...open now in Siam Discovery, ground floor. An uneven dining experience, unfortunately: The fresh crab, avocado and lime juice on lightly toasted rye bread was an excellent bruschetta starter. Crispy squid served hot with a tangy seafood tartar sauce is also recommended.
The mains, however, left something to be desired: mussels on linguine has all the ingredients to tempt diners except when the linguine and mussels have been previously cooked and stored and not thoroughly reheated before serving: Pala does a far superior rendition for less money. The delightfully fennelized Italian sausage pizza brought me back to my grandmother's kitchen, though she would have thrown out the overly chewy crust. One good point: the pizza wasn't drowned in cheap mozzarella, but served with an interesting green that I thought may have been watercress.
SD had the tiramisu for dessert (disappointingly ordinary) while I had the mixed berry pavlova with honeycomb (seen him prepare this on TV)...interesting textures brightened by the berries and honeycomb, but the total effect was...meh...
The checkbin came to B3,000 with 4 glasses of a very good Montepulciano red (B230 the glass) and water. All in all, Pala offers a better, cheaper and fresher menu (admittedly, with smaller portions) and a decidedly less hi-so clientele. However, we'd stop in at Jamie's again to try other menu items... if we happened to be in Siam Discovery...