London’s very own Yakiniku restaurant, in Holborn. What is Yakiniku? Quite simply it is the Japanese adaptation of Korean barbecue and at Kintan you get to sit around your own mini grill and cook yourself a selection of meats and vegetables…
Kintan is beautifully decked out in the typical asian, dark and wooden theme with intimate booths and a seductively lit bar stocked with saké and the obligatory lucky waving cat. The staff all greeted us on entry with smiles and we were shown promptly to our table which housed a small bbq in the centre (which after a while did make us overly hot! So remember to turn it off when you’re finished eating!)
We opted for the Premium Course which was £44.50 per person and came with a wide assortment of plates from the obligatory Edamame beans to start alongside miso soup, a Kintan salad and the absolutely amazing tuna tartar volcano and seared salmon. The main plates included rib eye, short rib, filet mignon, halloumi, scallops, skirt steak and tiger prawns.
The tuna tartar volcano was a definite high whilst the scallops were a bit of a low. The vegetables you get to add to your grill come in a nice little assortment but the squash seemed a bit pointless as it was very hard and wasnt really something we’d personally add to a bbq. The beef, served several ways, was full of flavour as were the tiger prawns.
For the price you are definitely filled up! And getting involved in cooking the meat yourself makes dinner last a bit longer and is quite fun but I cant help but think that you could spend £90+ better elsewhere. If it was half the price I would say Kintan is a no brainer – great decor, amazing food for great value but at the current pricing it doesnt offer enough to draw me from spending my money elsewhere.
That said, do go for the dark and intimate dining room and the Tuna tartar volcano bites – they are absolutely amazing, as is the salmon!
