JAMIE'S ITALIAN
It is a known fact that Italians are adored for their warm nature and their friendly personas and although most of the staff in Jamie's Italian restaurant is South African they mimic the Italian's friendliness and humbleness to the T. Upon your entrance in the restaurant there are staff members welcoming guests with open arms and friendly smiles. They insist on satisfying your every food craving and food related needs. With their range of expertise on all the dishes their franchise has to offer its hard not to seek advice from the staff. It should be pointed out that all the staff underwent an intensive training course in the U.K to make them ready to serve in a franchise of this caliber. Despite the mood created and given off by the all too eager staff ,one cannot help but notice that the staff approach each other and act as if they are all one big family working together to achieve the perfection set out for them by their head mentor Jamie Oliver himself (albeit he cannot physically be present in the South African branch).
Wander into this restaurant early morning before twelve and you likely to find the staff delicately cleaning and perfecting the restaurant in expectation of their regular lunch time crowd. It's hard not to be awestruck by this eat house which takes care of every minute aspect including fork and knife to the left of the glass. After twelve you notice just how busy the place gets as families and colleagues all come out to eat. That is when the somber and silent restaurant turns into a louder environment filled with the clinking of dishes and the swooshing in the frying pan.
Melrose Arch was the ideal venue designated for a restaurant that was meant to embody Jamie's cooking style and give off a feel similar to the feel of his London restaurants. The two-storey building which is home to this franchise is similar in decor and structure to many of his other worldwide restaurants but has quirky South African elements to add the South African touch to this particular restaurant. The wooden tables and the leather sofas is reminiscent of Jamie's kitchen table and kitchen units in his show. The casual vibe evoked from the first floor allows one to feel at ease whilst dining. The upper floor is ideal for private parties being more classy and sophisticated. A private bar is also a feature of the upper floor. Fact remains whether you decide to sit on the lower floor or the upper floor you are sure to be surrounded by splendid decor which has been thoroughly thought through. Notice the single light bulbs hanging from the ceiling within a glass or steel fixture, well that's exactly what you would expect from Jamie himself.
The design of the menu itself is nothing overly fancy. The menu is a simple cardboard page coloured yellow and teal with black writing. The descriptions beneath every dish is certainly tantalizing and some options even makes your mouth water. I feel this was a clever edge to the restaurant which produces food that is just that simple yet fresh and unique.
"Jamie's food is only appealing if you have the right palate for his cuisines," this statement graced the lips of many of his fans who visited the restaurant as well as those who didn't yet venture into his South African franchise. This statement is just as opinionated as it may sound. Jamie's rustic yet healthy approach to cooking comes forth in all his dishes and delicacies. Jamie's idea of his cooking from the onset was to make his fans continue to love food without needing to see food as being the enemy. The freshness and his approach to loving well produced food comes across in his dishes. So as much as you may be reluctant for your palate to indulge in Jamie's, it is a must try as you will instantly fall in love with every bite.
Price wise you pay for the quality of the food you eat. Bank on wanting to try most menu options due to the incredibly vivid and mouth-watering descriptions listed on the menu underneath each dish.
I first ordered a dish from the antipasti section of the menu. For those of you uncertain of what antipasti is, an antipasti is an Italian term for the appetizer. The portions are good and you surely will not be disappointed by most dishes in the appetizer section of the menu. The crispy squid seemed to be the preferred antipasti option as suggested by many staff members and bloggers alike. I decided to deviate from this seafood preference and settle for the crunchy Italian Nachos. Unlike the Dorito or nachos that you would expect, Jamie's nachos is actually deep fried ravioli filled with a delectable combination of mozzarella cheese, ricotta and Parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese shavings decorated the top of each of the four nachos that graced my plate. The highlight of the dish was certainly the Sicilian tomato sauce. The spicy red sauce is usually made using olive oil, butter, onion rings, Italian tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian herbs and a pinch of sugar. However,the Sicilian sauce at Jamie's has a unique flavoring to it. The richly tomato based sauce complemented the well fried ravioli perfectly. This is one antipasti that you get more hooked on with every bite.
Having my hunger slightly satisfied by the nachos, I opted for a simple vegetarian pasta for my main meal.I settled for the tagliatelle primavera pasta. This pasta was a herby pesto based pasta with seasonal greens, buffalo ricotta and infused with mozzarella cheese. Pesto is one of the mains in Italian cooking and I was certainly not ready to settle for a dish that was without the basil pesto. The pasta was certainly a choice that cannot satisfy all palates and thus every individual palate needs to determine if the tagliatelle primavera pasta is for them or not. I was certainly satisfied by the dish being a pasta lover. The pesto gave the pasta just the right Italian edge. The buffalo ricotta is an element that adds a different flavour to the usual pasta as it is creamier and smoother than cow's milk ricotta cheese.
