We had to drive for about 45 minutes to get to Park Street in Boston. Since it is hard to finding a parking spot, we opted for valet parking, which costs $16. At least valet parking makes it easy and hassle free. The décor of the restaurant was high-class but rather plain with black and white settings.
There are only two choices to order from, either the Chef’s Tasting menu for 7 courses at $112, or 3 courses prix fixe at $69 per person. My husband and I both chose the 3 courses prix fixe option because it allows us more flexibility to choose the dishes we like. For appetizers, we ordered the famous prune stuffed gnocchi and the foie gras terrine. The prune stuffed gnocchi is surprisingly mild in taste. The gnocchi is very soft and is stuffed with mild prune bits. The prune inside is slightly sweet. The best part of this dish is the seared foie gras pieces on top. The seared foie gras has a really unique taste to it and is slightly gamey yet flavorful. Once you take a bite, it explodes and melts in your mouth. We are happy with this dish, and just wish that they give a bigger portion of the seared foie gras. For our second appetizer, it was the foie gras terrine. The foie gras terrine was rich and heavy. It was served with small slices of toast, which was not crispy enough. This appetizer was just average, since the foie gras terrine was not flavorful enough and tasted like butter.
For entrée, my husband ordered the Duet of Rohan Duck. There are different kinds of cooking technique incorporated in this dish. First of all, there are some medium-rare slices of duck breast that are cooked perfectly. The slices of duck are so tender and juicy, with crispy skin on top of each slice. It is truly one of the best duck we have tasted. The second style is a duck crepe. A thin crepe is stuffed with stir fried duck mixed with veggies. This is rather bland and the flavors are not distinct enough. The third style in this dish is the duck confit. Due to this cooking style, the duck meat is a little rough and dry. They should get rid of the duck crepe and the duck confit, and add more slices of the juicy and tender slices of medium-rare duck breast to this dish!
The entrée that I ordered was the lamb saddle. I was very surprised about how tender and juicy the lamb was. It was even finer than a Rack of Lamb. It was so effortless to chew on the big pieces of lamb. It was served with medjool dates, which adds the perfect sweet taste to the strong flavor of lamb. Besides the wonderfully cooked slices of medium-rare lamb, they also include some crispy belly meat. In my opinion, the crispy belly meat was a little overcooked and too rough to eat.
Desserts were truly the low-lights of the night. I ordered the Chocolate Macaron, which was a huge piece of French macaron. The fillings of the macaron were rather strange, which include a minty flavor and a peanut butter flavor. It was like eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. My husband ordered the Chocolate Pain De Genes, which was like a chocolate brownie served with ice-cream. With the class of this restaurant, they really need to hire a better pastry chef. They should replace these two dessert items with soufflé or molten chocolate tart.
Overall, we had a really nice time at this highly rated restaurant. We are satisfied with the appetizers and entrees, but the desserts really fell short. If you love duck or lamb, I would definitely recommend you to try this restaurant.
HOKAT Rating:
91/100
Address:
9 Park Street, Boston MA 02108
617-742-9991
http://www.no9park.com/
