ramen, is owned by the same group that owns GUU (in Vancouver & in Toronto).  We heard that the line-ups can be long, but the ramen is worth the wait. So, we headed down the street to eat some ramen on a hot and humid Friday afternoon hoping for a short wait time! Upon arrival, we were told that the estimated wait time was around 15 minutes - which wasn't bad in comparison to other diners' experiences.  I was pleasantly surprised when the hostess called our name after only 10 minutes of waiting! Not bad at all for a Friday during the lunch rush (~12:15pm). We were ushered inside and were seated at what I think were the best seats in the house-right in front of the kitchen! 

A mere window pane separated me from the simmering soup stocks! From our seats we were able to watch them prep the soup stocks, finish preparations on the pork, cooking of the ramen noodles and the final assembly! What a great seat! 

  

Soup stock boiling away. 

Place setting.

Adding to the soup stock! :) 

View of the kitchen/prep area. 

Ramen noodles separated into piles
and ready for cooking. 

The view from my seat at the eating bar.

Diners eating at the bar. More seating at the back.
Entire restaurant seats about 40 people. 

Decorations. It's named "Kinton" because it means
"pig". The only meat option available on your
ramen noodles is either lean or fatty pork, and pork shoulder or pork belly. 

Ingredients prepped (corn, egg, pork, green onions) and ready
for their final presentation.

You need a LONG stick to stir that stock! 

Noodle bowls being prepped. They are certainly experts at what they do.

Shoyu Ramen w/ soya sauce, kinton pork belly (fatty), beansprout,
green onion, nori and a seasoned egg ($9.50). 

Miso Ramen with soybean paste, kinton pork belly (fatty), beansprout, corn
and garlic oil ($9.50). This is the one I ordered. 

Shoyu soup but with the lean pork. 

Inside of the seasoned egg. 

The entire bowl of ramen was delicious!

Overall, our lunch meal at Kinton ramen was very enjoyable. The ramen noodles had the perfect amount of texture to them  - al-dente: not too soft, but a small give to each noodle as you bite down. The fatty pork paired nicely with the miso soup that I had ordered as well. Flavourful but not too salty. Kinton Ramen also says that their soup base is made with simmering pork and chicken bones for over 20 hours! After 20 hours, bonito fish and veggies are added. That's why their soup stock has the taste of umami.  I will certainly return for another bowl on my next trip home to Toronto. 

Kinton Ramen Japanese Ramen Bar

51 Baldwin St. 

Toronto, ON.

(647)  748-8900

@KintonRamen

http://kintonramen.com

Diving into Chocolate with Tasty Tours in T.O.

During my last week in Toronto I had the fantastic opportunity to attend a local Toronto food tour. Now, this wasn't any food tour, but a chocolate tour! It was held by Toronto's own Tasty Tours. They currently have two types of tours, a chocolate one and a sweets tour. 

The one I participated in was held by Audrey Ooi. Audrey is awesome and I'm sure everyone will enjoy talking to her while she leads you on a chocolate tour around the Trinity-Bellwoods area. Our tour started at the beautiful Alimento on King Street West. Audrey started the tour off by talking about where the word "cacao" came from, the origins of chocolate, complete with pictures and some tastings of cacao. 

Big windows inside Alimento brings in lots of sunlight.

64% dark chocolate Peruvian house blend chocolate from Soma on left
Cacao nibs from Soma on right.

Close up of the Cacao nibs. These ones have been roasted.

Inside of Alimento. There's a cheese counter, deli,
and of course a sweet treats display! 

Assorted Biscotti (hazelnut, chocolate etc..)

First chocolate tasting @ Alimento

Gluten free pistachio, chocolate macaroon and
 Toscano Brown chocolate @ Alimento 

mm..more chocolates, dark cherries & wafers
to taste!

This is some very good chocolate! (60% cacao) Hazelnut
roses by Loacker. You can probably find
them at your local Italian store. If you are in Edmonton, find it at
the Italian Center (only a few boxes left). 

Second stop: Delight- Handmade Organic
Fair Trade Chocolate. 

All their handmade chocolates & truffles on display

Since we were on tour, everyone got a taste of
their choice of gelato (also handmade) and a chocolate.
Of course I had to try their chocolate ice cream.
It was very creamy, not too heavy or sweet.
Must be the natural, organic ingredients in their ice cream.  

I tried their chocolate filled with caramel and smoked sea salt.

Caramel is oozing out! I liked the texture of this chocolate,
and the caramel consistency was nice with the hint of smoked sea salt.
 However, I did find that taking small sips of water in between
bites helped with the overall sweetness of the chocolate.

Audrey, from Tasty Tours inside Nadege. 

Chocolate Bars @ Nadege at their Queen St. West location.
Their chocolate are made at their other store on 1099 Yonge St.

4th stop: Sanko- Japanese Convenience Store. 

Here is a Sakura Maccha Latte with cherry blossom by KitKat! Yes, they
make these! Apparently there are only 3 places in the world
(including this store) that managed to source this particular
flavour! Definitely a limited chocolate. Maybe that's why it tasted
even more delicious. :) 

5th & final stop: Chococrepe. 

Front of chococrepe's store showcasing their gelato and sorbet.

Chocolate tour participants listening intently to Audrey. 

Here is Dewey (one of the owners) passionately describing
how Chococrepe came into existence, how they make their crepes,
and where they source their chocolates.

Nice chandelier at the back of Chococrepe. The mirror helps make

the back of the restaurant look larger and brighter.

Beautiful Presentation!

