LIFESTYLE: Lunch At Jamies Italian, Chelmsford
Friday, 27 February 2015
Last week Andrew and I took a little adventure to Chelmsford. It's not really that far from me but neither of us had ever been before so when I got an invitation to come and try out the Jamie's Italian in the town center I thought it might be fun!
We followed the sat-nav and got there alot easier that expected. We spotted the restaurant, turned down the next road and found a giant car park which we were both pretty pleased about. On the walk to the restaurant, the ticket flew off in the wind and I watched (and laughed) as Andrew chased after it haha I've never seen him run so fast.
After all that excitement we were pleased to sit down and relax. Jamie's is based inside The Trattoria and has a very warehousey feel to it. I loved the high ceilings, ripped wallpaper walls and the fact that the whole restaurant was filled with smells wafting out of the open pizza oven in the middle of the room. I have only been to Jamie's once before (at Westfield) and this has a very different layout!
Our waitress was really lovely which is always a good thing, she was smiley and helpful throughout our meal. Also, she brought over a jug of tap water which for me is a winner. I hate having to ask over and over for another glass of water. We also ordered juices - Andrew got pineapple and I got a virgin strawberry mojito - just as tasty as a real one - yum.
The menu itself was quite small with only 6 pastas and 4 or 5 pizzas although there were still lots of good choices, neither of us had a hard time finding something we liked. It was nice to have a good choice of pastas - we never eat pasta when we go out so we both opted for one. They came in bowls which was also a change for us. They were both big portions - I couldn't finish mine! I was pleased to see they were very generous with the sauce and toppings. Nothing worse than that awkward moment when the staff give you a little teaspoon of parmesan when what you really want is the whole bowl poured on top. (photos taken before the parmesan)
The food
came out in good time and all tasted good too. We ordered three starters between us. Andrew went for the prawns which smelt amazing and I went for something I'd never heard of - Porcini mushroom arancini which I think was breaded balls of risotto, either way it tasted good although I really didn't like the sauce it came with. Andrew being Andrew insisted we needed a side order of garlic bread too. Be warned, it is reaallllyyy garlicy
Then after our mains, I couldn't leave without dessert! The prices though the meal were fine and were
similar to the prices of say a Pizza Express. We had 6 courses and 3
drinks between us which came to just under £50. Dessert was tasty but very pricey, most of them were okay actually, it was just the ice cream and sorbet options that I thought were alot, I was just a little shocked that 3 scoops of ice cream could cost almost £5. They included a
topping which helped but still seemed alot to me - although the salted caramel ice cream I decided on was delicious. Andrew just has a coffee which we thought they had forgotten about but it came out eventually.
We both enjoyed our meals and left super stuffed so that's a good thing, no one likes leaving a restaurant still feeling hungry.
Have You Been To A Jamies Italian?
*Jamies Italian kindly covered the meal in return for my review. All opinions are 100% honest.