Jamie's Italian, Newcastle - Evening Favourites

I've been meaning to try out Jamie's Italian in Newcastle ever since it opened. I'm not sure what's taken me so long but we can probably blame my never ending list of restaurants and my inability to ever get through them all.

A dinner date with fellow bride Kelly (believe me when you're getting married, chatting to friends who are also getting married is amazing) gave me the perfect excuse to finally book a table and a great opportunity to chat dresses, flowers and cakes without annoying anyone not in the 2016 bride club!

Jamies has a great menu that's perfect for an after work treat, the Evening Favourites is available Monday to Thursday from 6:00 pm and offers three courses for £18.95 (and if you're feeling very fancy you can even treat yourself to a glass of Prosecco for £5).

With plenty of delicious sounding dishes to choose between for each course I had a little bit of decision making to do (and we all know I'm not the best at choosing what to order because I really do love all food).

Having spent a lot of my day enthusiastically studying every inch of the menu I decided on the Mushroom Fritti for my Starter - King oyster and Paris brown mushrooms coated in herby breadcrumbs served with garlic mayo. I was so impressed with the generous size of the dish and it was beautiful.

Kelly went for Jamie's Favourite Antipasti Board which looked so good. Quite often when I'm in restaurants I want to order a platter but usually they're designed to feed an army so it's great that Jamies offers a smaller version. Kelly's board was covered in fennel salami, pistachio mortadella, prosciutto and chicken-liver crostini with mini buffalo mozzarella, pecornio & chilli jam and a selection of pickles and olives. I had massive food envy.

By the time we'd finished our Starters the restaurant was beginning to get a little busy and service did become a little slow. We really didn't mind as we were having such a lovely time gossiping but I could imagine that those not wanting such a leisurely dinner may have been feeling a little frustrated.

When it came to our Mains we both ordered Jamie's Italian Burger. New to the menu, the juicy prime British beef burger is stuffed with smoky pancetta, balsamic onions, Westcome Cheddar, tomato and homemade mostarda mayo.

One thing to watch if you do fancy the Jamie's Italian Burger, it doesn't come with fries! To me a Burger without fries is just wrong. We decided to order a portion of fries to share which we had with a delicious homemade mayonnaise.

I've become somewhat of a burger expert recently and am seriously fighting Simon for his crown. Nothing makes me happier than a slightly pink burger stuffed with a generous amount of fillings. I was really impressed with the offering at Jamies, especially the homemade mostarda mayo which really made the burger for me. Juicy, messy and ended up all over my face - a definite winner!

We were both feeling pretty full by this point but we were determined to get through all three courses so turned our attention to the dessert menu.

Kelly went for the ice-cream which came in a choice of flavours and with two toppings. There was a lot to choose from but she was pretty quick to make her decision - salted caramel with smashed honeycomb. Doesn't that just sound like the best flavour combination?

As always my greedy eyes were immediately drawn to the naughtiest sounding dessert on the menu and I ordered the Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake. The crunchy biscuit base was covered in white chocolate mascarpone, fresh raspberries and smashed amaretti. I really loved the almond flavour of the cheesecake, the extra kick of sweetness was so good with the tangy raspberries. It seriously was one of the best cheesecakes that I've had in a long while.

We had a really lovely evening at Jamie's Italian and I will definitely be returning for a date night with Simon.

What are your favourite dishes at Jamie's? Let me know what I should order next time.