Jamie’s Italian – My wife’s rather delayed 2013 review (unedited!)

The first time I walked into Guildford and saw that it had a Jamie’s Italian I was excited to go. I had heard such great things about the food, plus being a Naked Chef fan it was definitely on the ‘to do’ list.

I spoke to Tim about going there one evening and sadly he didn’t share my enthusiasm. His opinion is that it is over priced and pretentious. A little disappointed I didn’t bring it up again. Until one Tuesday afternoon as it was my turn to pay for dinner I decided I would twist his arm and force him against all his will to go.

We looked at the menu at home before we went, and as someone who is incredibly fussy with her food I have to admit there was only a couple of things that tickled my fancy, but I wasn’t going to be talked out of going.

Reading the menu it sounded impressive, using combinations of ingredients that I wouldn’t have thought of putting together, but that’s one of the reasons going out it so appealing, to eat food we wouldn’t normally cook ourselves.

Walking into the restaurant we were greeted really warmly by the staff and I instantly loved the atmosphere. We were surrounded by decorative produce as well as  pots, boards and wine ready to be bought. We were taken to our table and I had a proper look around the building, the exposed brick and pipe work gave it a real industrial feel but it wasn’t overdone, I could have been in a NY studio apartment.

The chunky wooden table, vintage metal lamp and napkins styled as tea towels made it feel like I was sitting in Jamie’s kitchen.  The waitress seemed nice and took the time to go through bits on the menu that we needed. She took our orders and prepared our bread bowl starter in front of us (although I did wonder how long it had all been out on the side).  This went down a treat though dunking away in oil with extra vinegar.

I also ordered some polenta chips mainly because I’ve never heard of them before. When they arrived I have to admit they weren’t what I expected, they looked like little misshapen  roast potatoes. I’m also not a fan of food that either disguises itself as other food or can’t decide what food it is itself. It was the texture of a potato but almost slightly doughy, I also couldn’t quite work out the flavour. They were nice, I think? Just not as flavoursome as I had expected. I’ve since found out that polenta is cornmeal boiled with either water or stock. Doesn’t sound that exciting really!

My wine was going down nicely, though, I don’t think Tim’s beer was. When I asked if it was nice he gave a shrug and said that it was alright, I was desperate for him to have a better experience this time because what if I wanted to come back?

Mains came along and sadly disappointments came with them. I had the Free-Range Chicken, it was a leg/thigh piece sitting on a tomato, chilli, olive and caper sauce with a neat pile of rocket sitting alongside. The chicken was really flavorous and juicy but I would have preferred a breast, I didn’t get enough good meat as I would have liked. The sauce again was nice but far to thick and chunky for my liking not so much a sauce. Though my garlic and herb chips were yummy, maybe a bit dry but otherwise not too many complaints there.

Tim had the burger and posh chips. It did look impressive when it was first brought over and the meat looked lovely, he was about halfway through when I asked him how it was and he still was  not impressed, I wasn’t winning at this but to be honest I hadn’t been completely blown away.

I also had chips and they weren’t very nice, but maybe I’m just not posh enough to appreciate them, Parmesan I don’t think was the best cheese to go with the truffle oil something a bit lighter would have been better.

We ate as much as we could but had definitely over ordered on the chips. I obviously still had room for pudding though. I have given up chocolate for lent so went for a toffee ice-cream with honeycomb and butterscotch sauce. It fulfilled my need for something sweet but still wasn’t as satisfying as chocolate, though that’s not Jamie’s fault.

I know that it’s impossible to like every restaurant that you go to but I really wanted to love this one. The atmosphere cannot be faulted, it’s a beautiful building and really has that rustic kitchen feel. With the food I can see what is trying to be achieved, exciting, unusual Italian inspired food being brought to the table that isn’t being served in every other ‘high street’ Italian Restaurant.

The waitress brought us our bill and commented on how it was nice to see us again, she was left slightly speechless when I said it was my first time.

It was the most expensive glass of wine and bread bowl I’ve ever had! And sadly I won’t be going back in a hurry, give me ASK or Prezzo any day. For me I think that simple is better! And Tim is probably secretly happy that he was right and I won’t be bugging him to go back.

Sorry Jamie.