There is something Canberra does really well - and that is the average restaurant. It has consistently been the way since I've lived here and I've never understood it. The average restaurants are often not much cheaper than the excellent ones, so how does it work? You can eat at a hatted restaurant for the same price as eating somewhere which churns out food, has ordinary service and pretty much no idea. If you want a killer business - open up a good mid range restaurant in Canberra, because cheap and high end are covered.
Back to Jamie's. Look, it is an ok place to visit (once). The platters of antipasto looked great, but given you could knock that up at home they should look bloody pukka. My meal wasn't terrible but compared to price of recent outings to 86, the value was shameful. The company was lovely though and we did enjoy some very slushy cocktails and an alright starter of fried gnocchi, a smashed broad bean bruscetta and a crunchy salad. The crunchy salad was the highlight of the entire meal which is telling. Grated carrot and beetroot with mint -if they'd made a mess of that you'd be worried. The rest of the meal... my main was over seasoned vongole pasta and I season my own cooking heavily so for me to notice means this dish would have been inedible for some. And that was enough to decide not to risk dessert and made out way to Koko Black instead.
The service was well meaning. Lots of staff, but a tip. Don't ask the people dressed in black for help as they aren't allowed to take orders, but, they can go and tell the people who are allowed to take orders that you would like to order something….
I'll leave you with a photo of the toilet, which pretty much says it all. Jamie Oliver the Weird Al Yankovic of restauranteurs. It'll be interesting to see how this goes once (if) the novelty factor wears off.
Back to Jamie's. Look, it is an ok place to visit (once). The platters of antipasto looked great, but given you could knock that up at home they should look bloody pukka. My meal wasn't terrible but compared to price of recent outings to 86, the value was shameful. The company was lovely though and we did enjoy some very slushy cocktails and an alright starter of fried gnocchi, a smashed broad bean bruscetta and a crunchy salad. The crunchy salad was the highlight of the entire meal which is telling. Grated carrot and beetroot with mint -if they'd made a mess of that you'd be worried. The rest of the meal... my main was over seasoned vongole pasta and I season my own cooking heavily so for me to notice means this dish would have been inedible for some. And that was enough to decide not to risk dessert and made out way to Koko Black instead.
The service was well meaning. Lots of staff, but a tip. Don't ask the people dressed in black for help as they aren't allowed to take orders, but, they can go and tell the people who are allowed to take orders that you would like to order something….
I'll leave you with a photo of the toilet, which pretty much says it all. Jamie Oliver the Weird Al Yankovic of restauranteurs. It'll be interesting to see how this goes once (if) the novelty factor wears off.
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