Jamie's Italian | 237 Edward Street, BRISBANE CBD QLD 4000
Jamie's
Italian is without a doubt the hottest thing in town right now. So
much anticipation was building up in the days leading up to the
opening of this popular restaurant chain by celebrity chef Jamie
Oliver.
For
months, the other travel bunnie and I have hoped that someone would
walk out from the shuttered facade so that we could get a glimpse of
the fit-out. Finally, the wait is over. Jamie's Italian opened
its doors last Tuesday! Being the impatient bunnie that I am, we went
there for a quick lunch shortly after they opened.
Set
in the heritage listed Rowes Arcade, a certain someone has done a
brilliant job at transforming this sizable space. Reservations can
be made online but on the day of our visit the system was down so we
crossed our fingers and walked in. Fifteen minutes later, our table
was available.
Our
waiter was a nice and polite chap with a fitting English
accent. Two glasses of soda water infused with strawberry and
elderflower cordial (the other with ginger and lemongrass
($4.50 each)) was how we elected to start off so that
we could cool down from the unusual scorching heat outside.
Both the other travel bunnie and I had decided to have pasta,
being such an iconic staple food in the Italian cuisine, it's hard to
surpass it on a first visit. I ordered a squid-ink
risotto ($14), which was cooked with creamy black rice,
crispy squid, white wine then topped with herby breadcrumbs. As I
wasn't feeling particularly hungry, I had a small serving of this
dish and that's another thing that I like about the menu at Jamie's
Italian, the fact that they provide you with different sizing
options. The risotto was presented how I imagined it to be. I
developed a liking for squid ink when I visited Barcelona a few years
ago and have been craving it every now and then. The risotto
itself was unfortunately quite undercooked. No I don't mean
'al dente', I mean crunchy rice. It was unfortunate because
everything else about the dish was delicious, the squid was crunchy
and the sauce had a hint of heat from the chilli and was so
good. The other travel bunnie had a lamb & ricotta
tortellini ($26) which according to him was absolutely
tasty, but it would've been better if he had a
little more on his plate. To accompany our meals, we
also shared their famous polenta chips ($8.50)
topped with parmesan and rosemary. One word of advice, get it! Stat!
Still
feeling rather disappointed with my
almost-perfect-if-it-wasn't-for-the-rice risotto, I told the waiter
about the undercooked rice. To which he responded “we use a special
Italian rice that is meant to be harder than usual and that's how the
risotto is supposed to be, sorry.” Okay. I supposed that's one way
to put it.
There
are so many other items that we want to try from Jamie's Italian and
I'm not willing to let some undercooked rice stop me from going back
there, after all the service was pleasant and a casual (which I
think is just the way that the Brisbane food scene is heading),
the atmosphere was brilliant and the food, well that's the highlight
of having Jamie in town.
Total
Bunnie Dollars Spent: $57.50
Just looking at your risotto the grains of rice look a lot more defined than pictures I've seen. I had the mushroom risotto from there and it wasn't crunchy at all. It must have been undercooked. Omg those polenta chips are the best !!!
ReplyDeletethe mushroom risotto sounds good, I'll have to give it a try next time. And yes, those polenta chips are so addictive! :)
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