The Ninth

Having long paved the way for a more relaxed approach to fine dining in London, Jun Tanaka’s longstanding Michelin-starred restaurant places food at the forefront and formality further down the list. These days, this is what diners want when eating out: exceptional food in a relaxed but no less special setting, at a price point that feels warranted. As diners become increasingly picky about where they spend their cash, expectations follow suit, but The Ninth confidently ticks every box.

A thick, heavy curtain at the entrance offers a hint of exclusivity, but peek behind it and the team are all smiles, ready to welcome guests into the moody dining room. Inside, The Ninth is all dark woods, smooth marble tabletops, exposed brick, and textured plaster. Sage leather banquettes look stunning under warm, romantic lighting. In the middle, an L-shaped bar is clad in teal tiles, ready and waiting for counter diners.

The interiors offer an atmospheric backdrop to Tanaka’s French-Mediterranean inspired menus. Punchy crab and seaweed tartlets with tangy pickled onions form a supreme opener, followed by a joy-inducing plate off conchiglie finished with shaved winter truffle and a cured egg yolk, which we stir at the table to form a glossy carbonara-esque sauce. Elsewhere, crispy cubes of layered potato with a smoky tomato aioli are an immediate crowd-pleaser, but best of all is a beautifully seasoned piece of Iberico pork paired with pickled pink shallots, wafer-thin pear slices and a brothy sauce that soaks into smoky grilled radicchio leaves.

Tanaka’s cooking is self-assured and technically brilliant, time and again showing his ability to inject new life into tried-and-tested ideas. Such is the case with his signature pain perdu served with tonka bean ice cream: custardy soaked brioche cooked in foaming butter, then torched to form a thick, bruleed shell. It’s a showstopper – a pud you might put on a list of ultimate desserts.

Make that two lists, for The Ninth will long live happily in our hearts as one of London’s best restaurants.

The origin stories of some restaurant’s monikers can be complex affairs, but those who don’t have much time for laboured ‘concepts’ will be happy to know that the premise of The Ninth is pleasingly simple - it’s called such because it is the ninth restaurant that chef Jun Takana has worked in across his more than 20 year career as a chef.

This is Takana’s first solo venture however, but he has some great kitchen experience to draw on, having previously worked under Phil Howard at The Square, The Roux brothers at Le Gavroche and Marco Pierre White at his eponymous restaurant, where Takana was first trained in classical French cuisine. It should come as little surprise then that The Ninth boasts a seasonally changing menu of both classical and contemporary French cuisine, although it is without the pomp and circumstance that you might expect from someone with Takana’s training.

On the menu, you can expect to find starters such as roast partridge with pickled autumn vegetables or flamed mackerel with red meat radish and lemon. Main courses meanwhile feature the likes of Iberico pork with salsa verde, and salt crusted sea bass served alongside bitter leaves. There is also a separate section of fresh pasta dishes including langoustine ravioli with green tomatoes and tarragon. To round off your meal, take your pick from sweet puddings such as pain perdu with a tonka bean ice cream, or take advantage of a pick ‘n’ mix of cheeses.

It is fair to say that dining at The Ninth won’t necessarily come cheap, but those on a budget can visit at lunchtime, when the set lunch menu is priced at £30 for two courses and £35 for three.