Tried & Tasted: Afternoon Tea at Jamie's Italian Hong Kong

Hey guys, after much consideration, I've decided to start at this food review thing again! Trust me, it's not without quite a bit of inner struggle. But I'm going to be selective about this, so rest assured (or this may be frowned upon...) but helloabella.com will still remain a fashion blog first, lifestyle blog second.Anywho, let's begin! I've recently been invited to Jamie's Italian over at Causeaway Bay to try out their brand new afternoon tea set! Scroll on for some photo heavy #foodporn.I've never been to any of the Jamie's Italian before but I've heard mixed reviews, so I went over without much expectations (which is always a good thing to begin with, guys.) At the up-and-coming hot spot of Causeway known as Midtown, you have to ride up two narrow escalators before the space opens up into the gorgeous restaurant.It's a rather looooong space, but lined with comfortable and inviting booths and wooden tables. The mural, we were told, was done by Jamie Oliver's good friend, much like many other aspects of his restaurants. For example, the planks that the food is served on are also handmade by one of his talented mates... Colour me impressed! But alas, food comes first, so let's begin.The afternoon tea set comes in TWO parts, first the savory on one plank and the sweets on another, served later on. The Antipasti plank includes: Levoni cured meats, Italian nachos, percorino & chilli jam, plus a selection of pickles and olives.Clearly, the star of the plank for me was the Italian nachos, or glorified deep-fried raviolis dunked in a hearty tomato sauce. Filled with cheese, it's possibly the best thing you can lay your hands on in an afternoon tea set, and definitely trumps those mini salmon cones and whatnot. Make sure you eat them quick though because if you don't, they kind of go hard when you don't notice.The selection of ham was definitely adequate, with a suggested order of ingestion that our wait staff kindly informed us. The least impressive was the pecorino with chilli jam, which was basically cheese with Thai chilli sauce. It was an interesting combo don't get me wrong, but they just didn't match up to the Italian nachos' excitement.Sorry let me interrupt you with a side of their famous lamb lollipops ($220HKD). Just because I was hungry and it was in fact lunch time. But anyway, they were really juicy and not at all overcooked, and served on extremely photogenic wooden planks as they do. I gobbled them up along with the yoghurt sauce and polenta chips, but sort of conveniently left the red onion salad to sit because... I needed to leave space for other things. Cough.Here comes the dessert! Feast (your eyes) on the fresh strawberries & cream, brownies topped with caramel popcorn and ice cream, and bitesize portions of Gennaro's Tiramisu and Tuscan eat & mess. I'm not a sweet tooth, and sometimes even shun desserts, so I only had my eyes on the strawberries, served just the way I like it. I didn't hate any of them, and to be honest by the time this arrived I was already stuffed.ALLLLL that food (minus the lamb) is only $158HKD per person. Yup. I would've expected the bill to perhaps be 50% more. You can even top up $48HKD for a glass of Prosecco, but I traded that opportunity in for a glass of their virgin mojito, which was an even better choice in hindsight.So far, I am not hating Jamie's Italian. It's good value, a fantastic setting for family gatherings AND has really good for value afternoon tea sets. If you've never been or is hesitant, I definitely recommend giving them a visit and judging it for yourself. Also, for your information I'll be heading back for that Fish in a Bag everyone's been raving about...Jamie's Italian2/F, Soundwill Plaza II- Midtown, 1 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay+852 3958 2222

Anyway till next time,xx