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2014-10-17
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It all started in June 2008 - out of Oxford where the Naked Chef launched his first Jamie's Italian restaurant. The concept soon proved to be a huge success and now there are more than 30 restaurants worldwide under the "Jamie's Italian" brand. That list appears to be growing globally with Canada and India among the possible expansion destination later this year.What took you so long, Jamie?For us fans in Hong Kong, it's been a long time coming as we patiently waited for our first Jamie's Italia
What took you so long, Jamie?
For us fans in Hong Kong, it's been a long time coming as we patiently waited for our first Jamie's Italian but have sadly seen the famed British chef picked Dublin, St Petersburg, Singapore, Dubai and Istanbul ahead of us. Thankfully the long anticipated wait is finally over in 2014!
The first Jamie's Italian in Hong Kong appears to be no different than any other branches in the world. It serves affordable and hearty Italian food in a casual and unpretentious setting, Jamie's style.
We made our booking on 1st August and were fortunate enough to find ourselves a table within 2 weeks.
I have heard so much about the 3-hour wait people had to endure on the opening week. So I was a little surprised to find that at 7pm, there were only a few souls in the line up.The restaurant is absolutely huge! It can easily accommodate 200 diners at the same time.
The cured meat platter ($79 per person) was the talk of the town since opening day. We could definitely see why (Generous portions perhaps?).
The restaurant’s famous graffiti wall with the dragon and "pearl on the island" wording right in the middle of the dining area.
We were seated near the open kitchen, busy busy....
We couldn't wait to get things rolling and what better way to start than the crispy squid with garlic mayo, lemon and chili ($60). Tasted exactly the same as the one we had in London back in 2011 (3/5). Just average.
Lately, I have been in love with Spanish tapas and these spinach and taleggio croquettes with basil mayo ($70) were very impressive (4/5).
The grilled garlic and rosemary free-range chicken with a tomato, olive, chilli, anchovy and caper sauce ($165) came highly recommended by our server Vicky and it was a solid choice (3.5/5).
Less successful was the fish in a bag ($170) - a baked trout in parchment alongside some clams, mussels, fennel, chilli, anchovies and cracked wheat and topped with a spicy arrabbiata sauce (3/5).
The rocket and parmesan salad with radicchio and aged balsamic ($40) was a dish we all agreed that we could do without (2/5).
We were all looking forward to the pasta dishes and here they came - squid-ink spaghetti with scallops, garlic, chilli, anchovies and capers ($145). I thought the spaghetti was a little dry (3/5).
They did save the best for last - their signature linguini with fried garlicky prawns, fennel, tomatoes, chilli & rocket ($165). My only complaint about this dish - these were not prawns. They were shrimps, come on (3.5/5)!
So far, everything has been the way we expected - honest food, acceptable prices and good portion, but dessert was a little disappointing.Out of the eight desserts, we had the pleasure of starting with this tutti frutti lemon meringue pie with limoncello and crunchy pistachio brittle ($65). A little too sour for my liking (3/5).
I asked our server Vicky to recommend one for us and she mentioned about their tiramisu ($65). She said it's very different from the traditional tiramisu with more liquor and super moist texture.She got part of that right - we thought it's very different largely because it tasted more like a coffee cake than a tiramisu (2/5).
Jamie's Italian has never been about haute cuisine. People come for their rustic and unpretentious Italian food to be shared among good friends and they are very successful in doing that. But if you are into a more sophisticated Italian fare, there are probably better choices out there.Post
