Jamie’s Italian – Canary Wharf Review

As if we hadn’t been out enough over the Christmas period, we decided one more outing couldn’t hurt! Having been over the family a few days after Christmas, we decided to meet in Canary Wharf one evening before new year and try out the newish Jamie’s Italian there.

As I was on holiday, I trundled in to the shopping centre a little early in the hopes of bagging myself a few bargains! Having never been before, and also having heard it’s a great set of shops, I was quite excited, but once I arrived, it was all rather disturbing. Now, I know I should have thought about this beforehand, but I hadn’t realised that both centres would be underground. Secondly, they’re positively like rabbit warrens, running under the parks. They go along in a straight line, then one end goes up through 4 floors of circles. Meanwhile, there’s the stations somewhere in between on a level that’s meant to be ground level, but I’m not sure is as you can also reach it from the level above. After wandering very confusedly for about an hour, I gave up trying to locate any shops, also giving up my, usually quite good, sense of direction, and followed signs for Jamie’s in case I got lost later when we were meant to be meeting!

I then snuck around to the ice rink, where I found a fantastic bar called The Moose Bar! I sidled in, asked if they did mulled wine, which of course, being a log cabin based on the après-ski theme, they did, and took it outside to watch the skaters until my hubby arrived. Brilliant! It’s there until nearly the end of February and was so chilled, if you’ll pardon the pun.

We arrived at Jamie’s about 7pm and were told there’d be an hour’s wait. We took a pager, stepped over to the bar and ordered a little aperitif. After less than half an hour, our pager was buzzed and we took our seats.  The menu looked great and half the  fun was seeing what everyone else had on their plates and choosing that way instead! We opted for the cold meats antipasti to begin for all four of us. This was a selection of cold meats, olives, and cheese and chilli on corn crisps. All were delicious and served on a long wooden plank supported by two huge tins of Italian tomatoes! Very rustic.

For mains, we all wanted the Carpaccio, but all chose something that was cooked and home-made rather than home-prepared. The menu consisted of a selection of pasta and meat and fish. No pizzas here, but a large range of other lovely things from which to choose. After much deliberation, I was torn between the wild mushroom ravioli (I think I remember correctly,) and the carbonara. When our meals were served, the most noticeable thing was the unusual pasta, which I presume is made on the premises?

The spicy sausage pasta was twisty and long, I can’t really describe it, but very different from anything I’ve seen before.

 

 

 

 

The Carbonara looked rich and creamy, with the sauce slid over and off the pasta.

 

 

 

I plumped for the parcels, which were thin packages filled with the stuffing, which was smooth and tasty, and covered in a buttery sauce.

 

 

Portions were just right and the service was excellent.

Prices were more expensive than a usual bowl of pasta, but the fact you know it’s good quality more than made up for that. The restaurant was larger than expected, but the atmosphere fantastic. I’d definitely return and am looking forward to trying it again before Moose Bar closes!