I just realized how important it is to have friends who don't need to work in situations like this when you wanna be one of the first batch to try out THE new restaurant in town which virtually needs months in advance booking and walk-in waits take around 1.5 hour on average. Jamie's opens at 12pm for lunch, and my dear buddies arrived at 1145am to get a table first. I was told that there was already a queue formed on the ground floor at that time. Knowing that I won't make it there until 20 past at the earliest, I told them to go ahead to order and surprise me. When I arrived at 1220pm, there was a HUGE crowd of people lining up, and I felt that I must've had alot of hate stares for skipping the queue and heading straight to the escalator.
"Hey", *muah muah*, sat down, "how's your trip", yadiyadiyada, ordered my drink, first dish arrived. The polenta chips arrived pretty - and tasted pretty too - served hot and crunchy on the outside with a little bit of chewiness. Topped with rosemary leaves, the dish served well as a prelude to our little weekday girlies catch-up lunch session.
The cauliflower and cheese fritters were crunchy and cheesy and tasty, and the orange fennel and bocconcini salad was pretty refreshing and fruity.
Next came four cans of canned juice. For one sec I thought why I was rushing for 20 min to come and have canned food, and just right before I was about to raise my voice and complain, the waiter quickly explained that those were not for us to eat. Oh, ok. They were actually for holding up the fish and cured meat planks. The taste of the nibbles, however, were not as impressive as they were displayed.
So, what's up with the malnourished midget mussel?
After clearing the nibbles we still had two orders of small pasta which we had been waiting over an hour and a half for. I had to followup with the waiter twice before they arrived at 140pm, 20 to gotta-be-back-at-desk. I quickly had a quickie on the tagliatelle bolognese and squid-ink speghetti before hopping out of the couch to leave. The squid-ink spaghetti was done al-dente and the scallop tasted fresh except it was a little bit too salty. The tagliatelle bolognese looked pretty cute (or no?) - like some curled up pig / cow intestines you get from local Chinese joint. Now, this was slightly overcooked and got a little soggy.
Complimentary service charge was not included in the bill, and the total came to $660 for 3 people. I would say this is pretty reasonably priced but quite overrated as usual especially with the huge, crazy line-up's. To be fair I wasn't having very high expectations though having tried a few Jamie restaurants in London. It's just his usual style - simple, casual dining at reasonable price. Not worth the wait though, come back in a few months' time.
Venue: Jamie's Italian
District: Causeway Bay
Must-try: Polenta chips
Overall Rating: 4 / 5
Cost: $220 ph - Lunch
Address: 2/F, Soundview Plaza 2 - Midtown, 1 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay
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