Italiano, Jamie-style.

With a birthday looming and wonderful friends with excellent taste in food, the girls took me off for a feast at Jamie's Italian Sydney.

Unfortunately, this is one of those "no booking" restaurants and due to the restaurant's central location and the horrible weather, when we got there at 6pm, there was a line out the door about 20 people deep. Not a good start. Thankfully, it was pretty fast moving and we were at the front counter in no time and requesting a table of 5. We were asked if we were all there yet, and due to the weather, my friend Kasey was stuck on the bridge and running a little late. Because of this, we weren't given the table, but asked to wait in the almost non-existent bar area until we were all present. During this time, I kept an eye on the door, noticing that smaller tables were given a waiting time of about 1.5 hrs, a definite downside of the "no book" system. I started to get worried that we might be given the same wait time if all the large tables were taken before we were all present. Luckily Kasey arrived just in time (and just as our first drink was being finished) and we got a table straight away. From the entryway, the restaurant looks tiny, but it actually is quite big, with an upstairs area and plenty of tables.

As I do with most restaurants I'm keen to eat at, I had been perusing the menu all week, trying to decide what I would order. The menu is quite extensive with antipasti, pasta and mains to choose from and this made the decision very difficult. I knew I had to have pasta for at least one meal, considering they make it fresh daily, so chose a Scappato mussel linguine with garlic, chilli & parsley. The other girls decided on antipasti - chilli squid, mushroom fritti, arancini and ricotta stuffed mini chilli peppers - and some polenta chips to share.

Polenta chips (top); Arancini balls

Chilli squid; Stuffed mini chilli; Fried mushrooms; Mussel linguine

During our wait for the entrees (which really wasn't that long considering how packed the restaurant was) we got some house made breads with oil and vinegar to tide us over. This is on the house but it isn't just offered, you have to ask for it. Entrees arrived and were presented "Jamie-style", not too fancy but just nice, displaying the best of the produce and easily edible. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed with the size of my mussels (not so much with my muscles, ha!). While there was a few of them, they were really tiny, and if I'd ordered that pasta for main, I wouldn't be too happy. Having said that, they were plump and flavoursome and the sauce is pretty standard to compliment the mild seafood flavour. The pasta was another story. Now, I know Italian's like their pasta 'al dente', but this just seemed more or less undercooked. It was really hard to even tell that it was fresh pasta...

Mains didn't follow too far behind (a plus!) and my Lamb osso bucco looked and smelled delightful - and it was! My only complaint with this was that, because it was lamb, it was quite small and I was still pretty hungry when I'd finished off the plate. Of the other girl's meals - pumpkin panzerotti and black angel spaghetti - the comments were fairly positive. I did get a chance to try the squid ink pasta (my first time) and absolutely loved it!! It was salty and fishy, but somehow sweet as well, probably from the scallops it was served with.

Pumpkin panzerotti; Lamb osso bucco; Black angel pasta

Time for dessert, and the girls sneakily ordered me an Italian ice-cream bombe with a candle and some chocolate letters, spelling out "Happy Birthday". Too cute! This was yummy, but I'd already scoped out my dessert of choice, so had to go back for seconds!! The Italian bakewell tart was zesty (orange) and moist, but not like the bakewell tarts I've had before - there was no jammy bottom, but there was some stewed fruit mixed through to give it the added sweet hit. Tasting the other girl's dessert, the clear winner was definitely the "ultimate brownie" - served warm, with fresh raspberries throughout and vanilla ice-cream. Perfect!

Happy birthday to me! Italian ice-cream bombe.

Sugar hit!! Creamy pannacotta; Italian bakewell tart; Ultimate brownie.

Overall, we had a really great night. Aside from the shaky start, the staff were attentive, the atmosphere was warming and the food was tasty. The only thing that was really missing was a guest appearance from the man himself... Jamie joining us at the table for a little chit chat would have topped the night off. In the hopes of this eventually happening,  I'll be going back with the BF in the near future and recommend you do the same!

Enjoy!

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