It was a windy day in London, so TGOC and a couple of colleagues headed over to Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen for a business lunch.
Now, anyone who knows me (I’m Kelly, the veggie one) knows that dear old Jamie can do no wrong in my eyes, so a restaurant that offers an apprenticeship program for people from less than privileged backgrounds, only raised the bar for any other chef's to creep in to my good books.
We had a table booked in the downstairs section of the restaurant which was much quieter which suited our needs, as there was lots of talking to be done. However, the upstairs restaurant looked very vibrant when we passed through, so i'd like to go back for a bite on the top floor.
The décor is tasteful and reminded me of New York’s backstreet trendy hot spots. The bench me and Katy sat on felt quite low compared to the table, which became a little irritating half way through our meal. I propped myself up on a stack of pillows for the second half of the meal as my dinner plate was in line with my chin. (I’d like to point out that I’m 5ft10, so I’m hardly a borrower).
Our waiter was very attentive and knowledgeable about the food and wine we ordered, my only criticism would be the speed at which he spoke. At times, he was hard to follow, but that could be down to my sleepy return-to-work-after-xmas-head, or he was in a hurry. Who knows?
The menu wasn’t 8 pages long, which already gave it high marks from me. (I’m a firm believer in ‘do a little well, rather than lots badly’) I kicked off with the tuscan bean soup which I pretty much inhaled. Oh olive oil, how I love thee….it was proper olive oil, that actually tasted of olives, rather than that yellow swill you get from super markets. Thumbs up Jamie and chums.
Up next, the main course. I went with the gnocchi which was a beautiful pink colour and cooked perfectly. It came with braised beetroot and a very buttery sauce which would normally put me off, but it worked extremely well. The icing on the cake for me was the blob of blood orange mascarpone that was sat on top. A strange concoction, maybe? But a delicious one.
At this point, I’m going to interject - I’m the carnivore, Katy! To start I opted for Burrata with caramelised chicory. The mozzarella was a lot creamier than your standard ball with a slightly nutty element, which paired very nicely with the walnuts in the dish, and complemented the simultaneously sweet and bitter chicory. A great dish to start but more about smart sourcing than accomplished cooking.
To follow I had a risotto which was underwhelming. It was creamy and filling with nice flavours (I think squash and ox cheek or beef shin but the fact I can’t really remember speaks volumes) however you don’t go to a pseudo-celebrity restaurant for ‘nice’ you go for ‘wow’. At least it went well with the Riesling. Needless to say I eyed up our dining companion’s venison with great envy and from his reaction I think I mis-ordered (a rare occurrence) rather than the kitchen having an off-day.
We opted for another vino over dessert, but the selection on offer was your classic Italian hip huggers – January ‘diets’ (pff yeah right) moved us away from these and onto coffee. (Delicious coffee I might add).
We think fifteen is a great venue with a great story to tell, but I think the story is what sells it. The food is lovely and clearly their suppliers are carefully considered , but it’s probably on the same level as Jamie’s chain of Italians. You pay a lot for what you get, which anywhere else would grate on us, but with the money going into training the chefs of tomorrow it’s not one to nit-pick over.
Good for – Low key business lunches.
Bad for –Flashy
£ - Not much bang for your buck, but worth the buck for the cause.
Rating out of 15 – 10.
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