Last week, myself and
Andy were invited down to Jamie's Italian, Liverpool, to review their new
Evening Meal Deal. You may not know, but we have been going to various Jamie's Italian restaurants over the past three years a hell of a lot. It's our go to place to go, for birthdays, celebrations or a light lunch. We both have the loyalty card called the Gold Card and we know that every time we go it will be completely worth the money. We've been to the Liverpool, York and Newcastle branches and all have exceptional service and beautifully seasoned food, so when we were asked to come to review we headed straight to the website to look up what the menu had to offer.
Our host that seated us ensured we had a comfortable booth to sit in and was absolutely lovely. Our waitress then came over and explained everything in detail making sure we were looked after and it started the evening off on such a good note. I started with the Passionfruit Royale which was just as I imagined; fruity, easy to drink and topped with Jamie's Prosecco. It was that good that I had another straight after I'd finished it. Andy went for the Moretti beer that he has every time that he comes whilst we looked over the Evening Menu. It's available from 6pm Monday-Thursday and is £18.95 for three courses which in my opinion is a steal.
As we had a Gold Card, every month you get a free taster and this month's was the Italian Nachos which is fried ravioli filled with mozzarella, ricotta and bello lodi served with a spicy tomato sauce. We get this as a full starter
every single time we visit as it's extraordinary. We usually split this with the Polenta Chips too as they're like comfort food to me.
For the starter Andy ordered the Cured Meat Plank which was a selection of meats including fennel salami, pistachio mortadella, prosciutto & schiacciata piccante with mini buffalo mozzarella, pecorino and chilli jam and a selection of olives and pickles. For the portion size I'd say this was fairly large for a starter so to be included in the Evening Meal Deal was pleasing. I went for the Tomato and Ricotta Bruschetta which consisted of slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, whipped buffalo ricotta with basil and extra virgin olive oil. It tasted almost like a really healthy pizza which I'd be keen to try out at home too. I have one of Jamie's recipe books already and this starter has encouraged me to try more of his recipes out. It was clear that fresh ingredients were made and that's what made it really special.
Andy noticed that the
steak was on the meal deal, which is £15.95 normally so if you chose this you're definitely getting your money's worth. He's had the steak before and really enjoyed so was happy to try it again. It's flash-grilled prime beef steak with a herby heirloom tomato salsa, rocket, aged parmesan and spiced fries. They recommended it served pink so this is what he went for, not that I can really put an opinion forward as I don't eat steak. I went for the
Spicy Sausage Casarece Pasta which was a free-range pork and fennel sausage ragu with British Cobble Lane 'nduja served with breadcrumbs and shaved parmesan to your taste. It was an incredibly generous portion and whilst I ate what I could, I only managed about half. I wouldn't say it was particularly spicy for my standards but I enjoy spicy food so for someone not used to it, it might bring a little kick.
For dessert we opted to order two and split them as we normally both get the Chocolate Brownie from the usual menu. First we tried the Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake which was the tastiest cheesecake I've ever tried aside from those in The Cheesecake Factory in America. The ratio of biscuit to filling was perfect and the coulis that it was paired with was impeccable. The second dessert we tried was the Molten Chocolate Praline Pudding which was a warm chocolate lava cake filled with a praline centre served with vanilla ice cream and crushed praline on top. Again this was a course that tasted like it was made fresh and the praline centre was something else. It was intense and rich and I don't think I could have eaten a full one even if I tried.
Jamie's Italian never let me down and in this case they exceeded my expectations. The Evening Meal Deal is amazing value for money with decent portion sizes and packed full of flavour.
