Jamie's Italian Trattoria - Parramatta

Normal people adore musicians and celebrities right? I don't, I fanboy over chefs. I follow people like Dave Chang, Chase Kojima, Dan Hong, Nic Wong and Anthony Bourdain more closely than I do the Kardashians. That's mostly because I practically learned to cook before I learned to run and it's the chefs I saw on TV and in the cookbooks that fostered my intense love of the culinary (special thanks to my dad as well). That's why when I found out (about a month or so ago) that one of my all-time idols; Jamie Oliver was opening a restaurant in Parramatta...I made it my life mission to go. This was rather convenient as the Mrs and I also had a monthsary to celebrate so we booked a table as soon we had a chance. We didn't choose to dine on a busy day so it wasn't immensely packed and upon being seated, we had our orders taken relatively swiftly and so, the date night started out spectacularly.

Now, I'd heard rumors about the long wait times for food at Jamie's Italian in the city so I was rather worried at first but surprisingly, the food came rather quickly! First to come were the porcini mushroom arancini and crispy squid & zucchini. The arancini was fried to a nice crisp on the outside but unfortunately, the rice was a little undercooked in my opinion. It also lacked a bit of the deep mushroom flavour I was expecting from the porcini but the sauce made up for it with it's intense depth and richness.

The squid was perfectly crispy and spicy, almost reminiscent of an italian version of salt & pepper squid. The zucchinis were slices super thinly and the squid was cooked to a perfect tenderness. The chillies gave it a decent amount of heat which really complemented the way the dish worked with the zesty lemon juice and aioli. Honestly, the dish was a wonderfully crunchy and appetising way to start dinner.

The meatballs came shortly after and it looked visually amazing. The piping hot sauce covered the bottom of the dish with five plump little meatballs sitting in the middle. The odd numbered balls made it slightly harder to share but it worked out fine in the end cause the Mrs was more interested in the other dishes to care.

After our plates were collected and a short intercession, our much anticipated mains arrived at our table. The Mrs stayed safe and ordered a prawn linguine which was good but according to the Mrs, lacked a bit of heat. The bowl it was served in also retained heat so well that the pasta continued to cook in the indirect heat. Still, she was satisfied with her dish and that's what matters right? Portioning was large too despite the small looking dish. 

My dish was heaven in a bowl (to me). I ordered the truffle tagliatelle and honestly, I wouldn't have wanted anything else. To meat? No veges? No problem...it was just you, the carbs and the sensory overload of truffle. Despite the intense aroma wafting into the air, the dish was surprisingly light in flavour which made I really appreciated. We had also ordered the rosemary scented skinny fries which I had the absolutely brilliant idea to throw into the truffle sauce thereby creating truffle fries. Waste not want not right?

Overall, I was rather impressed with Jamie's Trattoria. To me, it tasted exactly how I'd imagined Jamie's food to taste (rustic and homely). Definitely a big plus that there were minimal wait times for food and ample seating. Parramatta now has another great foodie destination.