- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee |
- All
Categories: Coffee & Tea, Italian [Edit]
15 Westland PlLondon
London N1 7LP
Neighbourhood: Hoxton
0871 330 1515
- Nearest Transit:
-
Old Street (Northern, Northern City)
- Hours:
Mon-Sat 7:30 - 22:00
Sun 8:00 - 21:30
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
££££
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Children:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
11 reviews for Fifteen
All Reviews
Fifteen
29/1/2009
I don't know any other way to start this other than saying straight away that this was the best meal and dining experience I have ever had.
Jaimie Oliver has been one of my favorite chefs for a long time. I love watching his show where he sits in his homey kitchen cooking up fresh creative food for his friends, neighbors, local tradesmen, family, or anyone else who he wants to feed.
When I had heard about Fifteen, I was instantly desiring to go. Considering I was working as an intern at an insurance company and studying at the same time, i wasn't necessarily minted... but I had decided I was going to go anyway. But even before I worked that up, I was surprised by a trip there with my best friend and his mom.
The moment you pull up to the converted warehouse you are swept away from the busy streets of London into a food paradise. I was lucky enough that we got seats for the tasting menu. We were greeted by a Jaimie Oliver lookalike who walked us through the entire meal.
When I say he walked us through, I literally mean that for every course, every ingredient, every wine pairing, he explained the reason why they were at a certain point during the meal, why they were prepared together, and how they were prepared. For someone who loves cooking, this was fascinating. After we completed our tasting menu meal, I was a bit disappointed that it was over.
This is the perfect melding of great food, great ambiance, great service, and a great cause.
Fifteen
7/1/2009
3 photos
Ok, I'll admit it...I went to Fifteen because of Jamie Oliver but his star power has nothing to do with my five star rating.
Service, food, ambiance - everything was top notch and well worth the money. I would definitely recommend the wine pairing which starts with a glass of champagne then has a different glass of wine with each course. And of course our sommelier poured with a heavy hand and refilled our glasses whenever they ran low.
Even though our money is worth nothing in the UK I'd definitely suggest Fifteen to my friends looking for a fun restaurant with fantastic food and excellent service.
Listed in: London Calling!, Tasty tasting menus
Fifteen
9/1/2009
My friend Darlene made reservations for us well in advance of our arrival to London. We made this our spluge meal as it took 1.5 US dollars to make 1 £.
This place was so difficult to find (at least for us Yanks!) but we got there extremely late and missed our reserved time. However, the staff was really kind and accomodating. So while we were flustered, tired, & oh so hungry, when we got there it was soooo worth it. I ordered the three course set lunch and added a bowl of fennel soup.
Fifteen
8/1/2009
Another Yank chiming in with Phil H., here. Yes, I love Jamie Oliver, and no, I doubt I would have even known about this place if I wasn't such a fan. However, I'd give Fifteen twice as many starts if I could, and that is based entirely on the merits of the restaurant and the good people that work in it.
The meal I had at Fifteen was, without doubt or exaggeration, the best I have ever had. My fiancee and I did a tasting menu, and each course was more delicious than the next.
You could taste the freshness of each ingredient. Every portion was satisfying. I even ate and enjoyed the vegetables (and I am notoriously awful when it comes to veg).
In fact, one of the stand-outs of the meal was my salad, a carpaccio paired with a small-leafed, buttery lettuce and parmesan cheese. Perfection.
My fiancee also opted for the wine pairing, which he really enjoyed. The sommelier was absolutely wonderful! She was knowledgeable and enthusiastic, sharing stories about the particular vineyards of each wine she brought out.
Everyone we encountered was cheerfully helpful, and you could tell that a great deal of pride was taken in every aspect of the meal.
The only sad thing about my favorite restaurant is that it is a 5 hour flight away. Everything else about Fifteen is brilliant.
