The Ninth in Fitzrovia cooks overly delicious food and combines that with truly outstanding customer service.
Charlotte Street in Fitzrovia is a street known for its restaurants. Now, The Ninth is one of them - and if you ask me, one you should definitely check out.
The place is dimly lit and sports the trendy standard feature many openings in the past two years or so seem to share, an exposed brick wall. Fortunately, despite the trendy wall, this restaurant does not focus on being hip, instead it delivers excellent service.
As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by a lovely girl who looked through the bookings to get me a table. I got a nice place by the window. Just for about two hours though, not a problem for me.
As all the other guests, I got a brief introduction about the place. Good to know that the chef is always in, the fact that he is a "celebrity chef" was not of great concern to me, but some people might enjoy to hear that kind of thing.
Soon another waitress gave me the wine list, and I was quickly sold on the Riesling trocken, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Weingut Heinrichshof, Mosel, Germany. It was a brilliant example of a well-balanced Riesling, beautifully dry with refreshingly strong mineral notes. A great white wine on its own that also was a pleasure to drink with my food.
It can sometimes be confusing, when you are served by many different people over the course of a dinner. However, when all staff are very friendly and knowledgable, this is not an issue for me. I would probably go even as far as to say it was nice and fun to interact with all those different and equally professional people.
I really liked the Swedish waitress who took my order, she was probably the one who I talked to most. She gave me good recommendations and helped me navigate through the menu.
To kick-off my dinner, I ordered the rabbit confit lasagne. The presentation was lovely when the dish arrived in a tiny iron pan. The lasagne tasted delicious and light. The tomato sauce added more nice flavours. The grilled pitta bread with oregano and sea salt was very good, just a bit messy to eat because it was sprinkled with, I believe, olive oil. As the waitress suggested, the bread was perfect to mop up the sauce.
The smoked duck breast with caramelised chicory and walnuts was a really tasty main dish. I chose two sides along with it, pommes cocotte, rosemary and confit garlic - kind of melting-in-the-mouth buttery, roasted potatoes - and beetroot tarte tatin, feta and pine nuts on spinach. The crispy skin of the duck was fabulous and the cooking juices in the pan intensified the duck flavour. I thought adding walnuts was a clever idea to give the dish a bit more crunch.
The beetroot tarte tatin was a funny thing. I never had a combination of pastry and beetroot like this, and very much enjoyed it. I wanted to taste both sides, but in general, one side would definitely have been enough for me.
I think it was the manager, who surprised me by knowing exactly what wine I was drinking, despite not serving my table. His behaviour confirmed what I had already noticed from talking to the other staff, that they are attentive and focused on great customer service. He also convinced me to order a red wine to go with my main. I had a very small glass of the Merlot, Les Fleurs de Montblanc, IGP Côtes de Thongue, France. It was good, however as I expected, nothing I would order again. I would rather go for another glass of the Riesling.
I ended my dinner with a caramelised lemon tart, fromage frais with lemon thyme. It was a tasty and light dessert that actually was pretty nice with the Merlot, combining the fruit of the wine with the acidity of the lemon.
The longer I sat at my table, the less I noticed the background music - which is a good thing. As far as a remember, they play jazzy, souly songs, easy to listen to, without distracting or getting in the way of conversations.
All in all, my food was absolutely spot on, a pleasure to eat, and all of the staff were friendly, helpful and competent. I'll be back.
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