Jamie's Italian

I love Jamie Oliver. There is just something so inspiring about him and his cookbooks. Granted half the ingredients are somewhat hard to find here, but watching him make his dishes on his shows is like watching a magician. Amazing. The food always look so hearty, warm, rustic and just full of goodness. So naturally, I'm unable to replicate his 30 minutes meals within 30 minutes (it's the prep time that kills you - the prep time is obviously not catered in that 30 minutes!) and me being a fan, I was super excited to hear Jamie Oliver was opening his chain of hearty, quick, rustic Italian dishes in Perth last year.

Jamie's Italian is located at the 140 William street/shopping complex in the heart of the city.

It is on the corner of Murray street Mall and William street.

Finally it opened on the long weekend that was Easter (this year) and lucky for me I found a friend who was willing to line up with me on Easter Monday (we got there 10 minutes after we arrived and still managed to wait 45 minutes - 15 minutes in line outside and 30 minutes inside) - not bad, better than the 2 hour waiting times expected for dinner. Since then I have been twice (three times in total.. still not as many as a friend of mine). One was for dinner - a group of 6 - expertly booked by me, myself and I online, after a good 30 minutes of trying out all different times and date combo to land myself a booking (landed on a Tuesday night at 8pm) and one at afternoon tea time (wait was 30 minutes at 3pm on a Saturday)!

So most of Perth has already been there, but for those that don't know Jamie's Italian is predominantly a walk in restaurant, there are LIMITED places for bookings. Saturday and Friday nights are all booked out until January 2014 (this was last confirmed two weeks ago by my mother, who tried to book last minute). You can try your luck at booking on this site right here. So take your chance and walk there - you will always be welcomed, don't book, it's really not worth the effort (or maybe it is?) and then just expect to wait... at least 2 hours for dinner... still.. or so I've been told.

Lining up isn't so bad when you have planks of goodies like polenta chips and olives and slices of meat served to you. 

The restaurant is big, but it doesn't have as much seats as I thought it was going to have. But I love all the exposed ceiling, the massive crystal chandelier in the middle and I love how the restaurant is divided into different sections - pasta making corner, bar, hot food kitchen (that you can see and also see how the orders are progressing!), the salad/cold food/planks/dessert corner - it adds to that atmosphere of "busy bee" to an already very busy place! And I just love seeing meals prepared!

Pasta station

Jamie's Bar

Hot food kitchen - where all the action's at!

Cold/salad/planks/desserts corner

The massive beautiful chandelier takes stage in the middle of all the action and gives the rather industrious looking restaurant a bit of bling.

So what have I gotten so far on my adventures at Jamie's Italian? Well.. let me tell you! I've tried almost all the pastas minus the ones with squid/octopus/cuttlefish due to my allergy - major bummer because one of the ones I want to try sounds delicious but has squid in it. 

There are TWO advice that I will give you..

1) GET THE SEAFOOD PLANK!

2) SHARE. The entree sized pastas are generous - you can turn that easily into a main course if you get the seafood plank beforehand. It also means that you can share with people - get a few different entree sized plates between 2-3 people and you get to taste test more than just one dish. 

Oh .. ok wait there is really 4 advice notes.. 

3) Don't forget to look at the special boards - one is located near the hot food kitchen and the other is near the cold food kitchen. They have the specials for the day/week. And if you get a bad waiter they tend to forget to tell you about those.

4) Get a cocktail/wine it's nice and the cocktails are made well. For those who are designated drivers the mocktails are pretty good too. I've tried all three choices of beverages (oh sparkling water too! - but I always prefer tap water..)

A bottle of beautiful Italian red wine from where Well's family are from

Can you guess what this is? Yum.

So for entree or as an antipasto dish, there are plenty of choices. 

There is your usual suspects of aracini balls (vegetarian style). Its not cheesy enough for my liking and for a change there was not enough salt! (which is saying a lot coming from me!!) and I wouldn't recommend it, as there are a lot better choices on that list.

Arancini ball

And of course crispy squid. According to bf it was nicely cooked and salted well with garlic goodness.

Crispy squid

There is also the baked mushroom. Beautiful field mushrooms baked with smoked buffalo mozzarella cheese and with crunchy pita-bread like chips. It was delicious, cheesy, crunchy rustic goodness.

