Grill Baby Grill

I heard through the twitter vine that the Izakaya portion of Kinton Ramen's Bloor St. location had a soft open this week. On Thursday, I dropped by the 2nd floor restaurant to try some Japanese bar/finger food. It wasn't too full and so the service was very attentive. Could be the soft open, but I suspect that it might not seem obvious from the ground that there was a second restaurant sharing the same entrance as the much more visible Kinton Ramen.

Momo

Kawa

Being a Yakitori (grilled skewers), it wasn't a surprise that half of their two page menu had various meats available. And half of that was all the different parts of the chicken, since Yakitori also means grilled chicken. With each chicken skewer going for $2, I selected 3: Momo (thigh), Kawa (skin), and Sunagimo (gizzard). You also had your choice of either Tare (teriyaki) or salt. I also opted for Ton Toro/pork cheek ($3) and Shiitake Nikuzume ($3.50).

Sunagimo

Shiitake Nikuzume and Ton Toro

Both the chicken thigh and skin were delicious and fragrant. The gizzard was all right but not a retry; you're essentially eating gamey cartilege. Pork cheeks were good, but had a tougher texture than I expected. The mushroom was plentifully stuffed with ground chicken. This was a filling dish, but not memorable. The jalapeno version is probably a better choice.

Tako Ajillo

Dekitate Tofu

From the other side of the menu, I got Yakionigiri ($3), a charcoal-grilled rice ball filled with Konbu kelp; Dekitate Tofu ($7), a soft tofu being slowly cooked in a heated container at your table; and Tako Ajillo ($7), octopus frying in a dish of garlic olive oil. The rice had a great smoky flavour, but the kelp didn't register. Perhaps the other option of plum would be more distinctive. The tofu was soft and had a sweet milky flavour which went great with the roasted salt and ponzu sauce. The octopus was the outstanding dish: rich and chewy. The oil gave it an almost sausage texture and mouth-feel, which went appropriately with the side-dish of toasted bread.

Yakionigiri

Houji Cha Creme Brulee

Though I was full, I did relent on the Houji Cha Creme Brulee ($5). It was soft and creamy, but the roasted green tea flavour didn't come through.