Pasta Showdown at Jamie’s Italian

The very first Jamie’s Italian has finally opened up it’s doors in South Africa.
And, lucky me, I got to eat here twice in one week.

more about jamie’s italian …

Jamie’s Italian is your every day neighbourhood restaurant either for a casual family meal or to celebrate a special occasion.

pasta showdown

The boyfriend and I booked for lunch at Jamie’s Italian for the last Friday of our summer holidays. We needed a little cheering up as the end of holiday blues started creeping in. A few days later I attended the official media launch.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, or follow me on Instagram, you will know pasta forms part of my staple diet. I like to think I am Italian and I love my carbs.

I even did a feature post of my Favourite Pasta Dishes in Johannesburg.

On my first visit to Jamie’s Italian I had to have pasta so I opted for the Our Famous Prawn Linguni. On the media visit, I obviously had to have pasta again, so I had the Mussel Linguini.

With pasta being my favourite and seafood of all kinds being my second favourite, I thought I would do a showdown between these two dishes. They’re the only two seafood pastas on the menu, so why not?

Our Famous Prawn Linguini 

“Garlicky prawns with tomatoes, fennel, saffron, fresh chilli and rocket”.

To me, this pasta dish lacked a bit of flavour. All I could taste was saffron. Maybe there was too much and not enough of the other ingredients, so it overpowered the other flavours. I struggled to taste the fresh chilli (and I love chilli) as well as the fennel. The prawns were firm, which is always a good thing. There is nothing worse than mushy prawns. The linguini was just slightly overcooked. I like my pasta to be perfectly al dente. What I love though is the linguini is freshly made in the store. I think having fresh homemade pasta is such a treat.

Overall: 3 / 5 

Mussel Linguini 

“Sustainably sourced mussels, white wine, pomodorini tomatoes, garlic, chilli and parsley”

Now this pasta dish had all the flavours I was after, especially for a seafood pasta. The mussels were complimented by the white wine, and the tomato base, garlic and chilli enhanced it. Nothing was overpowering. It was just perfect! The linguini was cooked al dente too and the mussels were super fresh. All in all: a delicious dish.

Overall: 4.5 / 5

Which pasta dish will I be going back for more and more and more of …

The Mussel Linguini

♥

P.S. The Molten Chocolate Praline Pudding is Too.Die.For.