Kintsu — Restaurant in Colchester

OMG Colchester please support this venture. We should be paying Michelin star prices for this food and we are not. Such value for money! I feel so priviledged to be part of this from the start. We ate at The Grain. So glad they have returned as Kintsu. We worried that as the Sommelier had moved on to different things, the wine would not be so good. They still had our favourite wine, Godello, as their previous, very experienced waitress told us, was a great wine, which not many people order because they haven't heard of it. We miss her. She knew about food and wine in great detail. It would be good if all the waiting staff could be trained to her level. (I helieve she moved to London. WE DON'T WANT THEM ALL TO GO TO THAT LONDON) Now the food!!! I have come home on a Friday night and feel so passionate about this I am writing a review rather than drinking more wine lol.! I had the woodroasted chipotle cauliflower , that was my favourite dish! I am normally a carb queen, so one would expect me to ordet tbe potato and crab dish, which I did and it was lovely . But this restaurant challenges your usual choices. My third dish was chicken with gem lettuce, pine nuts and honey, OMG! I cannot believe my usual favourite potato dish ( I m of Irish heritage) came 3rd in terms of favourite choices. So then we went on to cheese. I questioned why they had 2 blue cheeses? I dont like a strong blue cheese but I like some milder ones. I also never choose a sheep's cheese. After eating and adoring both cheeses, my husband informed me that they were both sheep's cheese. Both delicate, one creamy and mellow and the other citrus. Both devine. This is where you need to trust this chef. He challenged my belief about both sheep's cheese and blue cheese. We had the chocolate desert which I would recommend but my god the coffee. We never usually drink coffee in the evening but we had to try this coffee after reading about how he sourced it. It was from someone who is clearly as passionate about his coffee as Paul Wendholt is a about his ingedients. I have NEVER tasted coffee like it! It was divine!!. Well done Paul and thank you for staying...

Food was generally good, but definitely not as good as I I would have hoped from a restaurant that only serves tasting menus. First two dishes were lovely, main was very salty and both of us left half of it. Dessert was not my cup of tea at all. The main issue is that the customer service was awful. The chef is also the owner, so whatever he says goes. Apparently ‘the customer is always right’ doesn’t feature in this restaurant’s ethos. There were two main things. We came for Saturday lunch and the music was loud and not appropriate for this style of place when you are paying £100 a head. They had Motley Crew’s Girls girls girls playing as part of the playlist, most of the songs were of a similar ilk. I’m a big fan of metal and alternative music, but not appropriate. We asked if they could change the music to something more relaxed and were told that as it’s an open kitchen, the chef chooses the music he would like to listen to. The second issue is if you don’t like the dessert on the four course menu and would like one on the six course instead this is not possible even if you ask before you order. I was told this is because the chef has designed the menu so that everything leads on from the next and the other dessert wouldn’t be appropriate…So because of this they would rather serve you something you don’t like. Absolutely ridiculous. I bought these issues up with the manager and the only thing he kept saying was ‘the chef is also the owner so what he wants goes’. I’ve had a lot of tasting menus and dined in many restaurants before and I’ve never seen somewhere with such a disregard for customer happiness. Will definitely not...

Yes, a great restaurant with the best food in Colchester (by far) but please don't spoil it by taking a booking reservation with Amex and then refuse to take this card when the customer pays the bill. On my last visit, this caused great embarrassment. This attitude, and the poor response by the staff has made me reconsider going there again. Simple solution - accept American Express cards like virtually all other restaurants.

It's a shame that Paul has made a slur about my behaviour at Kintsu. The problem was entirely the making of the restaurant. I left the restaurant area to express my concerns to the management and was met with unhelpful responses. I wish the restaurant well but would have expected the staff not to accept the Amex card when making a booking reservation and to make it clear at that time that you did not accept Amex cards for payment. What you did is not the way to...