For a while, Chelmsford has not been a place I would think of for great food. There isn’t a particular reason for this, and actually a few years ago I had a very pleasant meal at ‘Barda’ in Chelmsford, but due to my location, I just never think to go.

It’s funny to think, that the popular and proud Essex boy has only just opened a restaurant in his home county. Opening the back end of last year, ‘Jamie’s Italian, Trattoria’ had been making some waves on my social media pages, and definitely stood up and wanted to be noticed.

Seeing as the next day, the Saturday would see me rushing about and travelling to Marbella for my birthday, I thought it would be nice to go down on the Friday night with my Mum and spend some time with her before I traveled.

We were greeting by a large, lovely building, with high ceilings and clever lighting. The kitchen was open, which is a fantastic credit to the team. Open kitchens are my favorite, no secrets.

We were seated towards the back of the restaurant on a lovely little table for two. First impressions of the restaurant are that it’s busy, but once you get seated you realize it is busy, but it’s cleverly set out so as not to be imposing.

Once we were seated, our waitress Charlotte couldn’t do enough to help up, and she is a real credit to the restaurant. Knowing how filling Italian is, we opted for the Garlic Bread to share to start. I LOVE it when Garlic Bread is done properly, on thin bread. There’s nothing worse than a mouthful of flavorless carbohydrate before your meal.

 The bread was lovely and crisp and not one bit too filling for me to tuck into my Carbonara that I had ordered for my main.

I love Carbonara and I am unfortunately one of those sad boring people that could have a Carbonara everywhere I went. This Carbonara though, was on of the best. I don’t know what the secret is, but it was absolutely mouthwatering. The sauce was so creamy and tasty, I’d absolutely love to know what was in it. I know how to make a mean Carbonara but this was something else.

My Mum had the Margarita pizza, which may sound plain but trust me, at Jamies Italian it is anything but. The cheese melted in your mouth and the base was obviously freshly made, which gives it a massive advantage over other Italians which maybe use the freshest products for the toppings but neglect the base itself.

I am not actually a great lover of sweet food, so I usually just try a mouthful of whatever dessert my Mum is having. She chose the cheesecake and I have to say I was a bit jealous I’d not ordered one.

Overall, the meal was lovely, and the prosecco was good as well which is a massive touch, there’s nothing worse than going to an Italian and being served sub standard prosecco.

If you want a great meal with great service for a decent price, I’d highly recommend coming here. You can even book online, which makes life so much easier!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/restaurants/trattoria-chelmsford