10636 98 St NW, Edmonton

Last week I went to Kanto 98 Street Eatery. It’s a new place in Chinatown, by Chef Edgar Gutierrez, who also co-owns Tres Carnales and Rostizados. Kanto means where two streets meet, or the corner, according to their website. It is also a very busy area in Manila where vendors sell street food. I wanted to come here to try their baos because Cindy from Let’s Om Nom made it look so good on her IG!

I came here with a small group and we were able to get a lot of different kinds of dishes to try. We got their chicken BBQ skewer, the Bao bae, Bao boy, and the karabao (can you tell that I like baos?).

The interior is relatively small, seating maybe 18 people. The vibe in there is very hip and cool, with the artwork on the back, and the music that is playing. It’s definitely not your typical Asian hole in the wall restaurant.

First off we got their Chicken BBQ skewer and their Kanto Fried chicken. This is marinated, grilled & glazed skewers of chicken. At each table, they have a spray bottle of Suka (spicy Filipino Vinegar), that has garlic, chilies, and basically goes on everything. The chicken was cooked perfectly and super tender. The Kanto Fried chicken was also very good. Super crispy and delicious. One thing though is that we got all wings, and the menu says it comes with some thigh pieces too so we were a bit disappointed by that.

Next up, the baos.

The Bao Bae is Kanto’s fried chicken garnished with pickled cucumber, red pepper mayo, fried garlic, green onions. The breading on this was light and airy. The red pepper mayo gave it a really nice kick and the pickles was perfect to cut away at the richness. Really enjoyed this bao and definitely a winner for me.

The Bao Boy is their pork belly bao, which is braised in soy and vinegar, and served with fried garlic ,pickled cucumber & green onion. The pork belly was delicious and super tender. The melt-in-your-mouth kind of pork belly always gets me. Rich and delicious, and the vinegar spray adds a good amount of acidity to balance everything.

Lastly the Karabao. This is Bistek marinated beef, served with spicy mayo, green onions, and fried shallots. The meat is really flavourful and I’d say one of the baos that doesn’t really need the vinegar spray. It’s really good on its own.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Kanto! The chicken is delicious, and the baos are good as well. I did find that the baos were a little bit soggy, and didn’t hold up, as if they were sitting around a little bit, but overall, it was not bad. Portion wise a bit small for me. They’ve only been open for a short month and they are still tweaking things around but I expect improvement. I’ve been back a couple times and it’s definitely keeps getting better!