The Ninth
22 Charlotte Street, London W1T 2NB
Telephone: 020 3019 0880
The Ninth, aptly named as it is the ninth restaurant that Jun Tanaka has worked in, although the first he has owned, is situated in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, a street well known for its successful restaurants throughout the years, and offers French-Mediterranean dishes that are creative, and showcase the skills that Jun Tanaka has gained during his 20 years’experience of working in top London restaurants.
Jun has spent a decade under the tutelage of Michel Roux Jnr, Marco Pierre White and Eric Chavot. Most recently, Jun was Executive Chef at Pearl Restaurant in Holborn, where he gained three AA Rosettes. Together with his business partner Mark Jankel, Jun created the sustainable mobile Street Kitchen brand, which launched its fourth – and first permanent – site earlier this year in Broadgate Circle. He’s a regular face on cookery-based television shows, both in the UK and US, as well as the author of Simple to Sensational, published in 2009.
The Ninth offers relaxed neighbourhood dining at its finest, in a smart but warm atmosphere, with a menu that marries simple yet refined French-Mediterranean sharing plates with casual, friendly service, and an expertly curated and approachable wine list, which consists of approximately 25 red and 25 white, plus a small selection of rose and dessert wines, and focuses on small producers and lesser known bottles. We chose the house white wine, a Sauvignon Blanc, and I can thoroughly recommend it to fellow white wine lovers out there.
The menu is divided into eight sections – Snacks, Hot Starters, Salads, Raw & Cured, Meat, Fish, Vegetables and Desserts – and Restaurant Reviews diners can choose to eat as much or as little as their appetites allow.
Luckily my husband and I have great appetites, so we chose from almost every section!
To start with we chose two of the snacks - the Oxtail Croquettes and the Scotch Egg, both of which were fried to perfection, as they were crispy on the outside and the croquettes were full of thick oxtail meat nestling on a delicious wasabi mayonnaise, and the scotch egg had a perfectly cooked egg in the middle.
The idea of the menu as mentioned above, is that all the dishes are sharing plates, so you can imagine my husband’s face when he heard this, as he had pre-looked at the menu and had chosen his dishes, and as his tastes are very different to mine, his face fell and a full blown negotiation had to take place!
We finally compromised, with me choosing the Flame Grilled Mackerel, which had a subtle smoked taste that perfectly complemented the fish that was served slightly on the rare side (this was a good thing though!), and my husband chose the Rabbit Lasagne. Having had a pet rabbit when I was young, this is one of a few meats that I don’t tend to choose on a menu, but I have to say it looked delicious when it arrived, and my husband’s face when he ate it was one of pure joy. I was sorely tempted to try it, but memories of Pixie overtook my conscience, although I do slightly regret that!
For our mains we chose the Monkfish Risotto and Lamb en Croute, with sides of Beetroot Tart Tatin and Gnocchi, all of which were delicious. The gnocchi was very clearly home made and was cooked to perfection, and is a definite must in my opinion, and something I will return for.
Even though we were full to the brim, having thoroughly enjoyed all these dishes, we did decide to share a dessert and between us very quickly decided upon the Apple Tart Tatin, and what a treat it was! The pastry was light and crispy and the apple was sweet enough without being over powering, and was soft enough to melt in the mouth. Again, a definite must!
The restaurant itself is situated on two floors, and we sat upstairs at a window table which had a lovely view of the flowers just outside the window and the restaurants on the other side of the road.
The atmosphere was buzzy without being too loud, and for a Wednesday night was full to capacity. Always a good sign!
There are a couple of tables outside at the front of the restaurant, which would be perfect for a lunch, or a balmy summer’s evening, as Charlotte Street is one of my favourite streets in London, not only because it is full of boutique style restaurants, but because it is actually quite a pretty street.
The Ninth has everything you could wish for in a restaurant – great ambience, lovely staff, delicious food and good wine at a reasonable price, and I am sure it will be the first of many restaurants for Jun Tanaka.