Jamie’s Italian Polenta Chips

Jamie Oliver’s chain of Italian restaurants, although each restaurant follows the same formula and serves nearly, if not completely identical menus, manages to avoid all of the flaws of a formulaic chain restaurant.  The food here is made fresh from fresh ingredients.  The staff are generally friendly and attentive, and the food is top-notch.

I’ve visited outlets in London, Cardiff, Sydney and Perth.  There are dozens of outlets in the UK, and a smattering of outlets across Australia, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, Turkey and the UAE.  Each one is as good as the next.  As an Italian-American who enjoys cooking and eating, I can say that Jamie’s team has the formula pretty well designed!  I’m just hoping for an outlet in the USA.

My particular favorites include…

Polenta chips (pictured above): Crispy on the outside, creamy in the middle, covered liberally in shredded parmigano reggiano and rosemary leaves.

Wagyu breasola salad (pictured below): Fresh, crisp, clean flavors of the salad nicely complement the rich, salty breasola served carpaccio style as a base for the mountain of salad.

If I’m in a city with a Jamie’s Italian, and I don’t have something new & unusual on my calendar for a given meal, I know I can always get some top-notch Italian food.

Jamie’s Italian Wagyu Breasola Salad

Visit http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/restaurants for locations in the UK and http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/international for locations elsewhere.