Keen No More

I was around the Yonge and Bloor area on Friday night. This strip has always had a proliferation (and turnover) of restaurants. Thinking I should stick to a known place, I stopped off at the 3rd location of Kenzo Ramen just south of Wellesley. This franchise, owned by Guu Izakaya, was the first to bring quality ramen to Toronto and started the craze. I remember the long line-ups at the location near Dundas and Bay.

I ordered the spicy King of Kings ($12.95), some agedashi tofu ($3.50) and takoyaki ($9.99). Everything was reasonably tasty and serviceable but seemed to no longer be so exciting: meaty pork and chewy ramen, soft tofu with a slightly sweet fried skin, gooey banana-flavour ball with a small octopus tentacle inside. It could be a quality control issue: not every location is on the money. It is also likely competition: the other joints have elevated the game. In which case, they should be worried. Their much better competitor on Dundas, Sansotei Ramen, also has a small printed sign in the window of an empty shop just a little bit north on Yonge.