My experience at Jamie's Italian, Sydney

 

We drove to Rockdale and took the train into Townhall. I had no idea where we were going until we crossed the street and I saw the line of people out the door waiting to get a table at Jamie's.

Yay! My partner, Jon, surprised me for our TWO YEAR Anniversary to lunch at Jamie's Italian in the city. 

Jaime's Italian

Jamie Oliver's Italian Restaurant on Pitt Street in Sydney, NSW Australia

The wait was about 15 minutes. The hostess took our name and phone number. We decided to sit at the bar so we received a pager.

We were seated fairly quick. As soon as we sat down, literally, our server came up to us and turned our water glasses up. He then asked us what we would like to order. Having never been there before we said we were not ready. He did not greet us with a hello or tell us his name.

I had a chance to look at the entree's before he came back and asked for our order again. I asked for water and a complementary serve of bread. 

He returned immediately. He asked if we would like balsamic with our olive oil and acted put out when I replied "Yes". 

I had a chance to read three pasta descriptions before he was back again. I am not a slow reader, okay? 

We were deciding between three pasta dishes: 

1. TRUFFLE TAGLIATELLE
$14.50/$24.00Finley shaved wild black truffles tossed with butter, Parmesan & netmeg. A real luxury

2. TURBO PENNE ARRABIATA
$10.50/$15.00Curly penne tossed in sweet tomato sauce spiced with chilli, garlic & Parmesan with herby breadcrumbs

3. BUFFALO RICOTTA RAVIOLI
$14.00/$21.00Delicate parcels stuffed with creamed ricotta, lemon, mint & Parmesan. Pure heaven

And a couple of mains:

 TUSCAN WILD BOAR SAUSAGES
$22.50Juicy red wine & fennel sausages served with a warm, minty lentil salad & salsa rossa piccante

 BURGER ITALIANO
$19.50Wagga Wagga beef with fontina cheese, salami, soft lettuce, tomato salsa, dill pickles, chilli & fried onions

I also was thinking about ordering a side salad with my half portion of pasta:

APPLE & GORGONZOLA
$9.00With honey-roasted walnuts & peppery watercress

We both really wanted the Ravioli or the Turbo Penne. I asked Jon to order the Ravioli so I could try it. The description said "Pure heaven". I ordered the Truffle Tagliatelle.  Our server asked if we wanted anything else and literally ran off before I had a chance to ask any questions. 

He did not ask our portion size so I assumed the first price was the lunch price and that is why he did not ask. I wanted to order a salad but felt really awkward when I was ordering so I thought I might order a dessert if I was still hungry.

Because I am such a fatty I forgot to take a picture of our food! I always do that. I get too excited and eat straight away. Our portions were really small. As I looked around the room I came to the conclusion that we had received half portions. 

Poor Jon had such a small bowl of ravioli, it looked like he only had about five. I had a small taste and OMG it was DELICIOUS! The pasta was so very thin and I loved the tang of the lemon. The filling of the buffalo ricotta was very small, which was nice and light but not too satisfying for my partner. When asked how his experience was he said "He wouldn't rate it" which is the worst comment. 

My pasta was yummy too. The portion was small as well and I was certain that it was the lunch/half portion. The taste of the sauce was very buttery and I couldn't taste the depth of the truffle as I had hoped... but still very enjoyable. 

I was satisfied but Jon was still a little hungry. I decided to order dessert because I love Jamie's desserts. I nearly ordered the Tiramisu because I remember watching him make it with a friend on "Jamie does Italy". But I opted for:

THE ULTIMATE BROWNIE
$8.50Chocolate, raspberry & amaretto brownie with vanilla ice cream

I didn't taste any raspberry or amaretto but I still loved it. Jon thought it was too rich.

Full Menu for Jamie's Italian

On JamieOliver.com there is a section for leaving a comment about the experience at the restaurant. The following is what I sent. I tried to be nice about it but I am still really sad.

