Kintan - London's First Authentic Japanese Eating Experience

Updated On 15th September, 2018

After returning from my recent Australasian adventures, I was immediately dreaming up where I wanted to venture next.

China? South America? Europe? Honk Kong? Japan?

It was then that an email landed into my inbox inviting me and a friend to experience London’s first Yakiniki-style (Authentic Japanese BBQ) restaurant.

Talk about perfect timing!

This unique dining experience has easily made it into my favourite London hotspots and I’m going to show you exactly why…

Kintan is situated a 2 minute walk from Chancery Lane tube station in Central London and is open for both brunch and dinner menus.

As you walk in you are greeted with an array of Authentic Japanese decoration & Japanese waiters eagerly on hand to show you to your table…

We began the evening by sharing a bottle of Sparkling sake (£20) which I am going to straight off recommend if you come here…

It’s a sweet, fruity and utterly refreshing Japanese delicacy – it reminds me of something you’d take on an afternoon picnic.

We were dining on one of the Set Menu‘s here at Kintan (the premium one) but everything you’re about to see is available seperately to order too (see full dinner menu here).

Are you ready for a feast?

First up were the starters:

Edamame beans…

& a light Miso soup…

…alongside Kintan Salad, Hot Oil seared Salmon, Tuna Tartar Volcano & Garlic fried noodles.

Every 30 seconds something new was being bought to our table and the table was slowly becoming a jigsaw of food plates.

Que the ‘where are we going to fit all of this’ face…

In between all this, our lovely waitress came and turned on our table BBQ to warm up in preparation for our main courses…

The dishes come out in bite size pieces ready for you to pinch with your tongs and throw straight on the BBQ for cooking…

You can choose between an array of authentic meat, fish or vegetarian dishes all of which are jam packed with beautiful flavours.

You can compliment your choice of dishes with sides of noodles, vegetables, spinach or… a Japanese beer?

My Recommendations:

We were each treated to the Premium course (£44 each) which was A LOT of food obviously reflected in the price. We only managed to eat about half of the food served so that’s something to bear in mind if you come here.

Next time, I would probably order 6/7 main dishes to share, making it more affordable & then also less/ no wasted food!

My favourite dishes:

There were some definite stand outs from the menu for me.

– Filet Mignon, premium rib eye & cab short rib (both served with tare sweet soy)

I’m not usually a meat eater but the meat here was incredible – the best I’ve ever eaten out. Extremely tender, moist and of high quality.

– Garlic fried noodles

– Miso soup

– Edamame

– Sparking Sake

Oh and I cannot forget about the desserts…

I had never seen / tried these creations before, as I’m sure you may not have. These little balls are called Mochi Ice cream – a traditional Japanese dessert.

From left to right we have Green tea flavour, Chocolate and Caramel & then on the right sesame seed & vanilla? (can’t remember exactly).

The balls are made from mocha (pounded sticky rice) with an ice cream filling. The texture is pretty unusual but I was sold on them.

For those of you less adventurous eaters, I guarantee you will love the Chocolate and Caramel one if any.

But if the balls still aren’t takin’ ya fancy, you CANNOT go wrong with the ‘KINTAN House Ice-cream’.

Oh my. That is what i’m talking about.

All in all, I found the Japanese hospitality faultless, at any moment they were willing to explain, help, and assist in any way possible.

The restaurant was beautifully and calmly lit, creating a perfectly chilled but sophisticated environment to enjoy anything from a casual lunch to a special occasion dinner.