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.

Mr Kipling French Fancies

Exceedingly good…

3 flavours of fancy, 8 fancies in a box. Maths tells me that 3 into 8 doesn’t go… well it does, but only if two fancies are some kind of weird mish mash flavour.

Anyway. The best one is the Lemon one.

If you disagree you are wrong. Here is the incontrovertible truth…

5 fancies remain.

I ate one of each. The Lemon one was nicest.

CASE CLOSED.

Although the Orange Hallowe’en ones aren’t bad either.

Cadbury Dairy Miarrrghhlllarrrggghhhhh

That is basically the noise I make each time I try and say the words Dairy Milk out loud… especially when there is one in my hand. Even more so when it’s unwrapped and melting into my sweaty palm as I try to imagine what it must have been like the first time I held one of these wonderous solid brown bars of amazing in my hand. On a pound for pound basis, if Cadbury’s chocolate isn’t more expensive than gold then to be honest, I don’t know why any of us bother.

Cadbury’s chocolate and Dairy Milk in particular doesn’t change much. It is a sacrosanct part of British life and that purple wrapper draws me in every time I see it. Despite the fact Cadbury has been taken over by Kraft, the giant American confectionery and general crap food manufacturer, our cherished bar has until now remained untouched. (Thank god; have you tried that Hershey’s crap they try and pass off as chocolate?)

BUT SOMETHING HAS CHANGED!

The wrapper still looks the same… There’s still a glass and a half of milk pouring in (even though the European Union disagrees with it). But a cursory glance at the front of the bar will provide you with 2 clues. The first is a big pink banner in the corner advertising a new shape. The second is the picture of the beloved chocolate…

THEY HAVE ROUNDED OFF THE CORNERS!

Yup. Remember when Galaxy tried to pretend that when the chocolate is a bit rounder it tastes better, well Cadbury are in on the act. They have butchered my lovely bar of chocolate and they are pretending it is prettier.

TAKE A LOOK…

What in blue moses is going on here?

Yes, see, look…DIFFERENT!

Ok, so it’s not that bad.

…

So why am I shouting so much?

THEY HAVE F**KING STOLEN SOME OF MY VALUABLE CHOCOLATE!

Cadbury, in these days of austerity, have decided that they are going to reduce the size of my chocolate bar from 49g to 45g. Then, instead of admitting it and saying they are very sorry but stuffs are more expensive now, they have decided to try and dress it up as a good thing by making the chocolate more round. Well we all know when you cut the corners off something there is less of it. Now as we know Cadbury chocolate is clearly more valuable than gold and as of this second Gold is trading at a spot price of $1708.70/oz. And using some mathematical wizardry (thank me later) this means that today, when I bought the chocolate bar above Cadbury stole at least £151.26 from me. And each and every time I buy a Dairy Milk bar from now on they will be stealing a similar amount. I am not happy. And possibly the only way I can get over this is if someone out there decides to send me more Dairy Milk bars (one a week will be about right) to replace the chocolate I will inevitably be losing each and every time I buy chocolate in future.

Summary

Come on Cadbury/Kraft, man up and explain yourselves… or give me back my damn chocolate!

Old Dairy Milk Rating: 5/5

New Dairy Milk Rating: GIVE ME BACK MY CHOCOLATE!

A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut. (Pizza Hut – Bournemouth)

The ‘Hut’

I’ve just been on holiday to Spain, it was lovely, so obviously the first thing on my mind to get done on my return was to get writing and sharing my experiences. What could be more exciting that an entire review about Pizza Hut in Bournemouth? Obviously beaches full of topless women and watching my 18 month old nephew learn to dance pale into insignificance against the culinary delights of the nation’s favourite* eat-in pizza diner.

*probably.

First Impressions

It’s a (relatively small) Pizza Hut.

4/5

Service

Our waiter was a very friendly young man, who was attentive and helpful. He got extra bonus points for allowing us 2 salad bars despite only ordering one (regular) pizza to share. The only let down was when we were waiting for the starter another waitress turned up with someone else’s pizza, but better that than no-one turning up at all.

6/5

(It was going to be a 5/5, but I promised bonus points. Don’t judge.)

Food

My first ever review on here was of an Italian restaurant and it included 2 of my 3 ‘if I was on Come Dine With Me’ dishes. The starter, Brushetta, is a familiar dish in most Italian restaurants and Pizza Hut has gotten in on the act.

