Beaches – Michael Eats

Location: 2222 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: https://kyouka.ca/

The Beaches is a bit of a culinary wasteland; there are a lot of restaurants along the main stretch of Queen, but almost none of them are particularly good.

There are exceptions, however. One of them is Kyouka Ramen; it easily serves some of the best ramen in the city.

I ordered the namesake Kyouka ramen: “daily chicken + pork broth, kombu dashi, aromatic sesame oil, green chives, bean sprouts, pork + chicken chashu, egg, naruto fish cake, wood ear mushroom, chili paste.”

The broth — a mixture of chicken and pork — is delightful. It’s got that rich roasty, meaty flavour that you want from a top-shelf bowl of ramen, and it’s got it in spades. It’s really nicely seasoned, with a good level of salt that helps all the other flavours sing, but never feels overwhelming. It looks a bit greasy, but it doesn’t feel oily at all. It’s top notch stuff.

The rest of the bowl is hit and miss, but the soup itself is so good that it barely even matters.

The noodles were probably the biggest issue. They were slightly overcooked, and didn’t quite have that satisfying chew that you’re looking for from a great bowl of ramen.

The pork chashu was tender and delicious, with a mild smoky flavour that was quite tasty. The chicken, however, was slightly dry and a bit tasteless.

The egg was perfectly cooked, with a nice gooey but not runny yolk — but it was underseasoned and bland. Everything else was quite good.

Still, that soup was tasty enough that the bowl would easily be in my top five in Toronto. It’s so good.

Location: 172 Main Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.beachhillsmokehouse.com/

I mentioned, in my post about Hanabusa Cafe, that Toronto churns through food trends with an almost alarming fervor. If anyone is keeping track of such things, Texas-style barbecue needs to be added to the list; something like a dozen restaurants have opened up in the last few years serving that very specific style of American barbecue cookery.

And yet no one seems to be able to consistently get it right. Even the much-lauded Adamson falls short. It’s tasty enough, but it lacks the deep smoky flavour that you’ll find in real-deal southern ‘cue.

I had heard good things about the Beach Hill Smokehouse, but alas: the search continues. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

I got the Austin sandwich, which is a no-frills brisket sandwich with barbecue sauce, served on a bun. It comes with one pork rib as a bonus.

I probably should have ordered the brisket on its own. The pictures I’ve seen of the Beach Hill’s brisket have featured big, impressively picturesque slices of glistening, fatty beef.

The sandwich on the hand… I have a strong suspicion that the sandwich is how they get rid of all of the little dried up bits that aren’t good enough to be served on their own. The brisket scraps in my sandwich were vaguely smokey, but incredibly dry. Zero fat, zero moisture — just chewy and tough. Even the generous amount of sauce (which was sweet, spicy, and tasty) couldn’t quite overcome the extreme dryness.

The bun was fine, but it was big and bready, and only served to further compound the dryness problem.

The rib was a bit better than the brisket. It was peppery and intensely sweet, with an almost ham-like cured flavour that reminded me of jerky. The texture was nice, however — tender but not mushy, with a little bit of a meaty bite. The flavour was a bit unusual, but it wasn’t altogether unappealing.

I got the loaded baked beans on the side, which was the clear highlight. They had a really great flavour, with a pleasant kick and a generous amount of pork and sausage chunks. They were some of the best baked beans I’ve had in a long time; they’re outstanding.

Tag: Beaches

Stellar Ramen at Kyouka Ramen

Mediocre Barbecue at the Beach Hill Smokehouse