Kinton Ramen: Talk of the Town

Since before its opening earlier this summer, there has been great buzz about Kinton Ramen, a ramen bar spinoff of Guu. We arrived half an hour after it opened on a weekday and waited for only about 10 minutes or so. As we were seated, I noticed that the chair was not very comfortable, especially for someone short like me (perhaps a tactic to ensure that you don't linger for too long?) 

When ordering, on top of the type of soup base (miso, shoyu, shio, spicy), you also get to choose between a light, regular, or heavy base.  There is also an option of having pork shoulder or pork belly in your ramen. I enjoyed having the freedom to customize my ramen. 

Light Shoyu Ramen with Pork Shoulder 

I opted for the shoyu (soy sauce) ramen even though my friend warned me that he found it to be extremely salty. I figured it should be fine if I went for the light soup base, but boy was I wrong. I can't imagine what regular or even rich soup would taste like because my soup was already too salty.

The noodles and pork shoulder on the other hand were delicious. The noodles were chewy and the pork was seasoned just right and very tender. Overall, I still liked my ramen although the salty soup did take away from it - I was still downing water even after lunch!

Regular Miso Ramen with Pork Shoulder

Compared to my shoyu ramen, my friend's miso ramen was delectable. For one, the flavour of the soup was a lot more enjoyable as it was less salty. 

For drinks, I got the house lemonade and I don't have very much to say about it. It wasn't anything special and I thought it was a little watered down.


Kinton Ramen fell a bit short of my expectation perhaps because of its Guu backbone and all the hype that was built up. The staff here were just as energetic as the ones at Guu, but I was a little bothered by the volume probably because the place was so small and cramped. I guess I will anticipate Santouka's opening in Toronto for now!

Taste: ★★★☆☆

Environment: ★★☆☆☆

Service: ★★★★☆

Price: $$

Kinton Ramen
51 Baldwin St.
Toronto, ON