Now I will preface this by informing you that I cook the best Brushetta available in England today. It’s not a difficult dish and I am well aware that it’s a pretty big claim to make, but I’m also not big headed, incredibly modest (and good looking) so when I tell you it’s good, it’s good. (At least my mum thinks so…)

Anyway, I can’t stop myself from ordering Bruschetta when it’s on the menu, partly because I love it and partly because I want to see if someone has beaten my own recipe. The picture in the menu looks pretty appetizing, with some toasted bread and chopped cherry tomatoes topped with pesto and some salad leaves. When it came the pesto had been forgotten and the salad leaves had just been dumped on. In the end I was largely eating tomato bread.

Pretty gash and not worth ordering. Although I am willing to accept the person who made it was bored/hung-over/feckless/incompetent and you might have a better experience.

The salad bar does exactly what it says on the tin. I’m not a big fan of peppers and in the absence of labels I have never been entirely sure what the little pot of brown crumbs is all about, but I do likes me a bit of salad.

Then the Pizza. Somehow, Pizza Hut are able to provide pretty nice looking cheesy yummy cheese and tomato pizzas, yet make them have only 170 calories! (Or so the menu says). Now I’m not 100% certain if that’s 170 calories per person or 170 calories per bite, but either way, it’s pretty good pizza. If you’ve ever been to pizza hut before (which is everyone) you know what to expect.

Didn’t order dessert because after all that and a McDonald’s at the airport before leaving Spain I was pretty stuffed. Soft drinks have free re-fills which is always a bonus.

4/5

Price

Well, I didn’t pay, so obviously that’s a total winner (and to be recommended whenever you go to a restaurant). But if memory serves the bill didn’t come to more than about £15 for the two of us. Obviously that was helped by sharing a pizza, but what an absolute bargain meal out.

5/5

Overall

Apart from the one small black mark against Bournemouth Pizza Hut for the pathetic attempt at Brushetta, this was a really good meal out. You don’t expect much when you go somewhere like Pizza Hut; it’s an image thing I guess, but on Friday evening in Bournemouth that place is a surprisingly good choice. Exactly the opposite of my review of Jamie’s Italian back in August of last year in that it’s a prime example of substance over style.

5/5

Giraffe Restaurant @ Heathrow T5

Giraffe, Heathrow T5

It’s a bit of a different one, but since I went there whilst on my travels, I feel like Giraffe deserves a little mention.

I have to admit, going to Giraffe for breakfast turned out to be a bit of an oversight. Not due to the restaurant itself, more because I managed to forget that because I was flying with BA and not Ryanair (other budget carriers are available!), I would be provided with a breakfast on the flight.

First Impressions

I like Giraffe, I’ve been a few times, mainly to the one in Waterloo (which is always rammed and has a half an hour queue… plan ahead) or the one in Guildford, which is not normally rammed, but is equally good.

This particular restaurant is more like a department store concession, mainly because it isn’t in a retail unit or anything like that, it is open plan with the rest of the departures concourse. This is pretty nice, it means you can see what’s going on, both inside the terminal and on the runway, whilst the screens help you to spot when your plane is on ‘last call’ and you still have a sausage left on your plate. It does mean the experience is also a little odd though, as you don’t have the normal restaurant atmosphere.

4/5

Service

It was pretty packed in there and to be honest, the service wasn’t great, but it wasn’t awful either. We made a couple of changes to the standard dishes when ordering and they got those totally wrong, so that wasn’t so great, but what can you expect from somewhere like that. The waiter was exceptionally cheery though, especially given how early we were there.

3.5/5

Food

Giraffe’s food is generally interesting because it comes from all over the world, or at least it is inspired by stuff from around the world, a little bit. My breakfast wasn’t, it came from a frying pan, just the way god intended. I can’t really say much about it because it was a typical fried breakfast, a pretty good one at that. If you like that kind of thing and you are indeed flying on a budget airline, you could go a great deal worse than eating here. In terms of the lunch/dinner menu, I don’t suppose it’s much different from the other Giraffes, meaning that it remains a great place to go and grab a bite before your flight. (I’m rhyming now, genius writing crossed with simplistic poetry is just one of my many untapped talents.)

4/5

Price

A restaurant in a location with a captive audience… There isn’t a single moment in all of history where this didn’t mean vastly inflated prices. My Breakfast was over £8, which is far too much, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same situation anywhere, so what can you do…

3/5

Overall

Nice restaurant, good food, slightly odd location, decent service, 3x large Giraffes. What more could a soon to be jet-lagged man ask for?

