When I reached Birmingham last Friday, I had to cancel all of my plans. The reason was simple- it was raining so heavily that there wasn’t any way that I could carry on with my plan. Ah the joy of living in the UK!!! I didn’t know my way around Birmingham and the two times that I went there- most recent was to go to Gatecrasher which to me wasn’t all that exciting to begin with- but it was for Adi’s bday. I simply had to follow the crowd and he even booked a bus to get there. Then the other time, I went to Birmingham was with my parents and my dad’s client showed us around- so I never explored Birmingham and the client thought being Asian and away from home, he brought us to an Indian restaurant- no complain there!
I didn’t want to take the risk of meeting up with Matt late, plus my stomach was growling- so the initial plan to go to Barber’s Institute of Fine Art while waiting for Matt to reach Birmingham had to be cancelled.
I took the coach to get to Birmingham- the return trip only costs me £20 in comparison to £43 had I taken a train. The journey only took me an hour extra each way so I didn’t mind it that much plus I was not in a rush.
When I reached Birmingham Coach Station, I didn’t know where to go. Matt and I had agreed on meeting at Birmingham New Street- it would have made sense to go to the art gallery as I would have had to take a train to the university station- but since I left my umbrella at home, I thought I would find a restaurant and have my lunch + dinner instead but keyed in the direction to Birmingham New Street on my Google Maps.
I walked past through the Bullring centre when I saw Jamie’s Italian. I would have chosen a local pub but I thought to myself, ‘I’ve never tried dining at Jamie’s Italian… So why don’t I?’ I came across two of the establishments in London- the Islington branch and the Covent Garden branch. Again, never bothered to walk in.
My only experience when it comes to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant is Barbecoa at St Paul’s. That experience was mediocre which probably made me became very cautious about walking into yet another Jamie Oliver’s restaurants. The selection of food wasn’t all that amazing, it was pretty limited and if I remember correctly I ended up with Lamb Skewers (no longer on the menu- I wonder why?!) However, this was three/four years ago- interesting thought there- an experience some years ago still have an impact on me up until last week- in the end it was a cooking show and some recipes that I tested made me open to have another go at Jamie’s Italian! The company- my bestfriend and a friend whom we both have known since college were amazing- probably why the experience wasn’t all that bad! Oh and it helped that the bottle of Riesling they had on the menu was excellent.
From my experience, the selection of alcohol beverages really could make a break a restaurant. I found that a lot of Michelin Star restaurants when they have an impeccable selection of wine and champagne but often only a few have an outstanding collection of really good cocktails. Take Hibiscus for instance, the Hibiscus martini is too strong on the combination of the alcohol that I wasn’t able to taste the Hibiscus flavour- it was there but it was overpowered- for something that should be flowery/ more feminine- this was definitely a man’s drink. This is also how L’Atelier De Joel Robuchon constantly landed on my heart that sometimes I would just go to the Salon for desserts and drinks.
Anyway, so I walked into Jamie’s Italian not knowing what will be on the menu nor the charging price for the dishes. The waitress was really friendly and before long I was seated. I took a look at the menu and I was delighted to see a huge selection of cocktails to choose from and I wanted to choose something that I’ve never had before but I failed miserably- I settled for a glass of Strawberry Daiquiri.
Jamie Oliver’s Strawberry Daiquiri
The best Daiquiri that I have ever had was in Greece two summer ago. It was a frozen daiquiri which only cost €4.50- what a bargain!!!! Jamie Oliver’s Daiquiri however is a long way to go to achieve the same feeling that I had when I took my first sip of the Daiquiri I had in Greece. It wasn’t that it was bad- it just didn’t have the oomph- the brightness, the freshness. It did make me a little bit tipsy after only a glass- so props on Value for Money!
Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri that I had in Greece
Another reason which made me eager to dine at Jamie’s Italian is because of Jamie Oliver’s new cooking show: Jamie’s Comfort Food. In fact the show was so good that during one of my trip to Waterstone I almost picked up his cookbook- but then I figured since I can find the recipes online, it would have been a waste of money. I have tried to make the Mac and Cheese and it really did come out amazingly. Recipe was easy to follow and the result was superb. Plus I made that with my wounded leg so I got to show off to my friends 😀
Extremely Cheesy, Mac N Cheese – Jamie Oliver’s recipe
Another dish that I’ve made using Jamie Oliver’s recipe was the Grandad’s Mussel Linguine (Linguine con cozze di Nonno). The outcome to me was, ‘speechlessly satisfying’. I was even more happy by the fact that I only spent about £4 to make it and it was more than enough to be shared by 4 people (I had most of the ingredients at home- only needed mussels which I bought from Sainsbury’s- only pain was to debeard and clean the Mussels) . However, I did add a glass of Gavi which I had lying around. I immediately knew that as much as the osso bucco would be such a good meal for such a cold rainy day, it was one of the seafood pasta on the menu that would have been my choice.
