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Jamie's Italian (Singapore)
there was a certain degree of excitement when the news broke that Jamie Oliver's famous Italian restaurant from Oxford, UK is coming to Singapore and more certainly, a victory for Singapore retail as its first outlets opened within shopping malls. then came the challenge of living up to Singapore's more illustrious institutions for Italian food such a Amarone, Pasta Brava or La Nonna, and whether the Singapore version of Jamie's Italian turned out more normal than it's celebrity status..
we visited the outlet at Vivocity to find out, and found the demographic of the weekend crowd largely made up of tourists. it was certainly not as busy as when the store first opened in 2013, especially now that it has 2 outlets. the store is designed to recreate one of Jamie Oliver's kitchen settings, bar-top counters overlooking either the baking of fresh pizza or the preparation of pastas. there are also al-fresco dining areas (overlooking Sentosa) and normal table dining as well. we heard from other reviews that the restaurant service ought to have included checking with the patrons on how they'd like their pasta texture to be, or any other dietary requirements, but that somehow didn't happen during our visit. 
pastas are a must when visiting an Italian restaurant, so we tried the Spaghetti Vongole. it turned out to be a petite serving of pasta but with an ample portion of clams, sprinkled with chopped red chilli and garnishing. it wasn't bad pasta with the right amount of spiciness. we also tried a Ravioli Con Carne or beef-ragu stuffed ravioli dashed with brown butter and lemon. the texture was fairly crispy and for beef lovers, the stuffing was generous. 
checking out some of the restaurant's other mains, we ordered a serving of the Venetian fish stew, which came with fish, clams and mussels, prepared in a tomato based sauce with white wine. i actually loved this dish the most, where the sauces really soaked into the seafood, giving it a very rich flavour. the non-pasta mains generally don't come cheap though, and one should expect to spend at least $50 per pax for a visit here. 
the drinks were kinda blah unless you'd go for a fairly conventional selection of red or white wines. we went for some non-alcoholic cocktails which came in really huge mugs but was largely more sparkling water than juice. for a celebrity restaurant, this place brings with it a great ambience with food that won't go wrong. perhaps not too authentic as compared to other Italian establishments in Singapore, but i guess it is still a close representation of a British chef's interpretation of Italian fare, which earned it top accolades in the UK. you'd probably visit Jamie's Italian, if you'd want to be part of that experience. 
Jamie's Italian (Singapore) 1 HarbourFront Walk #01-165/167, Vivo City Singapore 098585 Opening Hours Mondays to Thursdays: 12 pm to 10 pm Fridays: 12 pm to 11 pm Saturdays: 11 am to 11 pm Sundays: 11 am to 10 pm tradition combined with current, innovative ideas and a Jamie twist.. |
..ThE lEgEnD..
Last Movie: Ad Astra
Golden Village, Singpost Centre 
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