Pukka Tukker?

My girlfriend took me out for dinner last night. Although she may wish she hadn't as I think she knows what a food bore I can be, especially where restaurants are concerned. Not that I’m over critical or a food snob or anything (or maybe I am!?) - I'm just fascinated by it. Some people spot trains, some do sports....I like eating food!

We decided to go to Jamie’s Italian in Bristol. Now at this point I must confess I'm not a massive fan of Jamie himself, especially the marketing  gravy train that he rides, but I do like his food and surely that's what counts (although I’m sure he's a top bloke in 'real' life!). So, with a modicum of excitement, trepidation and a forced wide open mind, we pottered down to

Park Street

to engorge ourselves in 'Oliver Land'.

Immediately I got the vibe of the place and was slightly surprised and encouraged by it. Instead of the overly marketed 'Oliver Land' that I was expecting (perhaps greeted by a Maître’ D styled as a Jamie Oliver impersonator!), there was a very polite and efficient front of house team who after letting us know there was a small wait for a table - emblazoned me with a flashing pager type gizmo which would alert me to the readiness of our table. So we grabbed a beer, took a seat in the foyer and absorbed our surroundings. For me it was much like a typical (but good) city centre restaurant, quite an industrial feel with 'authentic' Italian embellishments such as the hanging meats, fresh pasta, boxes of bread sticks (?), bottles of olive oil and such like. There were also a few sneaky Jamie books and the latest 'Two Greedy Italians' books lying around - but you can’t blame them for trying! Somehow I wasn’t convinced I was dining with The Cameron's in Tuscany - but I don’t think that was the idea (at least I hope so)!

Call me old fashioned, but when I go out to eat and expect to pay good money for a nice meal - I prefer a more personal touch from the front of house team. Instead we sat intently, looking up at a digital display board showing which table was ready next - like the waiting area of an Argos store. Although it somehow added to the excitement of the moment when our number flashed up on the digital display and we could go celebrate our good fortune and eat some food. But like Argos, the excitement was short lived when we realised that we would have to pay for our winning number at some point.

We were shown to our table upstairs and luckily I got to sit facing opposite the open style kitchen with a decent view of the culinary theatre. A polite waiter showed us to the fish counter and introduced the day's catch – plaice, bass, mackerel and sardines (which were blatantly Cornish pilchards but I’m not complaining about that, all the better for it really). I was slightly disappointed they didn’t have a wider selection of fish, but given the lateness of our arrival it was perfectly understandable.

Finally we selected our meals. A starter of fresh green (and ‘iced’) olives with tapenade to share. My girlfriend prefers the tapas approach to dining (and why not), so she ordered an antipasti combo of deep fried courgette flower stuffed with ricotta and crispy chili squid with aioli. For me it was a choice between the ‘bag of fish’ or the fish stew – I chose the latter.

The olives were simply amazing. Fresh, plump, emerald green, juicy and sweet – unlike any other olives I have eaten. The olives came with a black olive tapenade and ‘parchment’ style bread which was also wonderful. After a lot of ooo-ing and ahh-ing over the olives, the main arrived. The courgette flower and squid were both pretty as a picture as was my stew, which was topped with a slice of ciabatta for substance. As soon as my spoon delved into the broth and then hit the tip of my tongue I knew this was a ‘spicy’ fish stew - and when I say spicy, I mean as fiery as Vesuvius! I think it was supposed to be a Sicilian stew, so a spicy stew was always a given but I don’t expect the food to taste of the island’s volcanic past! I love spice and heat in food, but unfortunately this was too much, even for me. It completely removed all the taste from the fish, which I think I identified as skate wing, hake and possibly some bass, with some mussels in there for good measure. It seemed every mouthful was like running the chili gauntlet, but I persevered with it (like a true Brit!) until my throat could take no more.

It literally took my breath away, but not in a complimentary fashion. I have noticed in the past that Mr Oliver does like using chillies in nearly every single recipe of his, but I’m sure this was just a mistake by the chef on the day. Interestingly the guy on the table next to us complained that his ‘fish bag’ was over seasoned and overpowered by fennel and he couldn’t taste the fish.

This is not to say I found the stew totally unpalatable, the broth had a good depth of flavour (when no chillies were to be found) and the fish was perfectly cooked. I tried the courgette and squid too, which were both very tasty and the squid was also perfectly cooked (often found to be over cooked in many establishments).

The courgette flower was deliciously light and tasty and placed in a sea of a tomato sauce, which i wasn't sure added anything to the courgette, but it was nice all the same. The squid was also really nice and perfectly cooked, which is not always the case with squid and there was no hint of a rubbery texture. Our only complaint was that the meal was a little greasy, but that was our fault for ordering two fried dishes!

The meal came to approximately £60 including drinks, which I though was a little over priced, but given the celebrity status behind the place was not surprising.

Would I go back? Doubtful - maybe for a luncheon of their lovely antipasti. The place comes across as a very typical high street restaurant, which gets the media junkies through the door and serves pretty but vacant food, masked by an onslaught of over seasoning, flavours and chili! The child in me was disappointed that there wasn’t an ‘Oliver Land’ after all -  perhaps with giant replica of Jamie’s head with his tongue fashioned into a slide entering into a massive bowl of tapenade (too much?!). The adult in me persevered and I was most impressed with the restaurant layout and ambiance. I don’t think the place lives up to the hype and it certainly won’t set the culinary world on fire – but it will certainly torch your tonsils!