JAMIE’S ITALIAN - REVIEW - 23RD MARCH 2012

There are lots of branches of Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant chain ‘Jamie’s Italian’ across the UK and I’d been meaning to try the Covent Garden restaurant for a while so went there for lunch a couple of weeks ago.

Based on the corner of Upper St Martin’s Lane, the restaurant is right in the heart of Covent Garden but it is based partly in St Martin’s Courtyard so has a really vibey almost European feel to it with tables outside and people eating and drinking in the sunshine.

I am a big fan of Jamie Oliver’s recipes so unsurprisingly the menu didn’t disappoint and there was lots of mouthwatering sounding dishes that it was a struggle to decide what to order! We ordered some olives to share while we decided and these came nice and plump on ice in a little raised silver dish with some crispy fan shaped crackers and a really tasty tapenade.

For main I opted for the Prawn Linguini which came with garlicky prawns, shaved fennel, tomatoes, chilli and rocket. The pasta was homemade and really lovely and the whole dish tasted really fresh and was delicious. My diners decided on the Sirloin Steak with grilled mushrooms and dressed peppery watercress and the Honeycomb Canneloni 3 Ways - Aubergine and sun-dried Tomato, pumpkin and watercress and spinach. The steak looked lovely and was of a good proportion and the pasta was really unusual and nice to have more than one filling. We ordered sides of a Rocket and Radicchio salad with aged balsamic and parmesan and the Crunchy salad which consisted of shaved root vegetables, chilli, lemon and mint. The crunchy salad just tasted full of summer and was seasoned really well.

The food was lovely and we had no complaints and the decor inside is very cool and on a sunny day, really has a holiday vibe to it where you just want to sit eating lots of yummy food and sipping on some crisp white wine. I’d definitely go back again.

Jamie’s Italian, Covent Garden, 11 Upper St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2H 9FB.