All I can say is complements to the chef.....
I have formulated a long time relationship with the members of Jamie's Italian as well CIAO and I cannot wait to do more installments on the both restaurants (the CIAO bubble wrap waffles review is soon to follow). Do you know it has been mentioned that both of this eat houses will become South African franchises in the future? Shhhhhh before I let too many cats out of the bag, let me leave you to get your taste of Italian cooking made the Jamie Oliver way.
Wander into this restaurant early morning before twelve and you likely to find the staff delicately cleaning and perfecting the restaurant in expectation of their regular lunch time crowd. It's hard not to be awestruck by this eat house which takes care of every minute aspect including fork and knife to the left of the glass. After twelve you notice just how busy the place gets as families and colleagues all come out to eat. That is when the somber and silent restaurant turns into a louder environment filled with the clinking of dishes and the swooshing in the frying pan.
Melrose Arch was the ideal venue designated for a restaurant that was meant to embody Jamie's cooking style and give off a feel similar to the feel of his London restaurants. The two-storey building which is home to this franchise is similar in decor and structure to many of his other worldwide restaurants but has quirky South African elements to add the South African touch to this particular restaurant. The wooden tables and the leather sofas is reminiscent of Jamie's kitchen table and kitchen units in his show. The casual vibe evoked from the first floor allows one to feel at ease whilst dining. The upper floor is ideal for private parties being more classy and sophisticated. A private bar is also a feature of the upper floor. Fact remains whether you decide to sit on the lower floor or the upper floor you are sure to be surrounded by splendid decor which has been thoroughly thought through. Notice the single light bulbs hanging from the ceiling within a glass or steel fixture, well that's exactly what you would expect from Jamie himself.
The design of the menu itself is nothing overly fancy. The menu is a simple cardboard page coloured yellow and teal with black writing. The descriptions beneath every dish is certainly tantalizing and some options even makes your mouth water. I feel this was a clever edge to the restaurant which produces food that is just that simple yet fresh and unique.
"Jamie's food is only appealing if you have the right palate for his cuisines," this statement graced the lips of many of his fans who visited the restaurant as well as those who didn't yet venture into his South African franchise. This statement is just as opinionated as it may sound. Jamie's rustic yet healthy approach to cooking comes forth in all his dishes and delicacies. Jamie's idea of his cooking from the onset was to make his fans continue to love food without needing to see food as being the enemy. The freshness and his approach to loving well produced food comes across in his dishes. So as much as you may be reluctant for your palate to indulge in Jamie's, it is a must try as you will instantly fall in love with every bite.
Price wise you pay for the quality of the food you eat. Bank on wanting to try most menu options due to the incredibly vivid and mouth-watering descriptions listed on the menu underneath each dish.
I first ordered a dish from the antipasti section of the menu. For those of you uncertain of what antipasti is, an antipasti is an Italian term for the appetizer. The portions are good and you surely will not be disappointed by most dishes in the appetizer section of the menu. The crispy squid seemed to be the preferred antipasti option as suggested by many staff members and bloggers alike. I decided to deviate from this seafood preference and settle for the crunchy Italian Nachos. Unlike the Dorito or nachos that you would expect, Jamie's nachos is actually deep fried ravioli filled with a delectable combination of mozzarella cheese, ricotta and Parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese shavings decorated the top of each of the four nachos that graced my plate. The highlight of the dish was certainly the Sicilian tomato sauce. The spicy red sauce is usually made using olive oil, butter, onion rings, Italian tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian herbs and a pinch of sugar. However,the Sicilian sauce at Jamie's has a unique flavoring to it. The richly tomato based sauce complemented the well fried ravioli perfectly. This is one antipasti that you get more hooked on with every bite.
Having my hunger slightly satisfied by the nachos, I opted for a simple vegetarian pasta for my main meal.I settled for the tagliatelle primavera pasta. This pasta was a herby pesto based pasta with seasonal greens, buffalo ricotta and infused with mozzarella cheese. Pesto is one of the mains in Italian cooking and I was certainly not ready to settle for a dish that was without the basil pesto. The pasta was certainly a choice that cannot satisfy all palates and thus every individual palate needs to determine if the tagliatelle primavera pasta is for them or not. I was certainly satisfied by the dish being a pasta lover. The pesto gave the pasta just the right Italian edge. The buffalo ricotta is an element that adds a different flavour to the usual pasta as it is creamier and smoother than cow's milk ricotta cheese.
All I can say is complements to the chef.....
I have formulated a long time relationship with the members of Jamie's Italian as well CIAO and I cannot wait to do more installments on the both restaurants (the CIAO bubble wrap waffles review is soon to follow). Do you know it has been mentioned that both of this eat houses will become South African franchises in the future? Shhhhhh before I let too many cats out of the bag, let me leave you to get your taste of Italian cooking made the Jamie Oliver way.
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