Kinton Ramen is a popular chain of ramen restaurants with five locations in Ontario. They recently opened their fifth location adjacent to Kinka Izakaya on Church St. I was invited to a media tasting earlier last month, and had the chance to try an appetizer and ramen of my choice with a friend. I have been to Kinton Ramen several times before the media tasting, so I was pretty well aware of their food. What I enjoy about Kinton Ramen is their consistency of their food products, and portion sizes. The fifth location of Kinton Ramen features their signature block designs with high table-top and wooden tables. However, in contrast to some of the other locations, this location has large windows that allow natural light to shine into the restaurant.



Kinton Ramen allows the diners to customize their bowl of their ramen to their liking by providing various options. It's great as people do have different preferences and tastes.



Step 1 (broth) - select from pork ramen or chicken ramen
Step 2 (flavour) - choose from original, shoyu, miso, spicy garlic, or extra pork
Step 3 (noodle) - choose from thick or thin
Step 4 (meat) - choose from pork or chicken (additional meat is +$2.50)
Step 5 (additional toppings) - choose from a variety of toppings such as sweet corn, nori, seaweed, scallions, Swiss cheese, and more.

I opted for their Original Pork Ramen ($10.99) - sea salt, bean sprouts, scallions, nori, seasoned egg with corn (+$1) and seaweed (+$1). This is my usual ramen order whenever I eat at Kinton Ramen, as I do like lighter broths. The broth is also rich in collagen, and one can order it light, regular, or rich. Aside from the broth, I believe that the pork belly is also an important component of a bowl of ramen. The pork belly here was slightly blowtorch to give it a nice charred finish. Overall, it was a very satisfying bowl of ramen on the cool evening.



My friend got the Original Chicken Ramen ($11.99) - sea salt, white onions, scallions, nori, seasoned egg with seasoned vegetables (+$3.50) and seaweed (+$1), which she enjoyed. 



Kinton Ramen has a nice selection of hot tapas available like edamame, original karaage, takoyaki, and more. I always get the age gyoza ($3.90) - deep fried pork dumplings with original sweet chili sauce, so this time was no different. Kinton Ramen is actually one of my favorite places for gyoza, and it has to do with the accompanied sweet chili sauce. 

My friend got the takoyaki ($4.50), which contained four deep fried octopus balls with tonkatsu sauce and mayo. There was a reasonable amount of octopus pieces stuffed into the flour-based batter.



Try a cold tapas like the tako wasabi ($3.90) - marinated octopus with wasabi stem.



Kinton Ramen 5 is a good place to dine, especially if you're looking for a quick dinner. It can get pretty busy during the dinner rush, but I do find the turnover to be rather quick. Kinton Ramen 5 is open Monday to Sunday from 11:30 am - 10:30 pm.

Thank you Stella and Kinton Ramen for the warm hospitality.


Address: 396 Church St, Toronto, ON M5B 2A2