4.5/5

499

S&M… That’s Sir & Madam, actually!

Sir & Madam, Guildford

Despite the fact I have zero funds, I have managed to visit Sir & Madam twice in the space of a single week! On both occasions I ate pretty much the same meal too, which is shocking behaviour when you know you’re going to write a review and could offer some thoughts on more than one dish.

Oh and I should probably mention, since it’s not that obvious, Sir & Madam is a Thai restaurant, which I have now eaten at 3 times in total.

So in traditional OCD style I am going to use exactly the same headings as I did for my review of Jamie’s. This is both a blessing and a curse, because it means that you can compare and contrast (thumbs up) but it also means I have to remember what I did and that if I come up with something new and clever I don’t really want to add it. (Predictably, in fact, I have just thought of something I didn’t mention last time and not only have I come back to mention that here, it has meant adding a whole new paragraph to my long since finished review of Jamie’s Italian. Bugger.) Never mind though, perhaps, as usual, I should stop thinking out loud about how I write my blog and actually get some proper words down on the metaphorical paper. (I could use actual paper, but then the only beneficiary of my review would be me… and my mum after I’ve made her read it. (My mum doesn’t actually need to read it either, she was the person I went with the first time. (HI MUM! (See, I still force her to read it on here too! (Is there a limit to the number of brackets you should put within brackets?)))))

First Impressions

I am delighted to be able to tell you that Sir & Madam is located up Jeffrey’s Passage… or down it, depending on your angle of approach! Jeffrey’s passage leads off Guildford’s High Street on to the parallel ‘2nd’ shopping street in Guildford’s town centre. Local’s will know where I mean, outsiders should simply aim for the little passageway kind of opposite Sainsbury’s at the top of town. Apart from the obvious hilarity of the name, and I do love a good Jeff related pun, this street, or passage, more accurately has a number of little shops well worth checking out if you’ve not been down that way before.

In terms of the restaurant itself, it is a little hamstrung by the location in terms of how it looks from the outside, although I do think its in the ideal spot. If anything though it’s a plain and unobtrusive frontage which offers little to catch the eye.

Despite visiting on a Wednesday and a Sunday (not prime nights for eating out) the restaurant was nicely full on each occasion. There was couples and groups, but not every table was full, suggesting that there is no need to book, at least not on a Friday or Saturday. Given that the restaurant is small, but spacious, the ambience is great. The decor is simple but you tend to find that with good food and better company that you shouldn’t be staring at the walls much anyway!

My mark is a little harsh here given that I think it’s a great place to come, but given that it is easily lost down this back passage (seriously, the scope for puns is endless!) with no strong presence, I have to give a slightly lower mark for the first impression. Second third and forth impressions are much better!

3.5/5

Service

It has to be said, the service is excellent. You are greeted when you enter and generally given a choice of tables, with couples encouraged to use a larger table if they prefer. The waitresses are all well turned out, either wearing traditional Thai dress or a Singha uniform. Unlike with some restaurants, you are not attended to by one individual, with the whole staff pitching in to serve. They are both attentive and the food is quick. My waitress on my first visit was called Meow, and whilst this may be a little culturally uncouth, this, quite frankly, sealed the deal. Who can resist a Thai woman called Meow? The opportunities are endless!

5/5

Food

On, once again, to the make or break aspect of the restaurant experience, the nom noms… I mean, for those of you not prone to talking like a child, the food.

I don’t know how to speak Thai-ish, so I don’t know what any of the dishes are actually called (although I have heard of Pad Thai before and Thai Green Curry!) Luckily for you though I chose things with sensible names… I am good to you.

There are a few set menu options, even the meals for 2 seem to come with a vast amount of food though, so on each occasion I stuck with choosing individual dishes from the menu.

For my first visit I had Thai Crispy Duck Spring Rolls to start and Thai Fried Rice with Chicken for the main. Second time around I mixed it up with the sharing platter as the starter and Thai Fried Rice with Chicken as my main course. I honestly do like trying new things, I promise, just not this time!

The Duck Spring Rolls were lovely. Admittedly they were hotter than the sun when they arrived, but once you have busted through the pastry casing to the goodness within and allowed the cool air to circulate the whole concept seems like utter genius. Yes you don’t get the joy of watching someone tear the flesh from a cooked duck, nor do you have the chance to roll your very own preferred combination of duck, cucumber, spring onion and hoi sin in a pancake, but do you really need all of that? The spring roll approach is lovely and the little pot of hoi sin ensures you have all you need.

