Jamie's Italian - Sydney

We were there before 5.30pm and there was a line which stretched a mile away. AND this wasn't even the line to get into the restaurant - it was just the line to put your name on the list for a table in 1-2 hrs time at the restaurant. ZOMG - it better be freaking good and worth the wait! We left... but then we returned to this famous Jamie Oliver joint because we were too curious. What is the hype all about?

After the long wait, the housemade bread was deliciousness! Different types were there... all olive-oily goodness. Loved all the different types :)

housemade bread

We ordered two 'planks' for starters. The cured meat plank ($13.50) came with a good selections of
San Daniele prosciutto, Wagyu bresaola, finocchio & capocollo. All really tasty and delicious! It also came with a really yummy buffalo mozzarella and perconio with chilli jam. Pickles (with curly green chillies, green & Gaeta olives & caper berries) and a crunchy salad (with shaved root veg with chilli, lemon & mint) was also there. All up, a tasty and well balanced plank.

cured meat plank - $13.50

The vege plank ($10) had essentially the same sides except that instead of meats, there was the seasonal sliced and chargrilled veges. The veges were good. Sweet and doused in olive oil. But I think I preferred the meats.

vege plank - $10

In our minds, we had a million things we wanted to order. However, when we told our waiter our thoughts, he banned us and made us cut down our order to just one main each - and rightfully so (as it was more than enough food!). Hubby ended up getting the truffled turkey milanese ($29.50). This was pretty good! Crumbed and thinly sliced turkey with a hidden surprise of fontina and prosciutto in between the bread crumb and the turkey. This massive slab of turkey schnitzel was topped with a soft fried egg, truffle and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Really really tasty!

truffled turkey milanese - $29.50

I opted for a pasta. Lots of flavoursome looking pastas were on the menu, but at the end of the day, I opted for the black angel spaghetti ($22). This was squid ink pasta served with perfectly cooked scallops, garlic, anchovies, a hint of chilli and capers. Deliciousness! So so so yum!!!

black angel spaghetti - $22

We had just enough stomach space for dessert. The tiramisu ($9.50) was good, but I think I've had better. A little too soggy for hubby's liking but it was coffee tasting enough.

tiramisu - $9.50

Hubby also had a coffee. Not bad - just your normal coffee.

So was Jamie's worth it? Sure - delicious food, tasty and flavoursome, and was value for money... but a 1-2 hour wait? hmm.... I think I'd much prefer to round up a few friends and book a table instead (can book when you have 6+ people). Not convinced it's a good place for conversation though as the bustling amount of activity and the noise level is a bit crazy.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 8.5/10
Overall - 32/40

Jamie's Italian
107 Pitt Street
Sydney 
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 8240 9000