Fifteen
8/12/2008
A few weeks ago my friends and I had a very posh night out in Fifteen's 'dining room' and even though it cost a fortune, it was absolutely worth it! Oddly, the dining room is in the basement of Fifteen and so doesn't benefit from any natural light. To counter this the designers have painted the whole room white with only a few darker features. Maybe this was a smart idea but it's not really worked in practice and as you walk in you can't help but feel like you're in an advert for Domestos.
Putting these thoughts aside we decided to go for the four course 'tasting menu' with its selection of salads, pasta's, main courses and desserts. My favourite of all the courses was definitely the Wild Mushroom and Truffle risotto, it was so earthy and rich. It was probably the best risotto I've ever had in my life and I wish I could eat it again. My friends 'Wicked' (it really does say that on the menu) Fisherman's Stew was also lovely and arrived with a giant langoustine perched proudly on the top. He loved this touch and set quickly about decapitating the poor thing. Throughout the evening the staff were wonderful, very helpful and chatty. I really felt like they made the night that bit more fun for us all.
People have complained about the prices in Fifteen and yes, at £60 a head I won't be eating the tasting menu every week, but I think it's easily forgotten that this is a charity and that all the money made is being put back in to help more youngsters. If you keep this idea at the forefront of your mind the prices start to make a bit more sense and pale into insignificance next to some of the other celebrity restaurant's in London.
For those looking for a more informal Fifteen experience the trattoria upstairs is the perfect alternative and makes a great breakfast if you're ever in the area before midday. All round I think this restaurant is brilliant and would recommend it to anyone.
Listed in: My Favourite London…
Fifteen
13/1/2009
Trattoria review:
I came here a few years ago while on vacation, and this is still the BEST GNOCCHI EVER. Pillows of HEAVEN.
A coworker told me Jamie Oliver had a restaurant and, I know there are haters out there, but the food he cooks looks so good. I called ahead to see if there was availability in the Trattoria, and went for an early Monday lunch before the busy hours.
Service was OK, not overly friendly at the time. The gnocchi recipe is on the wall, and they had cards with the recipe (that nobody told me about). Nice dark decor, dimly lit and cozy. You get balsamic vinegar and bread (again, this was 3 years ago). I had the gnocchi with oxtail ragu for an appetizer and duck confit for the entree. The latter was OK, perhaps only because it followed the magic that was...
The gnocchi.
Just...
It's so...
I'm drooling from the memories.
They should make it into a full-size entree if they haven't already.
Tender potato pasta, not at all gooey, rich oxtail sauce with well-developed flavors without being heavy.
The next time I see it I'll probably go into a trance and make a beeline. It is a destination food. I may have to plan a trip to London for it.
Fifteen
15/1/2009
1 photo
One of the reasons Jamie Oliver started this restaurant was to give troubled young people an opportunity to overcome their problems and prepare for a career in the restaurant industry. This lofty goal, paired with outstanding cuisine, warrants the trek it takes to get here from central London. (It took us two trains and about 40 minutes from the Leicester Square tube station.)
Be advised that the dining room offers only a tasting menu, priced at £60 per person, in the evening. We knew we were in for a treat the moment we tasted the warm rosemary focaccia, accompanied by zesty olives and thin slices of salami, that was brought to the table the moment we were seated.
We started with very creamy buffalo mozzarella and sweet, juicy peaches in a mint-flavored balsamic dressing and a salad of melon and paper-thin slices of slightly salty prosciutto.
For our next course we had pappardelle in a hearty lamb sauce and a seafood risotto with a hint of fennel.
For our entrees we selected roast lamb with smashed cannellini beans and sauteed spinach and pan-fried duck breast in a red wine and cherry sauce served with squash and swiss chard.
For dessert we opted for roast apricots and strawberries with an amaretto-pistachio semifreddo and espresso and rum panna cotta drizzled with chocolate sauce and served with amaretto biscuits.
Everything was absolutely exquisite, and we savored each and every morsel we tasted. This was one of the finest meals we have eaten anywhere in the world.
