Kenzo Ra-men

One Friday evening¡­ while doing some window-shopping after work, I called up a friend, AF, to see whatz up w/ her. It was around 7:00pm. Our friend, DC, and her were trying to think of a place to eat. There were a lot of activities/functions/events going on that night. One of them was the Night Market near Warden and Steeles. They were thinking of going to Asian Legend @ Metro Square for dinner - but there were just too much people because of the night market event. Don't know why - When she asked me for dinner ideas, I suddenly thought of a name - Kenzo, near Yonge and Steeles. I have seen this place many times I drove by that area. (I think I always see lots of restaurants while I am driving. At that moment, I always tell myself that I will try them¡­ but when I'm not on the road, I usually just can't remember any of those places.) :\

At around 7:30pm they were already there waiting for a table, while I was still stuck on 401. When I arrived, we got a table wintin 10 min. The Ra-men place is not a big one - Including the bar, it can seat about 30 people. I was actually quite surprised as there were quite a lot of customers in this small Ra-men place. Looking at the menu - luckily they have items other than the ra-men (since my bf isn't too fond of noodle/ra-men - don't wanna torture him w/ this - one of my favourite food).

Here's what we ordered¡­

In order - Takoyaki (octopus balls - they have 4 different flavours), beef donburi set dinner, Miso Ramen, Shi-o Ramen, Hot Netsu Ramen with five toppings (a.k.a. The king of the Kings Ramen), and the seafood pancake.

The Ramen¡­ I found, was so-so. I had the Miso one. The portion was just right coz I wasn't that hungry and didn't want to get a huge one like the king of the Kings, but I found the Miso soup base was just ok. I remember I asked TW about this restaurant and he didn't recommend it. However, at the same time, I saw quite a lot of people like this ramen place (from some online forums). Maybe it comes to the authentic vs. tasty thing again. I don't know if this ramen place is truly authentic although it seems to emphasize the ¡°original Japanese Ra-men¡±. I found this ramen ok - nothing spectacular.

The octopus balls and seafood pancake were quite good. The beef donburi was a bit different from the ones that we usually get from the Japanese restaurant. There was a lot of sauce/juice at the bottom of the don. The service and price was ok, nothing that I want to praise/complain about. Next time, if you want to go, remember they have more parking spaces at the back. You know¡­ if you go to the little restaurants near Yonge, that's usually the case.

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