Weekend of June 2-3

Korean Town Spring Festival
June 1-2
K-town around Christie/Bloor
FREE
Festival to celebrate Korean culture and food
http://www.koreandanospringfestival.com/index.htm 


Unionville Village Festival
June 1-3
Unionville main street, around Toogood pond area
FREE
Lots of fun activities include parade, bed race, boat race, market, concert etc.
http://www.unionvillefestival.com/index.htm


Sage Fair 
June 2-3
Metro Toronto Convention Center
Admission: $10
An exhibit that promotes healthier and greener lifestyle 
http://sagefair.com/



Sounds like the Riverside, in the Raw Festival
June 2
Queen Street/Broadview Ave.
FREE
Art walk, salsa, music, bbq etc.
http://www.riversidedistrictbia.com/site/
 

Kinton Ramen Review

Do we finally have authentic Japanese ramen in town?  Some may say yes because Kinton is run by Japanese (same chain as Guu Izakaya), and not by Chinese (Ajisen) or Korean (Kenzo).  (There are other smaller ramen places run by Japanese, like Konnichiwa and Niwatei... maybe I should do an overall ramen review post someday...)

Shio Ramen with Pork Belly

Gyoza

This place is fairly busy, though the line-ups are not as crazy as Guu as selection of food is limited. I think it'd be hard for large groups of friends to sit together and it's not the most ideal place to talk (surrounding sound can get quite noisy as the servers yell welcome and thank you every few mins) or impress your date. That is because the seating is too crowded to be comfortable, and if you are unlucky like me, who happens to be seating in front of the large pots of boiling soup base beside the open kitchen, it's difficult not to sweat in this intense amount of heat. 


I ordered a shio (salt) ramen with pork belly and a serving of gyoza (dumplings). The pork belly came as one big piece in which you can clearly distinguish the fat from the meat. If you prefer something more leaner you can choose to have pork shoulder instead of the pork belly. Hmm...I thought the meat could be marinated more. The texture of the ramen was bang on though! However, the soup base was disappointing. Usually shio ramen comes with a relatively clear soup base... instead my bowl was murky... with fat tissue on the top layer! That made it hard to drink the soup afterwards because it didn't look appealing with all that fat disperse in it. I did drank a spoonful afterwards but it wasn't anything spectacular... I saw them put lots of fatty porkbone in it... and that was what I tasted... pretty bland taste... can't detect the seasalt.... The complimentary egg was only half broiled, which was a nice surprise if you like running yolk. The gyoza tasted pretty good with very thin pastry and very juicy. But portions were kind of small.  

In short, I'd try Kinton again. But I definitely won't be ordering shio ramen. Hopefully the soup base would be more flavourful in Shoyu or Miso? But when I glanced over at the other bowls they had the same amount of murkiness... 

Do check out their washroom, the mirror's kind of cool. 

I can't wait to try Momofuku when it opens in August in Toronto... 

Food: 3.6/5 (texture of ramen is pretty good, but the soup is so-so, pork belly is ok)
Service: 3.8/5
Decor: 3.5/5 (similar decor as Guu, but the seats are even more crowded)
Price: Ramen about $10 each (tax/tips extra)

Location: 51 Baldwin Street (if you are there or have to wait in line, I urge you to check out Baldwin St as it has some interesting restaurants and shops!)
Phone: 647-748-8900
No reservations and be prepared to line up.
Website: http://kintonramen.com/

More things to share...

New Japanese Ramen Shop (Same chain as Guu)

51 Baldwin St.

http://kintonramen.com/

 




















Free HK Movie This Friday

May 25, 7:00PM

Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles St W at Queen's Park)      

Overheard 2 窃听风云2

Directors Felix Chong, Alan Mak | Cast: Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo, Daniel Wu
Hong Kong 2011 | 119 min | Cantonese with English subtitles

A crime thriller about greed and betrayal

FREE Admission - Ticketing begins at 6PM on May 25

http://reelasian.com/index.php/k2/item/245-reel-asian-asian-heritage-month


 


Doors Open Toronto
May 26-27, 10am-5pm
All around Toronto

FREE admission

More than 135 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings will open their doors for the weekend and highlight the people who built our city

http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/culture/doorsopen.nsf/BuildingsAll?OpenView&count=999

Art Battle  

Tuesday May 29, 7pm, The Great Hall

Tickets $15 / $10 Students (w/ ID)

Live painting competition   

http://www.artbattleto.com/

http://mycitylives.com/#!/toronto-on-ca/videos/4f71d89b993837607900c322

 

Eco Swap @ Sage Fair

June 2, 2012 11am – 6pm; June 3, 2012, 11am – 5pm

Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St West
$6 for all Swapsity members, $10 for non-members

Swap books, DVDs, CDs, Blu-rays and records!     

http://www.swapsity.ca/SwapZone

http://www.sagefair.com/

Websites to share

 

Haven't posted in awhile... been busy with other stuff lol

Just want to share two links I found recently.

1) Toronto on the Cheap
 http://www.torontoonthecheap.com/
- Daily deals from all the group-buy sites
- Cheap gas info
- Free wifi locations
- Grocery deals
etc.


2) Joanne Kate's (a long-time resto critic) Top 100 Restaurants in TO
http://www.postcity.com/Post-City-Magazines/Kates-2011/Top-100/
- A pretty decent list of quality restaurants to try in the city
- Good review/summary of each restaurant
- Like that she points out each restaurant's signature dishes
etc.
- So far, I tried like 26 out of that list of 100 lol