We returned a few days later for the three-course lunch priced at £25, which is a terrific bargain since it is just slightly more than the cost of an entree alone on the a la carte menu. Although we haven't had a chance to eat in the trattoria, the menu looks promising and we plan to try it the next time we're in town.
Do yourself and the deserving staff a big favor and treat yourself to a meal in this superb restaurant.
Fifteen
25/11/2008
1 photo
Fifteen is a class restaurant. The former property of one Jamie Oliver Fifteen caught the public imagination for training up juvenile delinquents to be top chefs, and the experiment not only has worked but produced some real culinary treats. The service is excellent and there is a good bar to wait at whilst you table is prepared. Location wise it is fairly near to Old Street station which is fairly convenient once you have negotiated the labyrinth of exits from the underground.
Fifteen does cost a fair amount but you pay for what you get and my experiences of the restaurant have been overwhelmingly positive. Highly recommended.
Fifteen
20/11/2008
I'm always a bit dubious about visiting the restaurants of 'Celebrity Chefs', believing they're all about the hype and aren't really focused on what makes a great restaurant experience. Boy, was I wrong about Fifteen. It was really just like any other (good) restaurant, with professional staff, good, hearty food and a lovely ambience.
Meals are reasonably priced and the experience was as good as I've had in the finer restaurants of London. The Risotto I had was delicious and the dessert alone will keep me coming back for more!
Fifteen
20/11/2008
1 photo
I visited Fifteen earlier this year with some friends to celebrate graduating from university and was pleasantly surprised by its casualness, the quality of its food and its relative affordability considering that it's the famed brainchild of a celebrity chef.
In the words of Jamie Oliver himself, Fifteen is quite simply 'lovely jubbly'. We sat in the upstairs Trattoria and shared the antipasti to start comprising a selection of olives, Italian cured meats, cheeses and vegetables served on rustic wooden blocks. As a main I enjoyed the roasted spatchcock poussin and then for dessert the white chocolate and hazelnut cheesecake. Yum, yum, yum.
The portions were incredibly hearty - rare for such an establishment - the waiting staff friendly, knowledgable and downright charismatic and the atmosphere so relaxed you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in one of Italy's trattorias itself.
Next time I visit Fifteen I'm going to hit the glorious looking cocktail bar or go for brunch. Pastries start at around £2, breakfast sarnies at £4.50 and a full on fry-up comes in at just under a tenner. And any reticence about shelling out for breakfast at Oliver's restaurant when you could just go to your local greasy spoon should be quelled by the fact that Fifteen is a charity so any gluttony is in fact an act of altruism.
Fifteen
20/11/2008
I had heard about Fifteen the way that most people had; from Jamie Olivers TV programme about the restaurant. I knew the principal - that the chefs have been brought in from disadvantaged back rounds and were working in the kitchens.
Then one evening, I was sitting with a friend in Hoxton Square and got chatting to two suited and booted young guys. They explained that they were going off to Jamie's birthday party, and that they had previously been working in the kitchens. They told me about the lives that they had came from, which were pointing in one, pretty bleak direction, and how getting a stint in the kitchen had changed everything. One of the guys was now working in Fifteen Cornwall, the other was starting in Claridges. After that, my friend and I made up our minds to try out Fifteen for ourselves.
We didn't have a reservation, but that wasn't a problem. We were seated in the upstairs part - the trattoria. This level is like an upscale Carluccios - one part deli, lots of big wooden tables, rustic Italian food. downstairs is the more expensive restaurant. I was worried that it would be a little of a novelty experience, which would overpower the quality of the food. I needn't have worried. The food was confident, very tasty, absolutely the kind of thing that I would expect from a top class Italian. We shared an antipasti to start with, followed by a seafood risotto, and ravioli of summer squash. I can't remember what dessert we had, but I recall being very satisfied with the whole affair.
It was also the kind of place that you could spend all day in. They start early for breakfasts, so this is what I am going to try next.
