After having an underwhelming lunch buffet at Windjammer Marketplace the day before, we just didn’t fancy breakfast at the same place. And thus we decided to skip it and reserve stomach space for an early lunch at Jamie’s Italian instead.
Savour The Best With The Unlimited Dining Package
Jamie’s Italian is one of four specialty restaurants onboard Quantum of the Seas. As we had bought the Unlimited Dining Package prior to our cruise, we could dine at any one of the specialty restaurants unlimited times. As I had emphasized in my previous posts, getting the Unlimited Dining Package was the wisest choice because the food quality and service standard of the restaurants we visited definitely surpassed that from the complimentary dining. So if you’re a foodie or just want to have good food while on holiday (you deserve it!), please go for the same package as well. You won’t regret spending the extra money!
We enjoyed our lunch at Jamie’s Italian so much that we made another lunch reservation for the next day. So read on and find out why we were so impressed with the restaurant.
Ambience
A very cosy, casual and relaxing place. Just like a family-run Italian restaurant.
Service
Definitely on par with Chops Grille. The service here at Jamie’s Italian was impeccable. We had a dedicated waitress (oops, I forgot her name!) who took great care of us. Always making sure we were enjoying our food and would always check in on us every now and then to see if we needed anything else and so on. Really appreciated her thoughtfulness and initiative to request the kitchen to reduce the portion sizes of the starters so we could order more dishes to try.
Menu
Jamie’s Italian doesn’t serve up authentic Italian cuisine like other popular Italian restaurants such as Basilico, Garibaldi or Etna. It’s more like Italian-inspired home-style cooking that features very hearty and comforting dishes which can be very shareable among friends and families. Come in a group and indulge in a feast. Good food, good company. It’s all that matters.
Click here to see Jamie’s Italian sample menu.
Starters
Our Famous Meat Plank
Consisting of San Daniele prosciutto, Tuscan fennel salami, ’Nduja Artisans coppa piccante & pistachio mortadella with tomato crostini, bocconcini mozzarella, pecorino Sardo & chilli jam, focaccia, olives and pickles. All nicely presented on a wooden plank, resting on several cans of chopped tomatoes.
This was a smaller or half portion so you can imagine how big the serving will be for the original size. Everything on the plank was good, just that the serving size was still quite big for the two of us as we were going to have more dishes to come, lol.
Creamy Burrata
With slow-roasted tomatoes, carta di musica and arugula. The burrata cheese was so soft and creamy. Tasted very rich and milky too.
Crispy Squid
Served with lemon and garlic mayo. The squid was perfectly fried – crispy and crunchy, tender and almost effortless to chew. Yum!
Ultimate Garlic Bread
Warm artisan buttermilk buns with herby garlic butter, veggie Parmesan & rosemary. OMG, I really loved this garlic bread! If only carbs wouldn’t fill you up easily, I would have chomped down half a dozen of them, lol. The buns were so fresh and soft.
Baked Mushrooms
Paris brown & grey oyster mushrooms baked in carta di musica with mushroom sauce, thyme and mozzarella. This was my favourite starter because it was so creamy and delicious. Had to use the garlic bread to mop up all this sauce – cannot be wasted!
Mains
JI Burger
Juicy prime beef in a brioche bun with smoky pancetta, sticky balsamic onions, aged Cheddar, tomato, mostarda di Cremona burger sauce and fries. The burger buns were too bready but the beef patty that was made with pure meat was moist and well seasoned. Didn’t like the fries too as they tasted more like baked potatoes and weren’t fluffy at all.
Eggplant Parmigiana
Balsamic-roasted eggplant, tomato & basil sauce, mozzarella & veggie Parmesan. Tasted very tomatoey. Pretty ordinary. Nothing to shout about.
Lamb Chops Scottadito
Lamb chops grilled under a brick, served with agrodolce peppers & salsa verde. This was my favourite main of all. I couldn’t make up my mind if this lamb chop was better than the one at Chops Grille as both were equally outstanding. For this dish, I must say the lamb chops went really well with the salsa verde. The zesty sauce really gave it a bright and refreshing taste. And the meat was nicely done, very tender and wasn’t gamey at all.
Truffle Tagliatelle
With Umbrian truffle, truffle cream & nutmeg. Freshly made tagliatelle done al dente, exactly the way I like my pasta to be. This was really creamy and fragrant.
Desserts
Epic Brownie
With chocolate sauce, salted caramel popcorn gelato and caramelised popcorn. This was chocolate decadence! Really very chocolatey. The brownie was served warm and when paired with the vanilla ice cream, the combination was just amazing.
Classic Tiramisu
You can’t have an Italian meal without tiramisu! Though this tiramisu wasn’t the best I had (I still prefer the one at Pete’s Place), it was still a decent tasting one. This contained liquor but the flavour was nicely balanced and overall it wasn’t too sweet or cloying.
Ice Cream
Manager Onur convinced us to have ice cream even though we were so full, lol. We got the vanilla which was flavoured with real vanilla beans and also mango sorbet that was so refreshing. The sorbet is a must-have! Perfect thing to have after a rich, heavy meal as it can really refresh the taste buds.
Final Thoughts
In terms of the food, there were actually more hits than misses. We highly recommend the Crispy Squids, Baked Mushrooms, Ultimate Garlic Bread, Lamb Chops and Epic Brownie. These were so good that we were more than happy to eat again when we came back for lunch the next day. Great service. Fantastic food. What else do we need?