the ninth

the ninth is not a unique restaurant in london right now. i can think of a number of places – piquet, blanchette and terroirs, for starters – delivering great food at a reasonable price in relaxed surroundings. but there is a precision and, at times, an understated brilliance to this restaurant which does set it apart. let’s put it this way: i don’t think tanaka need move on to his 10th establishment any day soon

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/01/the-ninth-restaurant-review-jay-rayner

fantastic yummy food, friendly staff.
can get very busy for lunch and dinner.
worth the walk to get there

we had a great experience last night. food was delicious, everyone was helpful and polite. we had beef cheak as a starter, pasta with truffles, lamb cutlets which was magnificient and finally rhubarb as desert. definetely a must go restaurant in london.

amazing place in london. i love the food. can’t wait to come back here again. congratulations to the staff.

how much value do you put on an hour of your time?  if it was only gbp1, could i hire you to clean my toilet?  if it is astronomically high like 10,000 times that amount, please explain to me why do you spend so much time playing candy crush?  if it is somewhere in the middle, that causes problems for me as comparable and silly examples are harder to come by.

i was interested in this restaurant as it is one of the top 50 cheapest michelin star meals in the world. it is based on the set lunch menu which if you had 2 plates it would only be £22, 3 plates for £28 or 3 plates plus a drink for £33. it is excellent value considering the location and ambience. it was raining and i was slightly early for my reservation and they ushered me in and quickly seated me whilst i waited for my friend. it is formal without being stuffy or pretentious. really loved the service here.

we liked the look of the choice of 6 plates so went with one of each to share. he had a wine and i had a mocktail of blackberry bramble. i’m glad they catered for non alcoholics with something more fancy than just a soft drink.

pickled carrots came with creamy yoghurt, some butter leaves, and crunchy hazelnuts. a brilliant flavourful vegetarian dish. brandade croquettes were nice and crunchy. it wasn’t too fishy and came with a lemon butter sauce. sorpresine (pasta) is served with baby artichokes &
broad beans. another fine vegetarian pasta dish. lamb nicoise salad was excellent. pink lamb medallions sat upon warm beans and potatoes. a half soft egg sat on top. amazing dish and one of my favs. crispy duck leg with lentil & smoked bacon salsa was the perfect dish for this cold day. i always love a good duck dish and this was no different. wonderfully cooked, it was delicious. wild garlic risotto & creme fraiche rounded our lunch off well. it was light enough to not feel too full but hearty enough. a lovely taste to it.

couldn’t leave without dessert after spying other tables having some. we got the paris-brest espresso with tonka bean ice cream. it was decadent with crunchy praline pastry filled with an espresso cream. ice cream was creamy. so much yum!

it may be cheaper in price but doesn’t compromise on quality so my suggestion is to book for lunch for their excellent value.

i celebrated a big birthday in september and i certainly made the most of it! the better half (tbh) and i had the most divine foodie weekend away in san sebastian. friends visited from south africa, amsterdam, the us, dublin and manchester for a party to end all parties and then once the dust started to settle i was treated to a fantastic dinner at jun tanaka’s the ninth on charlotte street by my personal trainer and dear friend, maritha. it was the perfect end to a really wonderful birthday!

food was average. the malbec they served was great. don’t go for the starters. hit up the mains. beef mains and veal pasta. lemon tart for dessert is a must!

excellent experience from start to finish. first rate service from the front of house team, particularly our super helpful german waitress. no one tried to 'explain the menu' and everyone was on hand at all the right moments - super attentive without being overbearing. fixed lunch menu options were well executed and good value. every dish was beautifully balanced and tasted fantastic save for the tiniest niggle with some overly thick pasta in the ravioli. the room was buzzy but ticked some of the usual bare brick, exposed light bulb, leather and wood cliches without suffering a jot. highly recommended and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. if you are undecided give this place a go.

the menu was full of things i wanted to try, and nothing disappointed, everything was beautifully executed, although there were only a few things that really blew me away (ossobucco tortelloni with bone marrow was heavenly). my main criticism was that it was very loud - with four of us at dinner we were often straining to hear each other, and generally ended up talking in pairs rather than being able to talk as a table. a big shame as it's a really nice place.

fantastic dinner which is why i'm surprised by the current rating of the ninth(3.5*) on zomato. its definitely been one the best meals i've had recently in the past few months.

we had friendly relaxed but good service throughout out the meal. the food comes quick as well.

standouts for us were the scallops to start and the sole for the main, though the iberiapork gets an honourable mention. the kale side dish was amazing and i really don't like kale normally

i only got to try a spoonful of the chocolate mousse and raspberry sorbert as my wife wouldn't give any more up! in future i'd trade my cheese plate for that.

only miss was the rabbit lasagne at the start, found it a bit lacking.

it's not huge so i'd book ahead

looking forward to returning here again and again

three started, two mains, two sides, one desert, one cheese plate, a beer, sparkling water and 1/2lt of wine + service : £156

jun's latest restaurant on charlotte street was launched last year and since then has become a dining hot spot for serious food lovers. his take on french-inspired

i used to watch chef jun tanaka consistently beating other chefs on a tv show called chopped i used to watch when we lived in the us. chef tanaka recently opened the ninth restaurant in london so i wanted to check his real-life cooking skills. the restaurant is located on charlotte street and is mediterranean inspired. our oven roasted fish was delicious and would be good to go back and try the dinner menu at some point.

after reading few reviews of the ninth, the first solo project by chef jun tanaka, i knew it would be a restaurant i would like and the perfect venue for lunch with samanta stewart, the blogger behind food expectations. i’d been reading sam’s blog for a while and i already knew we’d have lots in common, but as we chatted through lunch we discovered even more similarities in things we liked and places we’d been.

a beautifully designed space- cozi, effortless yet smart and contemporary. so as you step inside you fall in love (or at least we did).
and the food- small plates - sharing is the thing here- interesting, tasty, fun, beautifully served - we totally loved it!
mostly, i loved the fennel salad: it's color- red pink , was fresh and tempting and so is the taste.
the tortellini- simply delicious!
and the clams seviche- surprising and with a twist.
loved the evening at the ninth, will definitely come back