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Yakitori Kintori (Now Closed)

by - April 25, 2014

The Kinka Family has added another successful restaurant to their food empire earlier this March. Yakitori Kintori opened a little more than a month ago, and specializes in yakitori (grilled skewered chicken). The restaurant is housed on the second floor of Kinton Ramen 2 on Bloor in Koreatown. Additionally, the space is small so reservations are highly recommended if you're planning on heading there on the weekends.


 Prior to our date night to watch Captain America II: The Winter Soldier; my bf and I decided to eat here before the movie. I made a reservation a week earlier for a seating at 8:30 pm. When we arrived, there were a few people waiting upstairs for a seat, so I was glad that we had reserved two seats.


We were seated at our reserved table (reserved card on top), and were each given the menu to peruse. The menu was a stand-alone, and printed on both sides with items such as skewers, vegetables, beef, pork, desserts, and drinks. I liked that the menu clearly illustrates the many parts of a chicken that customers can order to consume. 

 

 We started the night off with the tofu & kaisou salad ($7) [tofu & seaweed with ponzu jelly]. The portion was more than enough for the two of us to share. The salad was refreshing, and I really enjoyed the chewy seaweed in it. However, I am not a fan of tofu so naturally, I didn't eat any of it.


In addition to their regular menu, they also have daily specials printed on a white piece of paper. On that Saturday, the daily specials consisted of 7 tapas dishes, and 7 yakitori dishes. We decided to go for the blowtorched salmon belly sashimi ($7.50), just to try it out. The sashimi arrived on a bed of white onion, and topped off with a slice of lemon. 


 

 If you're not too sure of what to order, it's best to go for the chef's selection. There were two choices, but we opted for the Chef's Selection 7 pieces ($14.80). This selection came with the following skewers; momo, sunagimo, sasami with mentai-mayo, tsukune, eringi, negi shio gyu, and ton toro. Apparently for the chicken, you have a choice between either tare sauce or salt on your skewers. However, our waitress didn't ask us for our preference, which was okay because we enjoyed the skewers that came out.

momo: thigh
sunagimo: gizzard
sasami w. mentai-mayo: tenderloin
tsukune: meatball
eringi: king oyster mushroom
negi shio gyu: beef with scallion sauce
ton toro: pork cheek



We also ordered the butabara [pork belly] ($2), negi shio gyu [beef with scallion sauce] ($3), and yakiniku gyu [beef with BBQ sauce] ($3). The negi shio gyu  was included in the Chef's Selection, but I liked it a lot that I re-ordered an additional skewer of it. Out of the three, my least favorite was the pork belly as it was fatty but wasn't as flavorful as I'd have liked.



Our last two orders of skewers before dessert was the mentai mayo tsukune [cheese meatball] ($2.30)  and enoki bacon [bacon with enoki mushroom] ($2.30).

 
The kitsune udon ($7) [deep fried tofu & udon noodle in dashi broth] was a creative dish, and arrived in a small bowl with three tofu-wrapped pockets. When you remove the sticks holding the tofu together; inside reveals the cooked udon. I absolutely loved the dashi broth as it was light, and perfect for after eating the skewers.


The night ended with Houji Cha creme brûlée [roasted green tea] ($5). It was a wonderful treat as the texture of the custard was creamy and explosive with the flavor of green tea.


The reservation indicated that if they're extremely busy, then you are allotted a 2 hour seating limit. I would say that is more than enough as we only took 1.5 hours. The washroom was clean, and they even provide mouthwash to rinse, and toothpicks.

Although the skewers are priced very well; it can really add up once you order the other items off the menu. Our bill for two came up to be around $77 (with tax and tip). Yakitori Kintori is a great addition to Koreatown, and I will definitely be back to try out the other items on the menu.


RATINGS:
Quality of Food: 4.3/5
Service: 4/5
Dining Experience: 4.3/5
Price: $$

Address: 668 Bloor Street W, 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON, M6G 1L2

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