Baked mushrooms

There is also the option of  the planks. I've only ever had the meat plank and the fish plank so I can only comment on that, but for those that are vegetarian, there is a vegetable plank. The planks are charged per person and the serving size is according to that. 

The meat plank consisted of cured meats (prosciutto, wagyu bresaola, finocchio and capocollo) beautiful cuts of meat, cheese (buffalo mozzarella, pecorino with chili jam), olives and pickled chili and caper cherries along with a salad of shaved root vegetables (carrot, beetroot and possibly onion). The cured meats were of great quality and delicious, but the meat plank is very "normal". It's just your charcuterie board (but in an awesome plank form with quality produce) and HALF THE PRICE of other places.

Meat Plank

The fish plank on the other hand - AMAZING (**note it may be bias as I love quality seafood to the max!). It has the salad of shaved root vegetables, olives, pickled chili and caper cherries, along with the highlights, beetroot cured salmon on a bed of ice, shellfish - mussels and clams in a white wine and chili broth, mini fritto misto with yuzu mayo and the best thing ever (I could spread it like butter!) smoked mackerel pate! I've tried the fish plank twice and it's just an amazing concept with quality, fresh seafood with this amazing mackerel pate that I really want to buy... I wonder if they sell it.. If so please get me a jar or two or three!

Fish plank

So with the antipasto out of the way it was time to choose the mains. Taking my own advice on board I've had the opportunity to share many a pasta dishes with friends. 

My top three pastas (that I have tried..) will have to be:

** Blue Crab Swimmer Risotto

** Rabbit Tagliolini

** Wild Mushroom ravioli 

I have however been told but numerous people that the Seafood Bucatini is delicious (I can't have it because of the squid so **blows raspberries** at you all!)

The blue crab swimmer risotto is amazing. There is generous amount of crab meat and the broth has so much crab infused in it you can smell and taste it. Sprinkle and mix the crunchy goodness on the spoon and the flavours of the chili, crab and the creamy risotto is just yum. 

Blue swimmer crab risotto

I also had the opportunity to try the wild truffle risotto. WOW was there hits of truffle through that. The earthy truffle taste (black truffle is thinly sliced through it and lots of truffle oil is also used) and smells hits you. It's pretty intense. It's creamy too. It's delicious. But with nothing but the acquerello rice, the dish can be plain (even with all that truffle intense flavours through it..) it needed something else. So I ate it with the baked mushroom that I had for the antipasto with it and it made it so damn good. Chefs at Jamie's Italian would you consider adding mushrooms to this dish??

Wild Truffle Risotto

The Black Ink Spaghetti

The blank ink spaghetti is something I'm not allowed to have due to my strange allergy to squid/cuttlefish/octopus etc. Instead I decided to risk it anyway and pick at the broth and the scallops that's part of the dish. May I add, it has beautiful and very slight chili kick to it. Then after I had this a few hours later I was paying the price for eating squid ink-fied broth. Anyway, one to try.

The prawn linguine was this chili tomatoey generous servings of prawn dish. It's lighter than most prawn linguine dishes which is nice. But, it is exactly that (the fact that you can get prawn linguine dishes elsewhere) what makes me stir away from this one. Granted the pasta is 1000x better at Jamie's Italian than other places that also serves prawn linguine. This is agreed by my very traditional pasta-making Italian friend. (I didn't get a picture for this because for some reason my lens wouldn't focus properly on it..)

Wild Rabbit Tagliolini

The wild rabbit tagliolini is one of the ones I recommend because it came out as something we didn't expect. There was plenty of shredded rabbit mixed through the pasta. The pasta wasn't creamy at all like we thought. In fact it was light, it was slightly tangy and it was just the perfect dish you can have without feeling icky about it. I mean the sauce has mascarpone and it's not this crazy creamy dish! It was just a pleasure to eat. 

Mushroom Ravioli

The mushroom ravioli - what can I say.. each packet of ravioli was filled with wild mushrooms, ricotta and garlic and was served in this rich mushroom tomato sauce. It was just mushroom heaven. Warm, rustic, a true reflection of what Jamie Oliver would have cooked on one of his shows. 

Apart from the pastas I tried a pork belly special. It was slow cooked pork belly with sweet balsamic vinegar with roasted potatoes and pumpkin. The pork was rather fatty one that was served on our plate. The sweet balsamic vinegar, made the succulent pork sweet and caramelised the top. It was enjoyable to eat. A winter's dish heaven. Warm, rustic, Jamie O all the way. Teamed with a side of pumpkin and pine nuts it was just what was needed on a cold day/night.