The hardest part of making Mussels Linguine is to debeard and clean these beautiful babies.
My Mussels Linguine as per Jamie Oliver’s recipe served with a glass of Gavi and Strawberries
I kept going back and forth in between the squid and mussel spaghetti and the fresh crab spaghettini even when the waiter suggested that I try the porcini fettuccine instead. Carluccio’s had been my favourite high street italian restaurant for porcini fettuccini, I could have easily made a comparison and could have easily come to a somewhat skewered conclusion on which establishment is my King of High Street Italian restaurant but I didn’t. The researcher in me was simply curious on how a pasta which costs me ONLY £4 to make at home would compare to its £7.95 more expensive cousin. So, yes, I had to choose the squid and mussels spaghetti.
The spaghetti is a squid ink spaghetti which I am yet to be impressed by any restaurant. The one served at Strada is borderline tasteless and would require heavy seasoning action if I do order it (Jamie Italian’s spaghetti was a tad bit mushy and I would have preferred for it to be more al-dente but it was seasoned well).
The service was good. It was so different from most other high street Italian chain restaurants. It would have taken forever to be served at Zizzi- both in London and Sheffield. I found hair in my food when I last went to Zizzi’s Baker Street branch after having half the plate- left the rest because I immediately lost my appetite and didn’t bother to visit Zizzi anymore after that with the exception of few days after my birthday as I was given a voucher for a free main course.
When the pasta came, I was shocked- I felt totally robbed. There were only a few pieces of mussels- in comparison to when I made it- some of the mussel shells were also empty. The plate looked rushed and dirty- no cleaning around the plate before serving. There wasn’t any love for the food served. I have never sat in front of such a rustic looking plate even at any of the other high street chains.
Squid and Mussels Spaghetti
Strada and Zizzi has always kept the presentation clean. As mentioned above, Strada has kept it so clean that it is often left tasteless. Bella Italia and Spaghetti House on the other hand is a good safe bet for the price that one will be paying for. Although both will shy away from serving seafood pasta- only the usual linguine gamberi. Zizzi is a hit and miss- on a bad day you can taste every inch of the lack of freshness of the food served. Carluccio’s is good. Before dining at Jamie’s Italian, Carluccio is definitely my top pick. With the added benefit that I have the choice of changing the sauce from being served with butter sauce to a standard marinara sauce (Im fussy like that but they don’t mind it- so needless to say, service is top rank at Carluccio’s).
So where does Jamie’s Italian rank?
Despite the lack of mussels or the display of empty mussels shells (is that what they call it?) and the messy looking plate with splashes of pasta sauce, the surprise came from the taste of squid and octopus. The name of the dish is squid and mussels- so I was truly shocked when I had that bite of octopus- it added depth to the dish. I have tried seafood dishes at Strada, Prezzo and Zizzi and this dish is clearly the winner. So needless to say, Jamie Italian would be my top pick alongside Carluccio’s.
However, the researcher in me was still left with an uncertain feeling- I wanted the dish to be so good as good as the Jamie Oliver’s recipe that I found online- but it just didn’t quite measure up. The question then became-is being the top amongst High Street restaurant enough- over the course of time, will it be enough to get diners out of their home to dine there- when clearly the recipe Jamie provided is so much more satisfactory and wasn’t hard at all to execute (probably this is where the added benefit of having octopus in the dish justifies the whole dining out experience- IT IS HARD TO COOK OCTOPUS TO PERFECTION! NUFF SAID!) After the meal, I kept on wondering- would I have been more satisfied had I ordered starters? Probably, but since I’ve already passed the starters hurdle and went straight to order the main course- I thought I might as well order desserts.
I was set on the brownies or even the artic roll when the waiter came and suggested the Amalfi lemon cheesecake. Since I refused his suggestion on main course and clearly he must know better, I finally gave him the chance to impress me.
He wasn’t lying! It was probably one of the best cheesecake I’ve ever had. The meringue was so soft- with a marshmallow texture. What would have been a speed dial to diabetes was saved by the tartness of the raspberry and the zing from the lemon curd. It was spectacular- every bite was a phone dial away to an absolute foodgasm.
Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake with Meringue, Raspberries and Lemon Curd
In the end, I had a rough start- messy plate with empty mussels shells lying around but I didn’t leave feeling disappointed. I thought to myself ‘I knew Jamie Oliver had it in him!’ That cheesecake was so spectacular that I decided to return to the establishment the very next day but the waiting time was 30 minutes and I was in a rush so I had to resort to a nearby Japanese restaurant- worst decision ever.
It has been almost a week now but the memory of the cheesecake still lingers. I would definitely visit another Jamie Italian’s establishment soon to try out more dishes. So watch this space.
Livin On A Budget 