Please note: This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant to taste their food, and no bill was presented to the author. While the author assures you of objectivity, the review may be influenced by the personalized attention the author got.

Jamie Oliver has opened a group of neighbourhood restaurants all over the world serving rustic, affordable Italian-style food. The emphasis is on simple, fresh ingredients prepared and cooked with love and passion. Alexander Troughton, the Manager of Jamie’s restaurants, has invited me over for a tasting session at the recently opened, one-week-old Jamie’s Italian at Vasant Kunj – something I eagerly accept since I am starved of good pasta.

All my expectations are met. The food here is delicious. I taste some of the best starters, a pasta to die for and a delicious, indulgent dessert plank. After finishing the meal, I feel an inner glow that a foodie would feel after a soul satisfying meal.

                      Interiors                                                Kitchen

In the starters, the antipasti plank (Rs 350 for one) is meant to titillate the palate and it does a fine job of doing that. Italian Nachos (Rs 285) are basically fried wanton like nachos and are addictive.

                  Antipasti Plank                                     Italian Nachos

Arancini Margherita (Rs 265) has been interpreted as Farzi café’s dal-chawal arancini but otherwise it is not a dish that is easily available here. It is basically stuffed rice balls with mozzarella, which are coated with breadcrumbs, fried, and served in tomato sauce. It is an enjoyable dish. Superfood salad with feta (Rs 395) lives up to its name with grilled avocado, candied beets, pulses, grains, bocconcini, pomegranate seeds and roasted seeds. While the feta could be better, this dish is a must try.

                        Arancini                                     Superfood salad with feta

In the mains, Jamie's sausage pappardelle (Rs 285 for single portion) is a meaty treat with flat pasta with ragu of slow cooked pork sausages with red wine, parmesan and bread crumbs, though I would have loved a more chunky ragu sauce. I am blown way with the taste of Jamie's famous prawn linguine (Rs 325 for single portion). Linguine is a slim version of spaghetti with fresh garlicky prawns, fennel, tomatoes, chilli and rocket, and every bite has a heady combination of perfectly cooked fresh prawns (difficult to find in Delhi NCR) with a punch of garlic with the pepperiness of rocket leaves and the tang of the sauce. I am coming back again and again for this dish. It is amazing how much fresh pasta can make to the taste of the dish.

             Sausage Pappardelle                               Prawn Linguine

Jamie Oliver is known for some sterling work that he is doing to make children’s meals more nutritive and healthy and am pretty keen on tasting the kid’s menu here. The plating is great and the food is well thought out. Kids veg slider burger (Rs 200) and fish in a bag (Rs 200) are both meant to be nutritive. The sliders have patties with aubergine and curds, and the fish dish has basa fillet with crushed baby potato, green beans and cherry tomatoes all baked in a bag and served with Jamie’s seven vegetable tomato sauce. While these dishes are good in concept, I just can’t imagine my kid liking it. The veg burger is not really tasty and is unlike what is described but then I may be suffering from  and the basa is mushy like basa tends to be.

             Kids Veg Slider Burger                               Fish in a bag

For desserts, Alex has organized a beautiful plank with all the desserts available, which are made in house. While all desserts are competently made, what I enjoy are the gooey Jamie's Brownie (Rs 345) and the velvetty, tangy Pannacotta with strawberry compote (Rs 345).

A food reviewer’s task is hard. One has to go through countless pointless dishes to come up with gems. This restaurant does have some gems. I will come back as a paying customer and order the antipasti plank, the divine and hugely popular all over the world prawn linguini and brownie before deciding what else to order.

Ratings (Out of 5)

Food: 4.5 | Ambience: 4.0 | Service: 4.5 | Value: 4.0 | Overall: 4.5

Meal for two: Rs.1500 | Alcohol: Not yet | Credit Card: Yes | Wheel chair friendly: Yes

Address: 3rd Floor, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, Delhi. Tel: 011 40870032