A date with Jamie

I celebrated my birthday this week and it was splendid. We decided to take the day off work and used this opportunity to go on a little celebration, or you could call it a date, just the two of us. We dropped Scarlett off at childcare and then headed into the city to have coffee, before going to my birthday lunch at Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant and then a movie after.

There was a little bit of a kafuffle before coffee as we got into a minor car accident. We’ll leave that story to another time yeah? We were both ok but the car suffered some minor damages. It wasn’t serious, which was the most important bit. That didn’t ruin my day though! I was in an awesome mood all day funny enough. I just love birthdays! Any birthdays really!

I was so thrilled that I finally get to eat at Jamie’s Italian. Since it opened its door in April, it has been crazy busy! People actually Q just to go and eat there. I have friends who Q-ed for 2 hours before getting a table. Like seriously? I wouldn’t! I wouldn’t Q for anything for that matter. But that’s just me.

I made reservation a month in advance and it was the smartest way to do it I think. We arrived and got seated at our table right away, a window table too if I might add. Although I have to say, their dinner bookings need to be made a few months in advance!

Reasonably priced menu..

The place was already buzzing when we got there and it was only 11.30am. I love the interior of the restaurant, a bit of a mixed between glamour, due to that huge chandelier in the middle of the restaurant and quirky industrial feel. The staff there seemed very friendly and the wait staff that served us was really lovely and attentive. They do seem to have a lot of wait staff around and I think that’s a good thing. Not too long wait to get the orders in.

Cheers to the birthday girl, moi!

Complimentary tin-basket of carb goodness.. bread and dip..

We started off ordering some drinks. I ordered myself a delicious cocktail called, Almafi Punch which had Vodka, limoncello and strawberry puree garnished with pink peppercorn. The wait staff came by with the complimentary bread tin-basket which had yummy sliced bread, bread sticks and flat crispy bread, lovingly drizzled in olive oil. It was so good!

Cripsy Stuffed Risotto Balls with some sort of tomato salsa dip..

Crispy Squid with fiery arrabbiata sauce.. yummeh!

We ordered two antipasti dishes, a main for each and their famous polenta chips to share. For antipasti, we went for the Crispy Squid, served with fiery arrabbiata sauce( can’t go wrong with that) and the Cripsy Stuffed Risotto Balls, which was a Smoked mozzarella and porcini arancini. Both of these were fabulous!! I can’t fault them. I wish I had ordered them as mains, especially the Risotto balls. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and gooey (mozzarella) on the inside. So yummy! The squids were fantastic too. Fresh and well seasoned. I love the dipping sauce that came with it. Just amped up the whole dish. So good!

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Prawn Linguine

We ordered pasta for mains, although I kind of regretted not ordering the wild truffle risotto. I had Prawn Linguine and John had the Spaghetti Bolognaise. The spag bol was delish however I’m still not sure if I like my main. Maybe I was expected huge pieces of prawns but instead I got smaller pieces. It was also too tomatoey for me. It was ok in my opinion but perhaps that’s just me.

Creme de la creme... Polenta Chips!!

I couldn’t say the same about their polenta chips though. I now know why they are called their famous polenta chips! It was out of this world good! I can’t believe I have been living under a rock all these time! I’ve never had polenta chips before! It was so good! Better than normal chips I reckon. They were crispy, soft and buttery on the inside and just so yummy.

We were stuffed to the brim by the end of the meal. Looking back, we could have forgo the pasta or ordered something not too stodgy as it was rather too much for lunch. Or we could just skipped the antipasti and just had pasta. But all in all I was satisfied. The dishes came out pretty quick and we were finished within an hour and a bit! The prices were reasonable too that won't set you back an arm or leg.

Will I go back again? Oh absolutely!

Very happy campers.. and a silly billy of a husband there...probably high on food! hahaha!

Jamie's Italian
140 Willian Street
Perth WA 6000
(P) 08 9363 8600