Monday, August 10, 2009
Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Restaurant, London
We hit London last Friday, but had had no time to plan any culinary adventures beforehand. This was one trip that we were going to have to do on the wing. We were staying at the Hoxton Hotel, near Shoreditch, and I learned from a little booklet in our room that Jamie Oliver's famous Fifteen restaurant was just a few minutes walk away, off City Road. Well, job done. We decided to see if we could get an early table, without a booking.
We were lucky, and after a 5 minute wait at the bar, we were seated at our table. The restaurant interior is mixed between rustic and chic and is also full of Jamie Oliver material for purchase. All in all, it's a relaxing spot.
A lovely basket of bread and a little jug of olive oil was bought to our table along with the menus. The focaccia was absolutely delicious, moist with olive oil with rosemary and sea salt on top. We decided to share the anitpasti for two as a starter. When it arrived, the platter looked initially small, but as we started to dig through the piled up vegetables, we realised that there was a lot more than met the eye. Butternut squash, sweet balsamic onions, minted courgettes, buffalo mozzarella and many more along with plump bright green olives whetted our appetite.
We had both chosen pasta for mains, primarily because we didn't want to eat too much and end up going back to the hotel early. I had the gnocchi made with beetroot. These were quite simply the fluffliest, airiest gnocchi that I've ever eaten, and came served in a butter and cream sauce with pinenuts and tangy cheese. Himself had chosen the bucatini 'alla Ligure' which came with tangy and salty onion and anchovie coating.
One Morretti beer, one glass of (disappointing) Atlas de Ruesca rose wine, one large bottle of sparkling, along with a £1 donation to charity and a 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge bought the bill to £53.71. Not bad value at all, and a lot of the fish dishes looked amazed as they taken past our table.
Fifteen, 13 Westland Place, London N1 7LP. 0871 339 1515
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