Jamie's Italian, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Britain's favourite mockney has made his way to these shores by opening up a branch of his Italian chain restaurants. 

It's been open for nearly two months and my wife and I recently went there for lunch. The hype is still there as we waited an hour and a half (90 minutes) until we got a table.

We were placed in a compact table in the middle of the restaurant. The floor area not spacious but did not feel cramped during the full lunch service. It has a rustic Italian decor, probably similar to all branches. They have hanging cured meats as shown below and there's a noticeable dragon mural painting on of one of the walls for a local touch.

Lighting & Cured Meats

There is sufficient waiting staff so it was not long before our order was taken. 

I decided to go for the Fish in a Bag dish on offer and share a bruschetta with my wife for starters. We were advised that the fish would take a little longer, which was not an issue as we had order the bread to being our meal.

The bruschetta arrived first, as shown below. Dainty pieces of crispy bread with crab meat and apple shavings on top, served with mashed avocado and ricotta to the side. It was all nicely presented on a wooden platter. A bit small to look at but tasty combination of ingredients to make a good starter. The picture also shows the drinks we ordered; with the lemon and basil ice tea at the top and lemonade at the bottom.

Bruschetta

The next dish to arrive, surprisingly, was the fish. This was odd in that we expected my wife's Prawn Linguine to arrive at the same time, along with the Roast Potatoes we were going to share. The food itself was really good. The cod was delicate and flaky and there were clams and mussels too, which were good. There was a hint of spiciness from the sauce and chilli. The cracked wheat provided the starch portion of the meal, which was like a crunchier cous cous and quite interesting as I had never had it before.

Fish in a Bag

The linguine did arrive, after we finished the fish and potatoes came soon after, both shown below. The potatoes were a small side dish and looked like mini baked potatoes as they had the skin on, rather than the classic ones used to when accompanying a Sunday roast, but were still tasty. The linguine was touted as 'famous'. I would not go so far as to saying it was excellent but the pasta was al dente, the prawns were present but nothing special, the sauce had flavour and not overflowing and it looked pretty enough.

Roast Potato & Linguine

We finished the meal off with dessert and tea. These did arrive at the same time and the pannacotta I ordered is slightly obscured by the teapot in the picture. This was firm and creamy with a sour berry sauce and was top notch. My wife's tiramisu at the forefront of the picture was good too with the liqueur and coffee taste just coming through without being too strong. The Earl Grey tea was served in a mix of a Chinese style teapot and modern transparent cup, which was different but fun.

Dessert & Tea

The muddled timings of food service maybe down to the Asian culture of sharing food when eating in a group but this was not what I was expecting from a Western restaurant. I believe they would be able to prepare the food at the same time if one requested it that way, I hope.

Overall it was good but for the wait we had to be seated and the price, it was not worth it. I would advise to give it a try if you have not been to a different branch in the world when the queues subside.

Scores:

Food: 4/5

Presentation: 4/5

Service: 3/5

Setting: 3/5

Overall: 14/20

Total Bill: 673HKD, about £27 a head. 

We ate: All of the above, all ordered al la carte.

We drank: Lemon & basil ice tea, which had a strong basil taste.

I wore: Italian branded jeans.