Number 32 – No.9 Park
September 7, 2019
It’s coming up to our anniversary and we’ve decided to save No.9 Park for this occasion. Â Barbara Lynch’s flagship, award winning, fine dining restaurant offers a chef’s tasting menu and experience that we feel is worth saving for a special occasion. Â A bit pricy?…yes. Â Worth it?… we certainly hope so.Â
Our anniversary has arrived so we are off to No.9 park this evening. Â The closest restaurant on the top 50 list, being only a 5 minute walk across the park, high heels are at last a possibility.
We’ve put a lot of pressure on this restaurant, having saved it for a special occasion, so we’re both a bit nervous that it won’t live up to our expectations. To quell our trepidation the first stop is to the bar for a glass of champagne (any excuse…and it’s our anniversary). Â It’s a calm bar area; bright, background music at just the right level, about 8 bar seats and some high top tables. Â Through the bar we can see the restaurant area which is small, but perfectly laid out, not crowded or having the feeling of sitting on top of each other. Â So far we’re impressed.
Once seated at our ‘perfect location not crowded’ table we rather redundantly peruse the menu. Â I say that because we already knew about the chef’s tasting and are very keen to take this option…if you can’t treat yourself on your anniversary?
We had 6 courses of little delights, which started with smoked salmon and gazpacho followed by two other “starter” courses of crab and then a mushroom risotto (including a little luxurious truffle on top), then we had two mains of quail and then hanger steak. Â Personally I was rather a fan of the crab, which was so sweet, and the quail, which was beautifully moist. Â Each of the dishes had lovely accompaniments which enhanced the taste of the dish. Â
The other thing I have to mention is how amazing the staff were…all of them. Â We had a couple of requests, a couple of changes and nothing was a problem, each request dealt with courteously and with a smile. Â All the staff who served us were really friendly and made us feel very welcome. Â No snootiness here.
One of the changes was to switch out the desert for a cheese selection (not a problem) and a whole cart of cheese was brought over for us to choose from. Â We even chose a semi soft cheese where they pour a small amount of champagne over it to enhance the experience. Â More champagne? Â Well it is our anniversary. Â As it goes, we didn’t need to worry about desert. Â At the end of the meal they brought over this:
Happy Anniversary to us! 17 years married and looking forward to all our future adventures.X
