I have been meaning to try this restaurant but have been putting it off for various reasons. Firstly, I’m not overly keen on Jamie – his food and recipes are great but he irritates me intensely. So do I really want to give him more money? Secondly, I am generally underwhelmed by chain restaurants and would much rather each at a locally owned and run business that respond to what the local customers want not just do what is dictated from on high (I had a thoroughly depressing conversation with a waitress in Zizzi once about how little freedom they had). And thirdly, we seem to have a million chain Italians/pizza places in Liverpool already (Ask, Zizzi, , Pizza Express, Bella Italia, Olive Press...I am sure there are more...) some of which are nice some of which are pretty awful. Really, what was this going to add?
Our friends chose the restaurant this night so I decided to not judge the book by the cover, or the restaurant by the celebrity endorsement. I tried my best to ignore these preconceptions and go in with an open mind but I think I just left with my suspicions confirmed.
You are not allowed to book a table on a Saturday night so we arrived to find out friends had been camping out in the cramped bar space for 45 minutes waiting for their pager to buzz. Once it did the four of us were sat downstairs amongst quite stylish decor, the light was just about right, moody but not so dark that you can’t see your dinner or your friends. The server was friendly but didn’t bother us too much and we ordered reasonably quickly. They seem to be trying to convince us there is a fruit and veg market upstairs with a weird wall of awning and lots of fresh tomatoes. I think this is the ‘kooky’ Jamie element. The kitchen is visible taking up one side of the downstairs room. It hate it when restaurants do this – it looks like school kitchen (all stainless steel kitchens do) and it just added to the noise. And my, was it noisy. I really struggled to hear the conversation and there were only four of us, a bigger group and you’ve no chance. I think it was the combination of the music, the hard surfaces, the kitchen and it being a busy Saturday night but I felt like I missed half of the conversation.. I really do feel like my grandfather when I say this and usually I like a good buzz but this got annoying.
My lady friend and I shared a tasty bread board with some good tangy sourdough with a crisp dark crust, a good focaccia and a nice balsamic dip but not enough olive oil. We also shared the ‘Italian Nachos’ which were a bit unexciting. It isn’t helpful when restaurants compare dishes to other totally unrelated dishes from different cuisines. Do they really think their customers are that unadventurous they won’t try it unless they associate it with something as widespread as nachos? To be honest, calling them nachos just made me wish we had ordered nachos. They were deep fried cheese ravioli – the cheese filling was tasty and tangy but as the pasta puffed up the filling seemed to get lost in the space. They were OK but very forgettable. Our friends had a mushroom fritti and a baked mushroom in a cheesy bread basket (which looked overcooked but my friend didn't complain so I didn’t want to ask). They were enthusiastic but I can’t comment on these as they are not close enough friends for me to ask to steal a mouthful!
For mains I had the Fish in a Bag. The fish seems to change regularly and it was Pollack this time. It came in a paper bag filled with cracked wheat (wonderfully crunchy though too much of it), tiny tangy capers, a bit of chilli and clams and mussels. The fish was moist and delicious and worked well with the tangy tomato sauce with slight warmth of chilli. The mussels and the clams had been sat in the wheat which seemed to have absorbed all of their moisture and they were shrivelled and a bit unexciting. The whole dish could have done with twice as much sauce, or half as much wheat, or somehow just a lot more moisture. And at £16 I would have liked more than two mussels and two clams. And at £15.35 I think the house white, a Trebbiano/Garganega, should have been a bit more exciting.
My lady friend had grilled garlic & thyme chicken with a tomato, olive, chilli & caper sauce. To be honest I don’t really remember there being much of a sauce but maybe it was in pot on the side and I didn’t try any. The chicken was moist but a bit mild on the garlic and thyme. It had a mild smoky flavour from the griddle but somehow the skin hasn’t turned crisp. Our friends had a ravioli from the specials which was supposedly delicious and a braised shin of beef that looked good. The beef came with ‘oozy Parmesan polenta’ – I don’t know about you but I’m not overly attracted by the word ‘oozy’ on a menu.
So yes, as expected the food is better than the personality but there was no escaping this was a chain. But yes I would say it is better than some of the other chain Italians in the city and I admire that he has decided not to include any pizzas on the menu (not even garlic bread!) in an attempt to differentiate themselves from the other chains. I would try it again, but I would hope there was a voucher or an offer as I am not really bothered enough about the Jamie brand to make it worth the extra few quid they pop each dish.
