I’ve eaten in a few of his places and on various occasions, has to be said it’s a bit meh and rammed full of child buggies and whining parents, for that I’m ooot.
Foods about on par with an upmarket Little Chef these days, in a “you know what you are getting”, “you know it’ll be cooked”, “you almost know what it’ll cost”, “you have a seat to sit on”.
It is overpriced, it is “get in, eat, get out” attitude and it is all served by staff who couldn’t care less about Jamie nor his food ethos.
I suspect the chain is so far removed from his little hands that he barely takes a look at his bank balance these days.
You can eat better, you can eat for far better VFM elsewhere, be it the local Caff or Georgio Locatellis.
However I’m a fan of his, liken him to an open, honest, jovial, interested Spaniel. Always on the move, always interesting on his TV trips and grounded to the point of getting involved in the programme rather than letting someone write a script and he plays out a Pinnochio stance sans strings.
I have a few of his books, opened them once of twice but the first one I almost got to the end of and have to say it’s helped me in my day to day cooking variation(s)
😉
