Thursday, January 25, 2018

Konjiki Ramen & Saryo Cafe

This has to be THE place to go to now.  Everyone's been talking about it for the last month or two.  Whats the big deal you ask?  Konjiki Ramen has been on the Michelin Bib Gourmand list for the last few years.  What does that mean?  Usually when you hear of Michelin, its number of stars.  In Toronto, there's no restaurants with any stars.  Why?  I'm not sure why Toronto doesn't use the Michelin system.  There's only a few cities in the world that have the Michelin star rating.  Back to the Bib Gourmand (after doing some Googling), means a list of restaurants that are deemed as having good food with moderate prices.

I finally got the chance to check out Konjiki Ramen. I thought I planned it well too, going for a weekday early dinner.  Well life happens, and my early diner (planned to arrive for 5pm as people say there is usually no lineup then), ended up with us arriving at 6pm, with a line pretty much out the door.  So for the first half of the lineup, we waited in line just inside the door.  It was freezing cold each and every time the door opened while more ramen hungry people squeezed in.  After about half an hour lining up, I decided to stay warmer and sit and wait.  So we had dessert at Saryo Cafe (they share a space with Konjiki Ramen in the front), before dinner.  I don't know why people don't think of doing that as well.  So if theres a line, get dessert first!

We ordered the Saryo signature parfait with matcha soft serve.  The parfait started off with a layer of green tea and water jelly at the bottom, then topped with hojicha cream, red bean, granola, matcha soft serve, mochi, and matcha brownie.  Lots of ingredients! The granola I personally wasn't a fan of. I felt that it didn't add much to the parfait.  The match soft serve, I will say is the best matcha soft serve I've had in Toronto.  Great amount of matcha flavour, and not grainy.  All the other places in Toronto that serve matcha soft serve has great flavour, but you're left with a grainy powdery aftertaste in your mouth.  The hojicha cream, I don't know how to describe, was a tad more bitter that matcha, more of a roasted but mild tea flavour?  Matcha brownie was a bit too dense for me, but again good matcha flavour.  If you're at Konjiki, you must grab at least some dessert.
Saryo Signature Parfai - Matcha













Total wait time to get a table for us, was just under 1 hour.  According to Google wait time was only supposed to be less than 15 minutes.  So NEVER trust Google for wait time estimates.  But to speed things up, they hand you the menu while you are in line so you can order right away when you are seated.  From ordering to getting the food, it was SUPER fast.  The hubby took off his jacket, and went to the washroom, and our ramen arrived at the table before he even came back! We ordered their signature clam broth shio ramen, original shoyu tonkotsu ramen, and a side of braised pork belly.  Starting off with the broths.  Both the clam broth, and the tonkotsu broths are VERY different from any of the other ramen houses in Toronto.  The clam broth, very light and clear, strong truffle and clam flavours.  Nothing like I've ever tasted in a ramen broth before.  Delicious.  The tonkotsu broth, exact opposite of the clam broth, beautiful creamy pork broth that coats your mouth and doesn't seem to go away.  While being creamy, it didn't feel heavy.  I know it's a sign of respect and that you enjoyed your meal by finishing your broth.  Usually I don't.  But this time, I drank it all down!

Noodles, also different than the ramen houses in Toronto.  The only other time I've had ramen noodles like this was in North America was in New York City at Mr. Taka Ramen (sister restaurant to Bigiya in Tokyo which is also on Michelin's Bib Gourmand list).  The noodles are thinner, more al dente, and I would say more similar to a pasta than the ramen noodles that i'm used to eating.

All of their meats are done sous vide.  While the meat was tender, it felt a bit dry.  I assume because the chashu was made with a leaner cut of pork.  There was a thin strip of fat, but other than that, the chashu was very lean.  The pork belly, had some strips of fat running through it, and it was definitely a bit more juicy than the chashu, but there was a bit of gristle so some bites were a bit chewier.  I guess I'm just not a fan of the sous vide method.  The braised pork belly also came with an egg.  Presentation of the egg was flat out horrible looking.  I can't figure out how they cut it to look the way it did.  And it was also missing chunks of white too.  Usually when you can't peel the shell away from a boiled egg properly, either they did it too hot, or the egg wasn't fresh.
How to Enjoy Your Clam Broth Ramen

Original Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen

Signature Clam Broth Shio Ramen

Braised Pork Belly


































Interior wise, half the restaurant has normal table/booth seating that is friendly for everyone.  In the middle of the restaurant, there is counter height seating with bar stools, not so family friendly.

Was this ramen good?  Yes, it was delicious.  Would I wait an hour for this again?  Definitely not.  Having said that, when we were paying, there owner or manager there, told us that they are planning on starting a regular line, and a priority line.  Anyone with a child under the age of 2, or a senior over the age of 70 will be placed in the priority line.  It doesn't mean that you will be placed in front of everyone thats waiting, but they will try and seat the priority line quicker than needing to wait the regular wait.

Konjiki Ramen & Saryo Cafe
5051 Yonge St.,
North York, ON
M2N 5P2

Konjiki Ramen Phone:  (647) 350-7766
Saryo Cafe  Phone:  (647) 350-6611

Hours:  Monday 1130a - 1000p
             Tuesday CLOSED
             Wednesday - Sunday 1130a - 1000p

http://konjikiramen.com
http://www.saryocafe.com
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