As Riya Sharma checks in for take two of Jamie Oliver’s bigger project in India, Jamie’s Italian, she finds out that with this restaurant making its way into the market, it's time people bid goodbye to their Indianised version of Italian cuisine
last week, we were delighted to review the standalone project of Jamie oliver’s Pizzeria in Gurgaon. So, when we got the opportunity to try out the newly opened Jamie’s Italian in Vasant Kunj this week, we grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Trust us, what followed was a trail of yummy delights coming in portions of planks and bowls.
Once you enter the place, one thing that you notice is the wide space. As this is a bigger project which is Oliver’s signature restaurant, it aims to accommodate 120 people, we were told. We would say that the seating area is divided into three sections. On your left once you enter, then on your right and a separate area for families and friends to sit together in a group. When we took our seat at a comfy table, we started drawing similarities of the decor to Eminem’s spacebound video. Only till the time when he is sitting in a restaurant, and mind you, the reference is only to tell you about the comfy seats where we sat. The rest looked rustic with dim lights, bulbs attached with your tables, boards informing you about the day’s special and chillies hanging near the pizza counter.
What we really liked was the division that they have made for the food counter. You have a fresh pasta counter, then a meat counter and another for salads. The menu as compared to Jamie’s Pizzeria is elaborate and not designed in a completely new way. So, the food item in this menu are almost the same as what someone would have in any of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants. While we were struggling to order something to satiate our appetite, manager Alexander Troughton, Jamie’s Italian came to our rescue. As he welcomed us, he suggested us that we should begin our evening with drinks. If you are thinking that we are going to mention some exotic drink in our next session, then it is time that you don’t let your imagination ruin everything. As they are still awaiting for their liquor license, we went ahead with berry blast and lychee sprintz.
Berry blast to our surprise, wasn’t too sweet and worked well for us keeping the flavour intact till the very last sips. lychee sprintz was bit too sweet. After toasting for Jamie’s, we welcomed our starters which were antipasti plank, Italian nachos and Italian spiced chicken wings. We gorged on the antipasti plank first which had sliced vegetables which were marinated in a garlic and herb infused oil. Along the sides of the plank, we had a slice of vegetarian parmesan topped with chilli jam served with mini buffalo cheese and Sicilian caponata. This one was actually presented on a plank and you have a variety to choose from — you can start with cheese, vegetables or just jam — there is no given way to eat it. Just dig in and enjoy, we would say.
The next thing that we tried was the Italian nachos and if you have already started imagining yellow crispy nachos, then hold on. The nachos were white, filled with mozzarella cheese, crispy and did wonders in our mouth. It was served with tomato sauce which had sun dried tomatoes and chilli. And for us, it was neither spicy nor salty, which complemented well with nachos. The chicken wings on our table was loaded with spicy, smoked tomato sauce. It was a bit spicy for us but one who likes their food spicy, would love them.
As we ordered from the mains menu, we took a glance of their kids menu. We were told by the manager Troughton that they have a specific menu dedicated only to kids. It is available in two sizes-for little kids as written on the menu, it is from `200 and for big ones, it is from 350. These all served with fresh shakes – Me salad and a drink of your choice.
“As this is a bigger project, we have not only focussed on one section. We wanted our customers to enjoy the menu as what we have in all our restaurants. This is the reason we have a separate kids menu, sides menu, drinks, desserts, pastas, pizzas et al.,” he said.
Also, as Pizzeria has some of the pizzas prepared only for Indian customers, does this project also has anything catering only to Indian demands. “No, this is Jamie’s Italian and the menu is similar to any of his restaurants. We are new in the market and we just hope that people like the variety and options that we have,” shared Troughton.
Amid our talk, we were presented Jamie’s sausage pappardelle and our famous prawn linguine from the pasta section. The sausage pappardelle is a slow cooked pork sausage with red wine, parmesan and herby bread crumbs crunchiness which we could even between our bites. The prawn linguine on the other hand, was bit tangy mixed well with the thick mixture of tomatoes and fried prawns.
As the evening drew closer towards the end of a sumptuous meal, we were recommeneded to try their desserts. We went for a small piece of tiramisu and believe us, it was a small piece of heaven. The taste of vanilla, coffee and peel of orange garnished on top gave a refreshing flavour. If you talk about the taste, then it wasn’t too sweet and we could feel the sponginess amid our gulps.