Jaime Oliver’s original restaurant venture is extremely delicious and incredibly expensive, but as all of its profits go into training future chefs, its hard to find fault in the prices.

The Venue
Located in uber-trendy Shoreditch, Fifteen is made up of two restaurants: the informal, ground floor Trattoria and the slightly more formal Dining Room downstairs. The Trattoria looks rustic and homey, with wood tables and chalkboards denoting the daily menu, whilst downstairs is a bit hipper. The main colour theme is black and fuscia, with a cartoon pig graffitied on one wall and Fifteen scrawled across another in ‘70s-style gold. The tables and seating are modern and functional, but the tableware has funkier touches, like the knives that stand up and the oval-shaped drinking glasses.

Fifteen is famous for two things: its founder Jamie Oliver, and the fact that it operates an apprenticeship program, wherein all the profits from the restaurant are put back into training. The chefs all come from less-than-privileged backgrounds, and within a year will hopefully be doing work placements at some of London’s top restaurants.

The Atmosphere
Local residents tend to stick to the (slightly cheaper) Trattoria upstairs, whilst downstairs is meant for the more well off crowd. Large groups and birthday parties are par for course on weekends, with plenty of out-of-town people so excited (and impressed) with their food that they take pictures of every course. Service is sweet and thankfully there’s minimal hovering involved. As this is obviously a celebrity-chef restaurant, everyone has heard of it and wants to get in the action – book ahead as tables fill up fast.

The Food
The menu changes frequently – as much as daily for the a la carte menu - as everything is based on locally sourced ingredients that are currently in season. Lunchtime is the only time you’ll get an a la carte menu in the Dining Room, as dinnertime is a tasting menu priced at £60 per person (another £40 per person with wine). A lunch could quite easily rack up a large bill. The food is expensive (about £10 for starters, a bit over £20 for mains and £6.50 for dessert), but portions are generous and should keep you going for the rest of the day with no real need for dinner.

A starter of mozzarella is incredibly fresh – almost falling apart when it touches your fork – and is served with juicy clementines and almonds. Thinly sliced pork loin is perfectly cooked and decorated with an interesting tuna mayonnaise puree, capers and a chilli oil sauce, all balanced nicely despite the different flavours.

For mains, the char-grilled mackerel is an impressive dish: a whole mackerel served curled into a giant plate like it’s swimming around in circles. (It’s served complete with head and tails, so probably not a dish for the squeamish.) The fish is flaky and soft, and the black olive sauce that accompanies it is nice and sharp. Diver caught scallops is another recommended main dish; the scallops are sweet and fresh and attractively scored across the top. The accompanying puree of Jerusalem artichokes and pancetta complements the sweetness of the scallops, but it’s a bit too salty.

Desserts are equally filling, tiramisu and chocolate fondant in particular. The tiramisu is served in a high glass, with a layer of liquor at the bottom that soaks its way up the sponge fingers. The chocolate fondant is incredibly rich, but not too sweet or bitter, and the raspberry ice cream it’s served with is nicely refreshing, and a pretty pink colour that nearly matches some of the decor.

The Drink
The wine list is long and contains bottles from across the globe. A glass of house white (a 2006 Spanish Basa) costs about £7, and is a good choice to match a variety of courses. Other bottles range from reasonably priced (around £30) to reasonably eye-watering (£750 for a pinot noir, as well as a few others in the several hundred pound mark).

The Last Word
Maybe not the most practically priced lunch spot, but good for celebrating a special occasion. If you do have the money to spend though, you can’t do any better than a restaurant that helps ensure that the next generation of chefs (and foodies) will be well taken care of.

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