"Because I have been talking to many people about my unpleasant experience I feel it is only fair that I share it with the restaurant. 
My partner surprised me for lunch at Jamie's Italian yesterday for our two-year anniversary.
Being a huge Jamie Oliver fan this was a very sweet gesture. We were seated promptly within about 15 minutes.
As soon as we sat down at one of the two seat tables along the wall we were greeted and asked if we were ready to order. I like being "greeted" as soon as I sit down but this felt like harassment. Because we were dressed in non-business attire I thought that was a bit pushy but decided to think nothing further of it because I do realize it is a popular place for a quick business lunch. Our male server did not have any pleasantries or even tell us his name. When he returned I had only read three menu items. I asked for water and bread and he brought those very quickly and again, in a sort of pressure type of way asked for our order.
I could hear the lady server next to us being so nice and friendly asking her customers if they would like to hear the special of the day. I was so disappointed because we were never asked that. When he returned again he just stood there with his tablet out, waiting.
When we ordered we assumed the first price was lunch and second was dinner (our mistake). We were not asked if we wanted half serves or full. But he had quickly taken our order and we had questions but our server seriously ran away before we were finished.
The food was very yummy. I had the truffle and my partner have the buffalo ricotta ravioli. He doesn't appreciate the yumminess of the lemon and thing pasta so he doesn't rate it. He was also very upset because he had different expectations but this is not our complaint.
Now this is our fault, when we received our meals we felt they were a half portion. Having never been to Jamie's before, I am used to large portions of Italian so our meals looked like a half. So when we received our bill we were gutted at how small the portions were and what we were charged.
We just feel robbed. I am such a huge Jamie Oliver fan and this has left me feeling very sad.
Our server seemed like he hated being there and our experience was tainted due to his negativity".

Jamie's Italian Homepage

In da house

Jon drove into the city! We parked at the Opera House and walked up through the Opera Bar. 

This is outside the Fabulous Opera House.

I am wearing my favorite black Armani Exchange sunnies, a borrowed shirt from Abby, a thrifted Dooney and Bourke, hand me down skirt from Ker, necklace from Nepal that Prateek gave me and     

my favorite black Aldo flats. 

Jon. He is so cute. 

View from our seats. We were sitting the "Organ section" and it was a fabulous view of the conductor and everything happening on stage. 

Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto
Passion and Ecstasy

Thomas Adès’ Asyla is huge, and it calls for a huge orchestra. We meet the challenge by joining forces with the youthful talents of our exceptional mentoring orchestra, the Sydney Sinfonia, in our very first “Side-by-Side” concert. With old hands and fresh faces we’ll form a super orchestra to play this madhouse of a piece with its thrilling contrasts and pop culture influences – The Rite of Springmeets club music.

Maxwell Foster is another youthful talent, and he’ll be performing the concerto that won him the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year award in 2008 when he was 16. This concerto isn’t a chart topper for nothing: Tchaikovsky marries virtuoso power to his famous soaring melodies for the perfect blend of brilliance and poetry. Lucid orchestral colours and dancing rhythms frame an intoxicating concert.

P STANHOPE Fantasia on a Theme by
Vaughan Williams
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1
ADÈS Asyla*
TCHAIKOVSKY Nutcracker: Suite*

Richard Gill conductor
Thomas Adès conductor*
Maxwell Foster piano
Sydney Sinfonia(Side-by-Side with
the Sydney Symphony)*

My favorite part was the Piano Concerto No. 1. 

Before the Piano performance was a new piece written by Vaughn Williams who gave the pre-concert speech in the back gallery of the Opera House. We sat and listened to several sections from the piece and he told us club music is what inspired him when he was writing. During the performance I only noted a few Blues influences from double bass and symbols. 

Ades Asyla was performed by both the Symphony and Sinfonia. The stage was packed and like every instrument was played. 

Then! The Nutcracker Suite!!!! Sweet!!!!! 

I have to write a review for the concert for my class so I will post that when it is completed. 

Shark feeding at the Sydney Aquarium

This is the city side of Darling Harbour at night. I am sitting on the benches in front of the Imax theatre waiting for Mahtab to meet me for dinner after she gets off work.

Abby and I went to the Sydney Aquarium and did a shark feeding on a glass bottom boat.

We were taken on a tour of the kitchen where they prepared the food for all the aquraum life as well as all the animals at the wildlife center. They had a well stocked kitchen, items such as fresh spinach, strawberries, grapes, apples, carrots, romaine lettuce, fresh shrimp, squid, fish........
We were then instructed to put on our life jackets and walk up stairs. Above the tank where we got on to the boat was lit by fluorescent lights and super hot and humid. We then went out to the middle of the tank and looked at all the little fishies. We started by dumping in a bucket of minced fish. Then we each grabbed a handful of shrimp and threw that around. The shark started circling our boat when the food got bigger, such as the squid and whole fish. It was cool. The fish were really pretty and it was very cool being so close to a live shark and not being behind glass.

There was a "Where's Waldo" theme throughout the aquarium (and the wildlife center)

Boom Boom Boom

I feel like my posts are like boom boom boom because they are everywhere, but that is me and that is how I think. Sorry if it is difficult to follow, I will try and get better. Maybe with this class my skillz will improve ;)

Anyway, man Manly was cool. I took the ferry from Circular Quay that goes by the Opera House and you can also see the Harbour bridge from the Quay.



The Contemporary Art Museum:


Opera House:















No need for words on this one.