Recently, I’ve started a project to find the best ramen in Toronto. Before I initiated this, I’ve already been to several ramen places in the city. Most are very typical; standard pork broth with yellowish noodles, choose between shoyu, shio, or miso, and order some gyoza as an appetizer. It’s unexpectedly difficult to find a store that makes something unique. Of course, there are some refreshing and good ramen places that stand out here and there.
The most recent trip for ramen was to Midori Ramen, located near Osgoode station. Midori only uses chicken broth, which is less common than pork base. The chefs came from Japan with several years of experience and opened the store, a similar story to some other ramen places in Toronto. The interior is neatly designed and was full by the time I finished eating.
Food
Midori offers a typical menu of several ramen dishes, extra toppings, appetizers, and some drinks. They also offer some combos for possibly a marginal discount consisting of a ramen dish, chicken gyoza, and a soda. These combos are offered in three sizes: for one, two, and four people. I’m not sure if the portion of the combo ramen is smaller than regular ramen dishes. All ramen is offered in three noodle types: thin, thick, and kale-added for an extra $2.
You can view the menu from their website.
Takoyaki ($7)
Being a basic person, I ordered takoyaki as an appetizer. In short, it’s the best takoyaki I’ve tried at a ramen restaurant so far.
I’m not sure what ’top-tier’ takoyaki is supposed to taste like, but the one at Midori was good. It was hot, the bonito flakes were moving energetically, the outside was slightly crunchy, the inside wasn’t soggy, and the sauce blended in nicely.
It is rather expensive for just four pieces though, which is my biggest complaint.
Signature Tori Paitan with extra noodles ($17.5 + $2)
Now this was an interesting dish. This was my first time trying chicken broth ramen, and I wasn’t expecting the taste.
Midori adds a decent amount of cream to their broth, so it mildly tasted like chicken soup and clam chowder simultaneously, but different at the same time. I’m pretty sensitive to cream, I have a tough time with soups like mushroom and clam chowder. However, the amount of cream in the broth wasn’t enough to make my stomach upset; it was just enough to give a mild clam chowder-like taste. The broth is also not very salty, which is good. Drinking a whole cup or two after most ramen is pretty typical for me, but with this broth I didn’t drink much water while eating.
The default toppings are one slice of chicken breast and chashu, soft boiled eggs, scallion, red onions, gobo, and sea lettuce. I’m not familiar with the last two, but they taste good and all ingredients were fresh. The chicken was surprisingly good, very tender for being chicken breast. The chashu was fairly light, not too burnt, salty, nor fat. The meat quality is good, lots of ramen places here tend to have mediocre chashu slices and no chicken, so Midori did a good job here.
I ordered thin noodles, which is recommended on the menu. These are much thinner than the more common thicker, yellow noodles. They aren’t as chewy due to being thinner, but are still good enough for their size. Overall, they were tasty noodles. They absorb the broth pretty well, so it blends in.
The ramen was good; light, just mildly creamy, and with fresh toppings. I’ll try more common chicken broth ramen later on, but the first experience at Midori was quite unique. It felt comforting, like drinking a mild chicken-clam chowder hybrid. Would probably be great in winter.
Price ($26.5)
For this quality of food, the price is competitive or even cheap compared to what else I’ve seen. Midori’s other ramens are all under $15.5, and you can get those with a soda and gyoza for $21, which is on the cheaper end for good ramen.
I would say that most people would feel decently full when getting extra noodles, as it essentially adds 50% extra. If you get one of the cheaper ramen, that’s about $17 for the dish before tip and tax. Good price for a restaurant in the middle of the densest parts of the city.
Final thoughts
I liked Midori Ramen. The broth is unique and tastes balanced, the ingredients are fresh and good, and the noodles are chewy. Add in the good value, and you have a solid ramen place in the middle of downtown. I would recommend this place to anyone wanting to try some unique chicken broth ramen.
Along the way to Midori, I found a few other ramen stores that seemed to have good potential. I’ll investigate them later and see how they compare. If they’re all tasty, then there’s healthy competition for good ramen thriving in downtown, and that’s great.