Jamie Oliver pops in on Parramatta restaurant
Jamie Oliver is in Australia giving all of six of his Jamie’s Italian restaurants here a good revitalisation.
So it’s no surprise he dropped in Jamie’s Italian Parramatta restaurant this morning.
It was good for staff as they got some valuable one on one time with the celebrity chef.
All this is part of the buyback of the restaurants following the collapse of its previous owners, the Keystone Hospitality Group which went into receivership in late 2016.
“We’ve always been a big family with our restaurants,” Oliver told the Daily Telegraph.
“Before we were a family through a cousin, but now we’re really family.”
It’s a total revitalisation of the restaurant chain.
Under the new ownership, the Parramatta restaurant’s name will change - Jamie’s Italian Trattoria will become Jamie’s Italian.
The business will retain all previous staff.
It is one of six Australian restaurants in the chain, along with Sydney city, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane.
Oliver is chuffed with the changes.
It’s been quite an emotional thing for me,” Oliver told the Daily Telegraph.
“I’ve just bought back all my businesses and we’ve kept the staff ... they’ve been amazing.
“We won’t be dumbing it down here, if anything we’re upping it up, it’s going to be bigger, and I think, that’s going to be possible here because Australia seems to be the place that gets me more than anywhere else.”
The new menu to be launched by Oliver and his Australian team will include Spicy sausage fusilli, truffle tagliatelle, rib eye steak, super food salad, julietta pizza and salumi bruschetta.
Oliver said it was good being back in Australia.
“I never thought, when I was just the Naked Chef, that I’d ever get to Australia, that was years ago, but wasn’t something I thought would happen,” he said.
“I’ve always been most proud of my Australian restaurants. In the UK we run our own restaurants and here we are doing the same.”
by Leon Gettler, May 9th 2017