My alternative starter was probably the best choice on the menu, especially if you are dining with more than one person. You are provided with 2 of each of the following: Satay Chicken Skewers, Spare Ribs, Prawn Toast and Vegetable (sort of) Spring Rolls. (I feel like I missing one, but I’ll be blowed if I can remember what it was.) Each item was as tasty as the last and although there was plenty there it wasn’t too filling. My pick of the bunch was the spare ribs, maybe it was because I got to eat both, but the meat just seemed to fall off the bone and they tasted fantastic.

Perhaps one benefit of having the same meal twice was the ability to confirm the quality of the food is consistent, which it certainly seems to be. Although there are far more interesting things on the menu, with a choice of currys and other dishes, the Thai Fried Rice is a great choice. Although at first glance it’s simply egg fried rice with chicken, there is something a bit extra about Thai food which makes that ok. Where Chinese or Indian flavours are strong or harsh on the pallet, Thai offers subtle flavours through every dish. The rice is well cooked and although the egg and chicken the main other ingredients, there is also onion and some tomato in there which keeps the meal interesting. I can’t fault what one would normally assume to be a plain dish and it was good enough to have me coming back for more.

I didn’t have the desert on this occasion, although I have tried the deep-fried ice-cream in Sir & Madam before. This is another aspect which, in my experience, Thai restaurants do so much better than their Chinese counterparts; Sir & Madam is no different. With bespoke desserts rather than mass-produced, frozen rubbish they are much more interesting. I had to try the deep-fried ice-cream for the experience and it’s certainly sweet and rich. A little too much for my taste but something which has to be seen to be believed!

We did have a bottle of wine on my second visit, the Pinot Grigio, but as ever, I know nothing about alcoholic grape juice, so I will offer no opinion. We finished the bottle, but that doesn’t say much either!

5/5

Price

I have called this section price, but in reality what I mean is value for money. I once had a meal which cost £100 a head and whilst the price was high, I considered that meal to be good value for money too, so don’t be fooled! Here though, the prices are low and the value for money is high. I really can’t fault the cost here, offering an alternative to the cost and quick turnaround at alternatives such as Thai Terrace with no compromise on the quality of the food.

With 2 courses and a bottle of wine we paid £20 per head on my second visit. The first was even cheaper, with the total bill coming closer to £35 for the two of us, although we did not have wine that time around.

5/5

Overall

I can barely fault this restaurant. I fear even many locals are either unaware of the place of have simply walked past it, not drawn in by the bland exterior. However, apart from this, in many ways it’s hard to fault and I almost hope no-one else does discover this place really, with the atmosphere and service already just right.

4.5/5

1,602, two meals at a nice restaurant are obviously inspirational!

Jamie’s Italian. Italian dining from Jamie ‘I’m a genuine cockney geeza, innit’ Oliver.

Jamie’s Italian, Guildford

Ok, so let’s kick this thing off, shall we? After a week of using and trying various new things I find I’ve now had something of a boring week, until last night. Jamie’s Italian, step up to the plate and be judged.As it’s my first review, I’ve not really settled on a format, but we’ll see what happens, the important thing is getting the information across… right? Oh, but I will tell you, I’ve settled on a ‘marks out of 5’ system, it’s tried and tested, but also ambiguous enough. I mean does rating something 82% really tell you more than 4 out of 5?

Damn, ok, I’ve become mired in random thoughts about how to do things rather than actually doing them. Next time I decide to have a bit of a brain fart, warn me?

As you might have guessed the ‘Jamie’ referenced in this restaurant’s moniker is Jamie Oliver, he of ‘mockney’ TV cheffing fame. I think he’s a bit of a prick, I’ll admit it now, but believe me when I say it hasn’t clouded my judgement.

First Impressions

Well I’ve been before. Despite the abundance of Italian restaurants in Guildford (and every other city this side of the Isle of Wight) there is still a limited number and lets all be honest, Italian is the go-to choice for a night out when you have no better ideas.

The building Jamie’s Italian resides in has had many guises, in my time in Guildford it has been a bank and a music store before the story eventually reached its inevitable conclusion. It is an interesting place, a circular building near the biggest road in Guildford’s town centre. However, on the edge of town it’s in a prime position, with passing motorists and shoppers all conscious of its existence. Well decorated and with a nice ambience, Mr Oliver has done a good job.

