ANOTHER birthday treat for me was to go to Jamie’s Italian in Reading. I am a big Jamie Oliver fan. I love his books and his ethos and I had never been to one of his restaurants before.  As we had a uni reunion planned to go back to our uni town my friends agreed we could go there for a meal before our night out.  The restaurant in Reading is at the centre of the riverside, which is a great location. The atmosphere is relaxed and easygoing- just like Jamie and although the service was a bit slow to start it was great once it got going. I was feeling pretty full but we did try the olives on ice , which were some of the nicest olives I have ever had- they were fat and juicy and actually tasted of something! Then onto mains...I went for prawn linguine (£12.50)

Prawn Linguine

which was fried garlicky prawns with shaved fennel, tomatoes, chilli and rocket. I realised afterwards my friend, Jennie, who was also dining with me had cooked me this before from Jamie’s book! It almost tasted the same and it was delicious. The prawns were oozing with flavour and the pasta was fresh and perfectly done. The glass of prosecco, which is my new tipple of choice, accompanied it well. Jennie had Wild Rabbit Tagliolini (£10.95) which is slow-cooked ragù with garlic & herbs, mascarpone and Amalfi lemon. Penny had mini-meatball carbonara (£11.25) served Roman-style with lemon cream sauce, Parmesan and rigatoni pasta. She wasn’t too keen on the meat which was both pork and beef. Michelle went for honeycomb cannelloni 3 ways (£10.95) and Tasha for a plethora of dishes. They all went down a storm. Being a greedy little piggy what I like about it is the portion sizes aren’t too small, as pasta sometimes be. It was a great lunch in a relaxed atmosphere, reasonably priced. Expect to see some attempts at Jamie Oliver recipes on this blog!

Rabbit!