the ninth

charlotte street's most recent stylish resident; the ninth caught my eye as i was casually strolling by.

the exposed brick walls, it's warm and inviting lighting make this place perfect for dates.

it so happened that i would be meeting the beautiful erin & felicia for lunch date on a seriously cold wintery day. two gorgeous girls to cosy up against the luxurious sofa seats? yes please!

we had the whole restaurant to ourselves, how very romantic :p

the ninth, is the 9th venue from jun tanaka (formerly of the pearl in holborn) and is his first solo venture, delivering simple yet refined french/mediterranean food ideal for sharing.

we couldn't decide what to order from the menu and let our waitress choose for us.

we started off with oxtail croquettes, which were generously filled with a light and crispy armour.

next we were presented with flamed mackerel with dill, cucumber and capers, sea bass carpaccio and salsa verde & pickled kohlrabi and cured pork belly with pecorino and mustard leaf.

from the 3 starters, i was a little disappointed with the pork belly. it was a pale shadow in comparison to the seafood dishes. especially the piquant kohlrabi and salsa verde with sea bass that had citrus, refreshing punch to it.

just look at her...

the beef was just so tender it melted in your mouth and tasted almost buttery.

however the whole roasted sea bream, served with lemon and miso smoked aubergine was in a league of it's own.

the crisp char of the skin, unveiled a delicate, soft, undeniably moist flesh underneath.

the only shame, was that i had to share this dish with others...

this was served with cavolo nero with hazelnut pesto and the fricassee of jerusalem artichokes and truffle. they were subtly flavoured and well seasoned making a fantastic complement to the main dishes.

we finished off with mini madeleines fresh from the oven. these were delicately flavoured and were a welcome finish to a decadent meal.

overall, the service was flawless, the food simple yet refined and were full of flavour with the strongest contenders being the seafood dishes. 

yummeis: 8/10

while there’s hardly a shortage of expensive fine dining restaurants in london, there has still nonetheless been a general shift away from pricey, starched table cloth restaurants towards less costly, more informal eateries. in most cases, big name chefs and restaurant groups have been content to merely launch spin-offs, such as dabbous and its corrugated iron cousin barnyard. some chefs, however, are willing to go all in. jun tanaka used to cook at the glossy and expensive pearl in holborn, but is now heading up the more approachable the ninth in fitzrovia just two doors down from barnyard.

a stylish addition to charlotte street, everything about the ninth is just so aesthetically pleasing – from the choice of colour for the awning outside, to the clean, contemporary decor and the dishes themselves. felicia, amy and i shared several dishes between us at lunch. we’d originally decided to pop along to try the confit rabbitm but unfortunately it’s only on the dinner menu, which is something to keep in mind!

hey y'all. this is a hella lazy post because it's 10pm and i'm drunk on three cocktails and i don't *really* have time to blog at the moment because life is pretty crazy and all. but anyway, this restaurant is too good not to tell you about, and looking at the photos made me all hungry and shit again, so i sorta feel like i need to write about it right now.

a quick break from our gastronomic tour overseas to bring you one of the openings in london that i am most excited about. i generally do not like to visit restaurants within the first 6 months of their opening. many new restaurants undergo significant teething problems whether it be the execution of food from the kitchen or the service lacking polish. in some cases, a restaurant may not even last that long! (e.g. the ill-fated and universally panned le chabanais) for me, it is a bit of an acid test to see if a restaurant is good enough. when i go out to dine, i am not fussed about being the first blogger to review a restaurant. i simply want to have a good meal and given that i do not live in london anymore, every time i am in london, i want to make sure that this is the case. after all, there are plenty of places to dine well in london.