Slow cooked pork belly with roasted pumpkin and potatoes

Side dish of roasted pumpkin and pine nuts 

Well's bf had the fish in a bag with fish of the day, clams, mussels, fennel, chilli and anchovies. It looked amazing. He said it was beautifully cooked fish (I've forgotten which fish) and was very filling. He regretted ordering his side of polenta chips. Ps. I love the way it was presented. 

Fish in a bag

A meal is hardly complete without dessert. 

There was the ice cream topped with the sauce of your choice and toppings of your choice. Bf thought it was going to be vanilla ice cream (no idea what the ice cream were going to be because no waitstaff told us and nor was it written anywhere on the menu) and got honeycomb with butterscotch sauce on top. When it arrived he saw one ice cream possibly having nuts so question it and of course it had (again no idea what it was because again we weren't told properly what it was). He got replacement ice cream (minus the nutty one) but the toppings they decided to change from what he wanted, even though he told them the toppings are to be the same. Epic fail. Needlesstosay bf didn't enjoy his dessert much.

Bf's original ice cream dessert looking amazing lucky he noticed the green nutty flavoured ice cream.

We weren't even told what ice creams were available. 

Nor was there a disclaimer about nuts. 

He got replacement ice cream, but with major attitude from the waitstaff. Plus it didn't look as appetizing as this.

Wells and I on the other hand shared the tutti frutti meringue pie and coffee-flavoured trifle tiramisu. I rather enjoyed both of them. The tiramisu didn't have much coffee-flavour through it but the orange was certainly there and it was a rather pleasant and homely dessert. The meringue pie wasn't too sweet and had the nice kick of tang and was so soft and lovely.

Coffee-flavoured trifle tiramisu 

Tutti frutti meringue pie

looking at the desserts makes me hungry!

Oh You can also request for bread. They give a selection of different breads with quality olive oil and slightly sweet balsamic vinegar to dip. Or you can use to bread to spread the pate that you will get when you get the fish plank.

Jamie's Italian is a pleasure to dine it, simply because it uses quality produce to make quality dishes (and it comes out fast!) and amazingly cheap and affordable prices. Showing to the people of Perth that you don't need to pay too much to get good food.

The downside is that the waitstaff that serve you is a hit or miss. There was a waitstaff that ACCUSED my bf for choosing a dessert with nuts in it when NO ONE told him that there were nuts in any of the ice cream, in fact he was not told what kind of ice cream he was going to get, he was lucky he noticed. Rude and downright dangerous. Granted he should have checked, BUT when he forgot and was told there was nuts he didn't need to be accused of choosing a nut dessert (oh like he did it on purpose!). But I have had nice ones that served us as well. But they tend to be forgotten by the rude ones (and I've had my fair share of that at Jamie's). I guess you can't bring good service to Perth. Pity.

The other downside is the wait time. But there are rumours floating about that there may be a second Perth restaurant. Here's to hoping? OH they also have extremely cute toilets. 

Modo Mio

Located in the Burswood entertainment complex, Modo Mio is a fine Italian cuisine restaurant decked out in simple but very chic baroque style interiors. It serves authentic Italian cuisine with unsurpassed quality and when an Italian gf loves the place you know it has too be good!

 

Their selection of food is wide and varied with quality fresh in-house pastas, pizzas, steaks and seafood it was a tough choice.

They served us a side of bread with beautiful butter and olive oil and sea salt. We had to restrain ourselves from getting more bread as we knew the mains and dessert would be filling, this also meant skipping entree.

 

However, seeing as it was the first time I've been to Modo Mio and with their well-known delicious freshly prepared in-house pasta I went for the linguiani and MT went for the black ink fettuccine. 

 Linguiani with salmon and prawns

I must say the pasta was absolutely delicious. It was creamy, smooth beautiful pasta. The diced salmon and prawns with the sauce was fantastic. Although, again with my very sensitive taste buds I found this dish slightly salty. But nonetheless it was probably the pasta dish I've had and the freshness is so obvious. 

Black ink fettuccine with seafood

 

I didn't get to taste MT's dish as I'm allergic to squid/octopus/cuttlefish but she absolutely loved it.

This was of course accompanied by a glass of red wine.