Left to Right Tasting

• Dark chocolate: tasted like dark dried berries, and dried fruit.
• Caramelia: creamy, milk chocolate, with hints of caramel.
• Ivor: waxy white chocolate

I really enjoyed the dark chocolate, but maybe it's because I'm a fan 

of dark chocolate! 

The middle was a small shot of milk chocolate made at their chocolate 

bar. Dewey also explained that you can't heat the chocolate & milk 

too fast or at too high of a temperature otherwise the taste is often

undesirable.  

Last tasting: Super cute mini crepe topped with
a slice of banana, strawberry, milk chocolate and white chocolate sauce. 

I also brought these delicious goodies home. It also helped that
we got a slight discount! Picture rice crispy-like mini balls that
are dipped into chocolate. Yummy! They also shouldn't melt
in the oven. Will let you know how that goes with my macaron making!

Thanks again to Tasty Tours and Audrey for a great chocolate tour of the Trinity-Bellwoods Park area. I'm certain everyone had a great time! I personally really enjoyed this tour! The allotted time of 3 hours was good as everyone had a chance to explore each store, talk to store managers and taste samples! There is definitely some walking involved, but you go at such a leisurely pace that you have no idea that you just walked several blocks (hint: the walk to Nadege is completely worth it! Their almond croissants & macarons are amazing!). The size of each group is not too big as well; with approximately 10 people per group. This is great as you have the opportunity to bring a significant other, a few friends or, like me go alone and meet some new faces! 

For those of you interested in participating in this tour or their sweets tour, head on over to Tasty Tours for more information - http://www.tastytourstoronto.com/. 

Alimento Fine Food Emporium
522 King St. W. Toronto, ON.
Tel: (416) 362-0123
www.alimento.ca

Delight Chocolate 
805 Queen St. W, Toronto, ON.
www.delightchocolate.ca

Nadege Patisserie
780 Queen St. W, Toronto, ON.
http://www.nadege-patisserie.com/

Sanko Trading Co. 
Japanese Foods & Gifts
730 Queen St. W, Toronto, ON.
Closed Tuesday
www.toronto-sanko.com

chococrepe
620 Queen St. W, Toronto, ON.
Tel: (416) 855-5601
Closed Mondays
http://dine.to/sites/chococrepe/#home

Sen5es @ the Soho Met - Summerlicious 2010

     Coming back home to Toronto in July also means checking out the amazing Summerlicious Fix Prix menus from some of Toronto's hottest restaurants for lunch or dinner. Restaurants that you've always wanted to try are now mildly affordable with a 3 course meal for the entire month of July. Of course this depends on which restaurant you dine at. So, when the opportunity arose to check out the well known Sen5es located in the equally grande Soho Metropolitan Hotel, I had to go. That, and head chef Patrick Lin, our family friend was on hand to personally oversee dinner.
    When we were shown our private dining room at Senses, my dinner companions had a glimpse towards what life as a VIP would feel. The room had a beautiful elegance to it as you can see below.

 

Before dinner began, Chef Patrick Lin offered us each a canape consisting of a scallop, capers, tomatoes, and microherbs. 

Look at the smoothness in that scallop! 

Now for the starters. Choices for starters included the following three options:

Tian of red tuna, salmon, and hamachi tartare with layers of avocado, tomato,
cucumber and aged balsamic vinegar & spicy mayo
Note: This is the one I had. The flavours in this dish worked perfectly together. As you ate through the layers of fish the avocado and cucumber gave the flavours some depth. So good!  

chilled tomato gazpacho with lobster medallions

thinly sliced roasted veal tenderloin with a tea smoked egg on a bed of
tuna fish sauce and sun-dried tomato vinaigrette 

grilled romaine lettuce heart, tofu, green & white asparagus,
portebello dressed with a yuzu truffle soy vinaigrette Dinner options:

prime beef tenderloin in natural jus with tempura prawn, accompanied with
wasabi mashed potatoes, and beans wrapped in bacon.
Note: This is what I ordered. The prime beef was done perfectly at medium rare. The star of the show was the wasabi mashed potatoes. There was a hit of wasabi at first bite, but then quickly went away to normal mash potatoes. The tempura prawn stayed surprisingly crispy until the end of the meal. 

Roasted Grand Marnier liquer duck breast in orange duck jus
with a duck leg confit lasagna sprinkled with bread crumbs
Note: Duck Confit Lasanga was great. Break crumbs offset the typical 'saltiness' of the duck confit. Certain that duck confit lovers will enjoy this dish!    

From L to R: Fried Oyster Fritter, dungeness crabmeat risotto, and
Mediterranean poached halibut fillet topped with sundried tomato and olive salsa
Notes: Risotta had chunks of Dungeness crab inside and was evidently made the correct way. Halibut seemed to lack a bit on the flavour side, as the other two players seemed to overpower the halibut.
Dessert!

warm peach tart (with an entire half a peach!) with lemon sorbetto

lemon-lavender-blueberry dome with chocolate arts and lemongrass vanilla sauce
Notes: admittedly a bit different for the palate, but worked well together in this case. The lavender flavour came more at the end of the bite. 

L to R: Cherry Jubilee, lemon sorbetto, and crepe suzette
notes: Cherry Jubilee was dark and rich, but a bit sour. The menu had indicated 'vanilla icecream', but the icecream we got was certainly lemon sorbetto, so the mix didn't seem to go so well with the already tart cherries and crepe suzette.

Sen5ses - Soho Metropolitan
328 Wellington Street West.
Toronto, ON. M5V 3T2
(416) 935-0400
Dining room: Tuesday-Saturday 6-10pm
Lounge daily from 5pm-1am
http://www.senses.ca/senses_restaurant.html

Most pictures courtesy of Philip Yan