4.5/5

Service

All pretty straightforward here. An Italian looking and Italian sounding lady (probably an Italian) looked after our table of 9 for the evening. She was a nice sort and we were never left for too long without attention. She put up with the regular hassle given to her (especially from the girls of the group) and despite spilling a beer on the table and knocking over Alex’s ‘Eat & Mess’ dessert, she was very professional. He offer of a ménage-a-trois left for her on our receipt (along with Davies’ number) was certainly well earned.

I will review said 3-some if she calls.

4/5

Food

At the end of the day, no matter what goes on around you, how well lit the restaurant is or what brand of European you have serving you, the main thing you go out to a restaurant for is the food. Unfortunately, this is where things turned a little pear shaped.

I don’t really know how to put this, because it might sound a bit unfair, but to be quite honest, the menu is a little pretentious…

There, I said it. And actually, I’m not being unfair, because it’s true. Jamie has positioned his burgeoning chain of restaurants to compete with the ASKs, Zizzis and Prezzos of this world, but he’s missed the point. All of those restaurants serve us the food we want to eat. I can go to any of those places and get a lovely Bolognese, Carbonara or even a Steak and it will hit the spot expected of it. Whilst all of those things exist on Jamie’s menu, very few of the other staple Italian dishes remain; heaven forbid you decide you’d like a Pizza.

I will admit, I like a poncy menu as much as the next guy, but when I am in a poncy restaurant. When you go to one of these places, no matter what you order, or what your gastric preferences may be, the food will taste bloody amazing, at a chain restaurant type affair Michelin quality chefs are fewer and farther between.

I went safe, or so I thought, I had a Tomato Bruschetta to start, Spagetti Bolognese as my main and Tuscan ‘Eat & Mess’ for dessert.

The poncification (Ponce-ifi-cation – to ‘poncify’ or ‘to make poncy’) of my starter was a sign of things to come: –

1. Ricotta doesn’t work anywhere near as well as mozzarella.
2. Don’t put pepper in my bruschetta, particularly without warning me first.
3. The tomatoes look like a mess and don’t taste of much.
4. Concentrate more on the food than the presentation

I ate it all, although I was done after eating my first slice (of two) and not long afterwards the mains began to appear.

First impressions here is that there isn’t much meat, making this dish rather poor value for money. Second impression, Jamie, or his chef, has decided exactly how much parmesan I would like on my Bolognese. Now even in Pizza Express they grate it for you at the table. What if I didn’t like cheese? What if I was lactose intolerant? Well, to be honest, that wouldn’t have been too much of an issue because they were about as frugal with the cheese as they were with the meat.

In terms of the way it tasted, disappointing would be an understatement. It was a pretty straightforward dish, but I have had better from a microwave meal. It was admittedly presented well (again) but beyond that a very average dish. I will admit everyone else at the table seemed largely satisfied, but to be quite honest my friends are plebs and might have been aiming for ‘polite’ over ‘opinionated’, a strategy I also opted for. However, their general positivity will certainly contribute half a mark here (which is probably generous).

Finally, dessert. And we have a winner! The dessert, an Eton Mess labelled with a ‘hilarious’ play on words (which tickled Alex’s penchant for a pun), was spot on. The ‘tower’ presentation was very good, it tasted exactly as one would hope and offered plenty of meringue, an ingredient often coming up short in this traditional English dessert. A welcome end to a disappointing meal.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I only drank beer. I don’t know much about wine, so, can’t really help you there. If you care about that sort of thing then yeah, great, but you’ll have to eat the crap food to try it.

2.5/5

Price

As with any pretentious restaurant, the food immediately appears over-priced. ‘Fine’ one tends to think… ‘It’s probably pretty nice, so it’s ok… this time.’ Well, as we’ve already covered, it wasn’t very nice. One expects a bit better at the more premium end of this particular market and on this score Jamie’s was a real let-down. Whilst it’s not far off Zizzi’s or Prezzo in terms of price, the food is definitely not value for money.

Budget around £30 per head, although this may easily stretch to £40 with a bottle of reasonable wine included.

2.5/5

Overall

A good ambience and perhaps there are better dishes on the menu than I’ve tried; however, with a glut of Italian restaurants populating our high streets, Jamie’s Italian is unfortunately a case of style over substance and should be considered only when other options have been exhausted.

3/5

1,217 words – and I’m spent!