Jamie's Italian - Sydney

Photo - australiandesignreview.com

Rating
Food - 8.5
Ambience and room - 7.5
Service - 5
Overall - 7.5

I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of Jamie Oliver.  So when I walked past a dozen empty tables after being made to  wait for 30 mins in the bar, I seriously wasn't impressed.  I love the comprehensive view of flavour that they extend to the bar, with fantantic flavourful cocktails.  I just don't like waiting in a bar to generate cash.  But as I got upstairs and settled in, I got much more comfortable in what is a very comfortable atmosphere.  There's noise, but calm noise.  Not so much that you can't hear one another talk.

We stopped here for a late lunch / early dinner to escape the rain.  After the initial annoyance was out of the way, the complimentary breads arrived, which were absolutely spot on.  Amazing, bright, rosemary flavours made it the best house bread I've had in a very long time.

I think a menu should always be simple and short.  The best menu I ever saw was in a tiny restaurant in Venice, with a simple list cranked out from a type writer.  You got the impression that they tapped it out on an ancient type writer 5 minutes before you sat down.  Jamie's menu fits on a single page, which is a good start, but that one sheet happens to be an oversized A3 sheet.  It conjures memories of cheap themed restaurants, and feels a little cheesy.  The table is crowded, and the place settings are nothing to write home about.  Overall, the decor and menu leave you a little suspicious about whether you picked the right place.

Next, the smoked mozzarella and porcini arancini arrived.  I've been on a quest to find smoked mozzarella for years, so when I saw it on the menu it was a no brainer.  I've read a lot of complaints about these online, but I thought they were tasty.  The crust had a slight note of what reminded me of a commercial cool room, which I hadn't smelt\tasted since my stint as a pizza boy in a past life.  Otherwise, great start.

I had the truffle pasta for main.

N.B. I would eat pasta for every meal of the day if I could, and I like to think I know good pasta.  I can tell you if pasta is cooked by smell standing on the other side of the room.  I eat a lot of pasta, and this was good pasta.  I honestly can't think of a better pasta dish in my life.  It's like shooting fish in a barrel when you put a huge shaving of truffle on any dish, but I'm not gonna hold it against him.  For the price, I don't think anyone could possibly complain.  It puts every restaurant that thinks its acceptable to charge over $20 for packet pasta to shame.

My wife had the mint ravioli, which was equally as good.

Overall, it's simple food executed incredibly well.  If they iron out the bad service, and put some originality and character into the decor (and reduce the wait times), this would be a regular for me.

Summer salad - Chorizo citrus salad

The iphoto won't do it justice, but this is a really simple salad that's great for summer nights. Lots of colour and sharp, clean flavours.

Pancetta sub

Britto's

Britto's was an odd experience.

From the outside, you would put money on a bad dining experience.  Its a fairly large, rustic shack nestled onto the edge of the beach.  As we sat at the table, I noticed two things:

1. The white sand of the beach beneath my toes at the table, which makes you completely forget that you're in India, and 

2. A resident cat, stealing the leftovers from a nearby table, which smacks you in the face and reminds you that you're in India.     

Having had more than our fair share of Goan dishes at that point, we ordered "continental dishes" to start. Mistake.

Before we ate, I took the customary photos.

I looked at the pictures on the camera screen.  Didn't look good.  Maybe the taste will prove me wrong.  I knocked back a palm fenny (local liquor) and had a crack.  

  

  

I want to try and not be too harsh.  I'm a firm believer that if you want to have fun on a holiday, you have to be flexible and accommodating.  So, in the spirit of generosity and with that in mind, I'll say that the stuffed crabs (pictured above) were cold and lacked flavour. 

The garlic prawns above were also slightly cool, and the garlic in the sauce was completely raw.  The white sauce was quite unpleasant.

It hit home at Britto's that if food looks unappealing, it probably will taste that way.  Fairly disappointed (and a little nauseous) we decided to stick with what we knew, and ordered Goan.  We had a couple of drinks, watched the waves break on the beach, and waited for the mains.

What came out next can only be described with one word.

Perfection.

Four simple, classic dishes that in every way, were flawless.        

Firstly, chicken tikka masala.  I know - not Goan, but my wife is set in her ways.  

Earlier in our trip, we travelled the North and tried similar dishes, and while we didn't venture out as much as I would have liked, I cannot dream of a dish better than this.  Pure, bright fragrant flavours.  Brilliantly fresh chicken.  Hands down, the best I've ever had.  

   The prawns curry was deep, and complex and absolutely perfectly balanced.  It is so easy to get the sweetness, and sourness, and heat and texture wrong with this dish.  I tried 8 prawn curry rices in my time in Goa, and I've knocked back many more in my lifetime, and this one was head and shoulders above all others.  Completely without peers, this is one of the most perfect dishes I have ever had.  

Garlic Naan, again not Goan, however still perfect in the balance of crispyness and "buttery-ness" (or rather "ghee-ness").

The Pomfret Rechaed again was the best fish dish I've ever had.  It is easy to throw some fresh herbs and lemon juice at fish, and keep the flavours clean.  It's another story when you impart a perfectly balanced array of beautiful flavours into a fish, and this is what the chef has done.  You could have sworn that this Pomfret lived for the sole reason to be paired with that chef.  The spice combination was amazing.  The greasy fish balances by the crispy texture of the skin, and again the sweet sour punch that you get from the rechaed is unbelievable.  What also blew me away, was that we had selected the fish when we ordered, so the flesh had taken on all that flavour and been cooked in half an hour.  

And then, I tried the sausages.  God-like.  A thousand chefs, could take a thousand years, and still not come up with flavours like these.  The only word that I could come up with to describe the depth of flavour is "ancient".  I would not be surprised if the they came from a recipe handed down and kept secret  by Portuguese priests for millennia.
The pork flavours are so deep, and so tasty that words will never do it justice.  This is the benchmark by which all dishes for the rest of my life will be judged.       

Chorizo

Tandoori Chicken

Chicken Cutlet Pao