Jamie’s Italian Nottingham Review

Jamie’s Italian, Nottingham is an iconic 18 century townhouse on Low Pavement Nottingham, close to the Broadmarsh shopping center.

Set on three floors, it has been converted really well, oozing homely charm with the way its been decorated, and is celebrating 4 years of being open in Nottingham. I’ve eaten here several times, but when I was invited to eat there again this Easter I thought it would make a great family lunch destination, after all Sunday and Easter in Italy is known to be all about sharing food and family time.

We turned up about 20 minutes early for our table, but were warmly greeted and shown straight to our table which was ready for us. The children’s menu was given to Miss A along with a metal bucket filled with crayons, colouring pages, badges and stickers to keep her occupied.

When it comes to the children’s menu, which had items such as Lollipop Chicken and Puppy Dogs, it was varied and had something for even the choosiest child I thought.  With photographs of each of the main dishes on the red view finder you can see her using below.  Such a good idea for not only keeping them amused, but the kiddo’s sometimes don’t really ‘get’ what meals are actually going to be, so seeing them is a genius idea.

Nia went for a Non alchoholic berry blast cocktail (strawberries, passion fruit, lemon & cranberry) I for a gorgeous Poggio Tempesta Chianti Oggio, bursting with dark fruit flavour.  Whilst Tall Dad a Liberta, Jamie’s Italian own craft-brewed lager. He is a big fan of beers from small brewery’s and thoroughly enjoyed this one.

 Our server for lunch was so lovely, carefully going through all of the specials, and was very attentive.  We opted for a few of the specials actually, which was thanks I think to the way she explained them to us all.

The first special of the day was this bruschetta below, topped with Colwick cheese which was used in the Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast show that Jamie Oliver and Jimmy filmed at this very restaurant in Nottingham.  The Colwick cheese, dates back to the 1600s, and is a lightly flavoured curdy cheese. It is made in the Belvoir Ridge dairy at Crossroads Farm in Eastwell, Leicestershire, by Alan and Jane Hewson. I love that Jamie is using local ingredients in his restaurant. Served also with crispy cured meats on top. This was shared by Tall Dad and Nia, and it was described as ‘Perfect’ praise indeed!

 

I however went for a wild mushroom bruschetta from the standard menu, with rosemary, Ricotta and lemon.  It was delicious, the mushrooms were well cooked, it really needed the lemon and rosemary that was added as Ricotta lacks flavour, the creaminess balanced well with the salty taste and texture of the mushrooms, a really tasty starter.

Next up the mains, Miss A’s was actually served at the same time as our starters (which we requested when asked) so she wasn’t waiting around.  Salmon fish fingers, fries and dips.

Along with a shake me salad and some really tasty homemade ketchup. Miss A’s platter was empty at the end, and she can be fussy sometimes about fish, but she loved this.

Another fish dish but this time the main course for Nia (12) who went for a Jamie Oliver classic from the Naked Chef days apparently, and another special of the day.  A fillet of smoked haddock, which was cooked in a bag with a herby fregola, mussels and an angry arrabbiatta sauce.  Full of flavour and the fish was cooked to perfection, we all had a taste of this one, and it was amazing!

I went for a vegetarian pasta dish, Vegetable Rotolo Al Forno, with the herby breadcrumbs you can see served on the side. This baked pasta dish was extremely tasty, the iron rich spinach with the sweet pumpkin and squash.  I would definitely order this again. Sometimes restaurants serve pasta dishes portions far too big, but this was the perfect size.

 

Finally the last of the specials we ordered, this time for Tall Dad.  He opted for a rabbit ragu, that had been cooked for over 8 hours, served with a lemony sauce and tagliatelle pasta, and lots of parmesan! We also had sides of funky chips and a heritage tomato salad for all of us to share.

 

The children’s menu has two desserts on offer, ice cream and a fruit platter for 50p each, which is a great price I thought.  We opted for both, even thought Miss A declared having fruit was boring, she ended up eating every last bit, always the way I think when it comes to fruit, sometimes even with adults!

 

Not to be left out Nia and I shared an Epic Brownie, and oh my goodness was it epic! Warm fudgy brownie with vanilla ice cream and caramelised popcorn. I do hope I can find this recipe somewhere, as I have never tasted a brownie soooo good!

 

So overall it was a great lunch time meal, relaxed and fun, I would even go as far as to say the best meal I’ve ever had at Jamie’s Italian.  I’ve always been impressed by the service that you receive, and the passion the people that work there have for the food, plus the menu options  for children, but the recent changes to the main menu I definitely approve of. It felt like there was more variety, especially for vegetarians and pescatarians. So a big thanks to Jamie Italian for inviting me, next time I’m bringing the girls for cocktails one evening!