Jamie's Italian - Jamie Oliver's new restaurant in Sao Paulo

Opening day for Jamie's Italian, April 7th 2015, drum-roll please..................

A few weeks ago, perhaps it was even Tuesday April 7th, a gal pal of mine mentioned that Jamie Oliver was opening a new restaurant in Sao Paulo; 'we should go', she said.   I said YES, YES, lets go, how about tomorrow?  She said, oh I cannot, I am leaving to go home(Sweden) for a few weeks but certainly we shall upon my return.  

Feeling disappointed because I wanted to try it NOW,  I got on my computer to get some information about the restaurant and ended up making a reservation.  Making a ressie is super easy, it can be done all online.  Of course you can call if you prefer.  Since this was not one of my 'practice my Portuguese language skills days' I decided to take advantage of the online system.  The first available lunch time was on April 23rd at 1:00pm, just two weeks away.  Not bad.  I booked a table for four and signed off.

Judy and Liz feeling happy and hungry!

I invited one of my dear friends Judy who lives in Sao Paulo, and Sirley from book club and Judy invited one of her friends, Kristen.  It was a group made in heaven, eager to eat and socialize, we had everything in common!!

The restaurant's atmosphere was warm and inviting even though it seated at more than 100 patrons.  The lunch crowd was lively and there was quite a buzz of happy customers eating Jamie's Italian food.

Busy lunch time crowd.

Tall and inviting bar space.

We began with two appetizers to share - music bread and the grilled veggie board.  The music bread was a crisp homemade cracker (which is on the far right-side of the board pictured below) topped with a thin slice of pecorino cheese, a dollop of chili jam and a slice of red hot pepper. The grilled vegetables were sliced, char grilled and marinated in a herby olive oil and served on a plank with buffalo mozzarella, music bread and some bruschetta.

A large plank of grilled marinated veggies

We each ordered our own plate for lunch.  I had the hamburger and garlic and parsley french fries.

Kristen enjoyed the Caesar Salad with crispy procuttio

Sirley had the Tagliatelle Bolognes which consisted of beef and pork ragu with red wine and parmesan.
And Judy had Jamie's Sausage Pappardelle, a ragu of slow cooked fennel & free range pork sausages with incredible Torrione Chianti, parmesan & herby breadcrumbs.  

We shared the Epic Brownie, a freshly baked warm fudgy brownie with salted caramel ice cream and caramelised amarette popcorn. 

All the mains were quite salty and my hamburger was well done, although I ordered it medium.  The ice cream as indicated in the description above was also salted.  Overall the food was good, not great.  It was quite affordable with drinks, appetizers, mains, dessert and a couple of coffees came to 400R$.  

I am glad we had a chance to experience this restaurant but I would not go back only because there are so many other restaurants I would like to try in Sao Paulo.  I would recommend going so you can say you tried it and check it off your list.  And who knows maybe the chef won't have such a heavy hand with the salt on the day you visit.