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Jamie’s Italian
Nikki Spencer-2008-10-06
A few years ago the idea of tucking into a main course meal at a Jamie Oliver restaurant for just a fiver would have been inconceivable but, like a number of his fellow chefs, Jamie has discovered that the future lies beyond the £150-a-head meal and he has now declared his intention to “revolutionise high-street food in the UK¹s town’s and cities”.
Earlier this summer, and without any of the usual fanfare that accompanies celebrity restaurant openings, Jamie’s Italian opened for business in a former pub in Oxford, and will be followed soon by another branch in Bath in early October, Kingston in November and Brighton and Cambridge in early 2009.
The neighbourhood chain, which will be open right through from noon 7 days a week, will offer high quality affordable Italian fare - something Jamie has always been passionate about. “I should have been Italian!” he declares. “The truth is, when I am in Italy I feel Italian. Since I was a teenager I¹ve been totally besotted by the love, passion and verve for food, family and life itself that just about all Italian people have.”
Jamie is working with his great friend and mentor Gennaro Contaldo (formerly of Passione and Neal Street) and they have spent the last year developing menus to satisfy everyone from students on a budget to busy office workers and hungry families wanting a Sunday treat.
As you’d expect from Jamie, who is famous for his campaigns for healthy school meals and against battery-produced poultry, sourcing quality ingredients has been a major priority. All chickens are free-range (Jamie has been quoted as saying that his favoured Devonshire Reds “have better lives than most people in London”!), while squid and yellow-fin tuna are line-caught by Cornish fisherman and salmon comes from an organic farm in the Shetland Islands.
The wine list also includes a pair of Italian organic wines which don’t come in bottles but rather recyclable tetrapak. Jamie¹s famous “pukka” language is splattered all over the menu with “lush basil pesto” and “good old grilled steak”. Starters include bruschetta and antipasta boards with cured Italian meats and cheeses, with mains of tortelloni with leeks, gorgonzola and thyme and, “Hot fingers”,
crispy lamb chops with salad greens and mint sauce. Vegetarians are also catered for with sweet roasted pumpkin and ricotta caramelle. Deserts include creamy pannacotta, pear chocolate and almond tart and ice cream served with smashed honeycomb, hazelnut praline or chocolate sauce.
It’s a menu that has had Oxford locals and tourists literally queuing up. The restaurant has a no-bookings policy and a line of would-be diners snakes out the door daily.
Jamie’s Italian
24-26 George St
Oxford
Tel: 01865 838 383
Open from noon daily.
Other chefs who have moved into the high street.
Carluccio’s
Antonio Carluccio is the daddy of them all. He opened his first Italian cafe off Oxford Street in 1999 and there are now 37 branches mainly in the South East but also now further afield in Manchester with another due to open in Leicester in October.
Masala Zone
Opened in 2001 by the team behind London’s award-winning Chutney Mary and Veeraswammy restaurants, Masala Zone offers casual, contemporary Indian food including what is probably the best children’s menu in the capital (just £4.15 for a thali, ice-cream and soft drink). There are now five branches across the city, with a sixth in Fulham and a seventh in Bayswater due to open this autumn, as well as plans for more next year.
Frankies Italian Bar & Grill
A joint venture between chef Marco Pierre White and jockey Frankie Dettori with branches in Knightsbridge, Chiswick and Putney, plus a branch in Selfridges department store and even a new one in Dubai.
The Olive Press
Celebrity chef Paul Heathcote started this family friendly Italian chain offering handmade pasta and stone-baked pizza in Preston in 2002 and now there are eight branches around the North West including Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.
