Kielo — Restaurant in Joensuu sub-region

This place is over rated, under run, and extremely over priced. Two waiters run a place with 10 tables with a 80eur fixed menu per head. There are seven courses and the two waiters are rushing in and out and so not provide a sense of fine dining, rather what you might experience at a Chinese wedding banquet, but without the large round tables.

Moreover the steadiness of the staff is not sufficient to qualify this as fine dining as the sauce on the plate of nouvelle cuisine go all the place, spoiling the presentation from the kitchen.

There is much for this restaurant to do to be anywhere close to find dining, and the attitude of the staff are welcoming to take your money, but not helpful to explain the food, combinations, or the ambience.

More detail review... We were two adults arrived for a 5:30 setting, and there were already half three tables filled. We were told to pick any available table, rather than being shown to one. We ended up sitting at a small table trying to keep our distance from others, but would later regret this. We were given cute envelopes to open and read the menu. There were two menus, one for vegans, one for non vegans. As we both had dietary requirements, which we had informed the waiter earlier, the envelopes were taken off us quickly, and there was no explanation of what we were to expect. Rather, we were asked what kind of drinks we would like.

The restaurant has a selection of wines to go with the courses, both alcoholic and non alcoholic. We chose one of each. Then four more wine glasses we placed on the table for each course. On a small table for two, this was a bit cramming, with the cutlery setting, seats and glasses. The venue is dark and there is a mix of old and new styles in a small room during the dark nights in December. There was no heating and the window that we sat by was only single pane, so it was getting colder through the night. The coat rack was an open plan and also stuffed with jackets, and I didn't wear a jumper or a blazer as there were no dress codes by the restaurant.

The food. The tastes were either bland or too much of everything, and not enough consistency of a flavour, texture or taste. This portions were typical of nouvelle cuisine, and on presentation of the food, some brief explanation of the food and drink being served, but it was difficult to hear in the busy evening and the waiters speaking under their face masks. The gluten free bread was a traditional regional potato slice, and it was sliced too thinly and too oily that made it messy to touch and eat. The gluten bread was extremely chewy and went well with the Nordic ramen soup. The butter provided was soft, as one would expect in a place like this and it was from a local farm. The next dish was a small presentation of beetroot tartar with artichoke and hazelnut. We had to asked for it again and without the hazelnut, as the nuts had the skin on it. The wine that went with it was crispy and nice, but the non alcoholic version was a smoked plum juice. This had followed a plain plum juice. As many people will know, plums are great for consumption, and having two types of plum juice to start is a disaster in the making. The next course was egg yolk with lappish mashed potato and fermented buckwheat koji. There really isnt anything special about potato from lapland, there is not much soil there, so, why does the kitchen think it is a good thing? In addition the potatoes were really salty and no flavours could be found from the yolk, not even with the wine or the non alcohol equivalent. Then, the hot course was grilled celeriac, preserves from last summer and a fermented celeriac sauce. The wine with this dish was sweeter than the rest, although the smokey taste in the food was a bit too overboard. The roots of the celeriac were still visible and were not cleaned, easy to be mistaken for some hair. So I asked the waiter about this before I got to eat the food on the plate, and it was taken to the kitchen. Nothing new came back out, so I didn't get to try this course. Dessert was bland, in granny...

I was so close to be depressed by Joensuu restaurant/food scene but Kielo really showed that Joensuu can top out even highly praised restaurants. After the dinner I was on a verge of tears because of the high quality of the food❤

To keep review simple the food had edge that other restaurants in Joensuu has been lacking. And yes they used oh so trendy fermented vegetables but in a subtle way. And as a icing on a cake they had best sourdough bread I have tasted (even better than Way's bread which is a fecking miracle😯).

Kielo should teach Bar Bistro how to make interesting food and pizzeria Roihu how to use sourdough. After this Joensuu could be regarded a food lovers paradise😁

Even thou a bit pricy I will treat myself with Kielo every time a need to visit Joensuu. Well done and full...

When we arrived to the restaurant, we were told to choose any available table, which in my opinion gives a good impression, since you can choose a table that suits you the most. We had both meat and vegetarian option. I asked the waiter to exchange one of the course for non vegetarian one, and it was not a problem. Everything went smoothly. The combination of the tastes was exceptional. The staff was very knowledgeable and we received very friendly and professional service, both in Finnish and English language. Pricing is rather fair. You're not only paying for the food, but also for service and whole experience. Thank you for creating an elegant and cozy...