Jamie's Italian: Islington

It is not always as straight forward to review a branch of a chain. Jamie Oliver is a chef who has interpreted his version of Italian food to the millions of homes in UK and now globally to become the worlds’ highest earning celebrity chef, yet I had never actually eaten at any of his eateries before and was not sure whether I should be reviewing his food, his brand, his menu or simply the Islington branch of Jamie’s Italian.

In the end, I suppose, all the above.

So what to make of Jamie’s? If looked at from a puritan point of view and compared with the best of Italian eateries, that is, the homes of ordinary Italians, then the dishes fared pretty well but I’m not sure would not have necessarily fared so well with the strictest of judges, the Italians. 'Nothing is ever as good as you have at home' should be an Italian proverb.

A mushroom and smoked mozzarella on crisp bread was well presented and tasty. The vegetarian antipasti plank was fun and copious, more than enough for 2 to share and refreshingly featured less expected portions of grilled vegetables and caponata, a Sicilian aubergine salad. I was less impressed with the Burrata, the Maserati of Mozzarella cheese, which came with sprinklings of chilli and mint flakes.

For mains I could have chosen one of the more complex dishes like the Wild Mushroom Panzerotti (stuffed pasta), which by all accounts from one of my dinner guests was very good, but instead I wanted to sample a basic dish. I hate ordering pasta in the UK as it is often over cooked and never as good as anything I could make at home. Secondly, I find pasta is always ridiculously over priced in restaurants. I love paying for a dish, which I know, takes skill and knowledge to prepare. Present me with something that I cannot prepare myself, then I feel more than happy paying.  A portion of pasta, some sauce, priced at anything over £6 gets me hot under the collar, especially when the outcome is poor. A dish as simple as Penne Arrabbiate then should be priced around £6 mark and it should of course be tasty. Pleasingly on this account, Jamie's had the option of a small portion at just under £6. 'Happy days' as he says. I don't recommend having the bigger portion of pasta as the starter portion is fine. But most importably in terms of the actual dish I was a tad disappointed. Arrabbiata means angry... this dish was furious! I love chilli but this was way over chillied. I believe that the heat from the chilli should be an after flavour that lingers in your mouth while you scoop up the next forkful of food. Instead, the chilli became the first and only think that hit the taste buds.... it pushed out the other flavours of the tomato sauce, which was in itself pretty good. My dinner guest who was having the same dish was unable to complete more than a couple of mouthfuls without the urgent cooling help of a child's salad discarded by my son, speaking of which the kids' menu is actually quite good.

The espresso was fine though I do prefer my coffee hot. Service was very friendly. Our waitress went out of her way to explain portion sizes by even bringing us someone's just prepared food for us to look at. Not sure if all the staff are like that though.

Carluccio and Pizza Express are two of our most established Italian food chains. They nestle in well enough to satisfy our hunger and need for a pleasant enough environment to enjoy a meal without hitting the pocket too hard. You safely know what to expect and this is what I got from visiting Jamie’s Italian. Pricing was reasonable, décor modern and ambiance buzzing. You can comfortably have a three course meal for around £15 per head, so, though I won’t be rushing back, I will consider Jamie’s Italian now part of my chain gang. 

JAMIE'S ITALIAN, ISLINGTON
North Retail, Angel Building, 403 St John Street, Islington EC1V 4AB
Tel: 02034 359915