Restaurant Reviews and Food Musings

Restaurant

La Capannina
65 Halkett Place
St Helier
Jersey
The Channel Islands

Phone:- 01534 734602

Overview

Eva and I spent a few days over Easter on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. We were walking around St Helier (the capital) on Friday evening, looking for a place to eat, and came across La Capannina an Italian restaurant.

Ambience

La Capannina is a traditional Italian restaurant in the heart of St Helier. It is quite large, but cosy and welcoming.

Despite the fact that we had not made a reservation, and that it was 10PM, the maitre d’ welcomed us and readily agreed to find us a table.

We were first ushered to a table near the bar, where we had a pre dinner cocktail and a mini slice of delicious pizza whilst perusing the menu.

The restaurant was very pleasantly decorated. The bottom half of the walls were knotty pine and top half painted blue. Photos, paintings and memorabilia were liberally displayed throughout the restaurant.

The tables were laid with linen cloths and napkins. In one part of La Capannina was a display table, on which proudly sat two magnificent smoked hams. Adjacent to the table was a large silver domed serving trolley, which housed the roast of the day.

Once we had placed our orders we were ushered to our table which overlooked the hams, a splendid view!

Menu

The menu was very extensive. In addition to the usual pasta and meat dishes, that you would expect in an Italian restaurant, the menu had a variety of local fish dishes and specials such as; roast spring lamb carved from the trolley and foie gras.

Service

There was a good number of friendly efficient staff, dressed in white jackets and bow ties, on duty. The food was served professionally and promptly.

The matire d’ was very accommodating when seeing my deliberation over whether to have the poussin or the roast lamb. He suggested that he could cut me a few slices of lamb as well, and serve it as a side dish, so that I could have best of both worlds.

Food

We both chose the scallops to start with. These were mouth-watering. Each of our starters consisted of two large scallops served in their shells, covered in a rich creamy cheese sauce surrounded by piped mashed potato. This was absolutely first class.

I chose the poussin for my main course, with the side serving of lamb (I was “pigging out” that evening!).

The poussin was a very generously proportioned bird, with plump succulent breasts. It had been stuffed with rosemary and bay leaves and roasted to perfection. It was served from a silver platter with a garnish of tomatoes, bacon and mushroom. There was a rich flavoursome gravy, and a smooth bread sauce to accompany it. The poussin was excellent, cooked to perfection; moist, tender and succulent.

I had sauté potatoes, carrots, beans and broccoli to accompany it. These too were cooked just right.

My lamb side dish was also exceptional, the lamb was flavoursome and tender. To my view, if I had died then and there my life would have been complete.

Eva chose the local scampi for her main course. These were far superior to the processed mush served by other establishments. The scampi were plump, juicy and had texture. They were deep fried in a light crispy batter that was not at all greasy.

The meal, which included cocktails a good bottle of Chablis and liqueurs, came to £101 including service.

Overall Opinion

I have no hesitation at all in recommending this restaurant. Indeed it is almost worthwhile visiting Jersey just to take the opportunity to dine here. We most certainly will be visiting again.