Jamie’s Italian Review: An Affordable and Tomato-Filled Experience
Everyone knows Jamie Oliver, the nice guy on TV and the antithesis of Gordon Ramsay’s rage fueled adventures in the kitchen. Here’s what we tried and thought: Appetizers Meat Plank ($15.50) The meat platter is a mixture of salami, prosciutto, pork jowl and salted beef.
“Yo waiter, these ain’t nachos! Where’s the cheese at? Where are the chips?”
I loved the salty and savoury meats, and the mozzarella adds a refreshing element to the platter. The majority of the platter was forgettable, although nothing was inherently wrong with it.
There was also too little of the beetroot salmon and crackers to be shared. Crispy Music Bread ($7.50) These crackers have pecorino cheese and the in-house special sweet chili jam on it. Crispy Porcini Arancini ($12.50) These might look like Italian Takoyaki, but they’re far from it.
The insides are nice and gooey as you bite into them, and the arrabiata sauce that surrounds the balls adds a kick to the dish. Royal Caprese Salad ($19.50) We finished once again with tomatoes, but this time with mozzarella and prosciutto.
It’s best when you eat all three components together with the acidity of the tomatoes cutting the cheese and salty prosciutto. But then again, it’s so hard to find the quality tomatoes in Singapore that could pull this off.
One of the principal problems that day was that the pasta was just off and had a strange texture to it. But I’m glad to report that those days are gone and they now have nice and business pasta cooked just the way it’s meant to be.
This creamy pasta is topped with porcini, lemon gremolata (a mixture of parsley,garlic and lemon zest) and what they call pangrattato which is a breadcrumb and herb mixture for added texture and savour. It was an earthy and creamy dish that tasted strongly of mushrooms and garlic. Chicken Al Mottone ($27.50) I’m pretty surprised that I like this dish so much, I’m not a big fan of chicken, but the sauce on this guy hits the spot for me.
The chicken is grilled to perfection and a mushroom sauce is slathered over it. My favourite part of eating this is using that piece of bread to soak up all that sauce at the bottom.
It’s sweet and savoury, and the ricotta adds a lightness to the dish that makes it more palatable. 30 Day Matured Prime Sirloin ($48) This seems more like a French dish than an Italian one, but I’d never say no to a steak. It’s grilled well and the flavour of beef is quite intense due to the aging, but my favourite part of this are the mushrooms. The Panna Cotta is a classic Italian dessert, and this one was done pretty well.
Tiramisu ($11.50) An Italian favourite, it’s no stranger to anyone living in the 21st century.
- Who: Italian · Jamie Oliver
- Money: $15.50 · $17 · $10.50 · $7.50