For dessert, it was such a tough choice, I wanted almost everything on the menu, but alas we Tiramisu and the Panna cotta con fragole marinate all’aceto balsamico e basilico. 

The tiramisu was AMAZING. The richness of the marscapone with the strong flavours of the espresso. It was exactly the way it should be.

The panna cotta - again, the custard was smooth, creamy delicious. And the hint of sour and sweet fruits with the sweetness of the panna cotta was the perfect balance. 

We were both in dessert haven. I still however, preferred the tiramisu, simply because I love coffee-flavoured things (done with real coffee) and I don't particularly have a sweet tooth.

I must say, Modo Mio is definitely worth the fuss and is sure worth the visit. Just be warned, that the staff wasn't exactly attentive and the service can be somewhat lacking, but the food is amazing and ambiance makes up for it.

 

Pasta with love

My bf and I made a lovely dinner and some to freeze over one night. This consisted of tomato based sauce (along with addition of a couple of tomatoes), chirozos (left over from making breakfast one day), carrots, mushrooms and broccolini, a dash of masala and tumeric powder to make lovely pasta with a twist. Along with the pasta, we had some garlic bread.

 

 

It was a lovely dinner and the pasta with the addition of some spices gave it that nice kick and made it all the more interesting. 

Oliver's on James Street

If you are hunting for a hearty, delicious italian meal in the heart of Northbridge, then Oliver's on James Street is the place to eat. It's located next to Cinema Paradiso and has both indoors and outdoors dining.

The restaurant provides a large selection of meals to choose from, so it can cater to anyone's taste including the fussy eaters or the weight watchers.

We dined with a group of 10, and with most of us opting for a three course meal with a bottle of wine to boot the bill came down to a surprisingly $40 each (this is of course after 2 entertainment discount cards - even if not used it would have been fairly priced).

To top of the price, the service was attentive, friendly and was so patient with us, especially seeing as some of us arrived at different times so our meals weren't ordered as soon as we got there, but they were still very patient and lovely. In fact, I must admit, although our waitress lacked a bit of confidence when it came to knowing her "specials" - which she actually knew but was always like "i'll double check for you", she was just the sweetest and was just so cute in all her mannerism.

Of course, nothing is as important as the food itself, and I must say it was delicious.

The entree consisted of:

The fried brie - which was delicious, although I think fried camembert is a lot better. 

The garlic bread is homemade with love. It smelt so delicous and was probably one of the best garlic bread I have ever had. Although the addition of sprouts was a little odd.

As for general bread with balasmic vinegar? well, it's an italian restarant so it was done well. 

The mains were cooked with love and attention to flavours.

The chilli crab pasta has the right amount of bite from the chilli without the chilli over-powering, or without the whole dish being too bland. Although, again, the addition of sprouts as garnish was just plain weird - they probably bought too much!

The tapas for two looked boutiful and delicious. The two that got the tapas plate to share was content and loved every bit of their meal! 

The pizzas looked so appetizing and they didn't skimp out on the toppings.

The pork belly, it was tender, although it was said that the crackling wasn't the best.

The dukkah lamb was juicy and tender and the cous cous on the side was just laced with the right amount and mix of spices and herbs. It also came with a side of mixed steamed vegetables which perfectly balanced all the spices in my dish.

The fillet steak with prawns according to bf was tender, and juicy with a great sauce.

The desserts were house-made and were pretty fantastic, although not necessary mind-blowing.

The sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce was almost as good as the one at Melbourne Supper club. It was moist and the butterscotch was a nice sweet touch (although it wasn't as smooth as it could have been).

The cheesecake was apprently delicious although she said it probably paled in comparison to the other desserts. 

The creme brulee was delicous, not too sweet and the caramelisation at the top was done to perfection.

The carrot cake was moist and yummy. It was also a massive slice of carrot cake, very generous!

The tiramisu on the other hand paled, still delicious but I still think Ciao Italia is the best. 

The apple crumble dessert was delicious, it was nice and warm and homely. The ice-cream on the top and the cream on the side were the perfection addition to what was already a yummy dessert. It's definitely the perfect dessert for the colder months.

Overall, Oliver's on James Street, is a must go to in Northbridge, especially for Italian food in Northbridge. It outshines all the other ones on the strip and it's value for money, with big serves, good service and wonderfully cooked meals all with a very lovely casual atmosphere, perfect for that catch up you been meaning to do. You couldn't really ask for more.