Well after all of the fanfare, the promotion and the hype just what was the reality of the new Jamie Oliver catering at the Etihad last night? Read on for a full, unbiased and objective review:
I arrived at the stadium early around 6.30pm and had a beer in City Square. The food / burger vans outside the stadium do not appear to have changed their livery but from what I can gather they were selling ‘natural organic beef burgers’ so I presume they were part of the JO revolution but this needs to be confirmed.
Being a hungry Horace I entered the stadium at circa 7.00pm ready to put Jamie’s offering thru their paces:
The new branding, signage and livery of the JO food outlets is shown below:
Fairly distinctive and nothing radical but just how far can you go with these things so overall an improvement on the previous food outlets at the ground.
Obviously at this time the stadium was quiet and the food was fresh so time to dive in and confront the moment of truth…
My first tasting experience was one of JO’s new ‘Steak & Ale’ pies which was a bruising £5.50! However, I have to say it was good. Very good!
The pastry was crisp, flaky and tasty. It contained decent chunks of steak and a rich gravy. Couldn’t really taste the ‘ale’ part of the pie but overall it has to be said it was a cut above the previous offerings and one of the best, if not THE best pie I have eaten at a football ground (and I have eaten a few!) in my 45+ years of watching the Blues The cost of £5.50 is a whopping +44% over the traditional ‘Peppered Steak’ or ‘Meat & Potato’ pie at £3.80 so significantly more than the ‘nominal’ increase we were told to expect. However, you get what you pay for and this pie delivered hence TGR’s rating of 9 / 10.
The menu also had a Chicken, Ham & Leek Pie (which to be fair is different) at £5.50 and a Rainbow Vegetable Pie also at £5.50. So a decent variety of offerings.
My quest for knowledge and applied research was now in full swing! So it just had to be a Hot Dog…
I plumped for the ‘BBQ Dog with Pork’ at a price of £6.50 – ouch! (A standard Hot Dog with onions being a flat £5.00). Again not cheap by any standards but again the tucker was good!
The menu also had a Chicken, Ham & Leek Pie (which to be fair is different) at £5.50 and a Rainbow Vegetable Pie also at £5.50. So a decent variety of offerings.
My quest for knowledge and applied research was now in full swing! So it just had to be a Hot Dog…
I plumped for the ‘BBQ Dog with Pork’ at a price of £6.50 – ouch! (A standard Hot Dog with onions being a flat £5.00). Again not cheap by any standards but again the tucker was good!
A fresh, warm bread roll which actually had some taste! A million miles away from the old, doughy, cardboard tasting bread rolls of yesteryear. The ‘Dog’ itself was also good. Tasty and with a good texture. Pieces of pulled pork on top and a line of ketchup to finish it off. In terms of value for money I will next time go for the standard Dog with onions and save myself £1.50 but again it has to be said JO appears to have nailed it so it receives a high TGR rating of 8 out of 10.
I was on a roll and somebody had to do this job so again purely in the name of research my quest continued…
Time to test the chips! I went for the ‘Chips & Curry Sauce’ at not an inconsiderable £3.50 for a what is a relativey small portion of chips which is served in a plain paper / cardboard cup – so lacking a little on the presentation.
Jamie, oh Jamie! Oh dear, dear, dear! How could you get it just so wrong? Unfortunately I have to report this offering was awful. Truly dreadful. The chips simply had no taste, unless you like eating cardboard? I honestly think the paper cup would have had more taste! Its clear that Curry sauce is not a Jamie speciality either. It was a congealed mess, again with virtually no taste whatsoever. Being somewhat of a connoisseur of chips & curry I simply couldn’t face it and without a word of a lie after 4 or 5 chips I dumped the lot into a waste basket on the concourse. Sadly on the TGR scale it only hit a very lowly 1out of 10. Significant room for improvement. Jamie… sort it!
After the disaster with the chips I’m sure you’ll understand I couldn’t face a burger but again in the name of research I did canvass the opinion of a couple on the concourse who were tucking in to one each. The feedback was good. Again, fresh, tasty food but they did raise a concern over the prices which are: Beefburger £6.10 (comes with a slice of cheese & lettuce). A Bleu Cheeseburger at £6.60 and a Chicken Burger is a flat £6.00.
A couple of other small things to note: There were no napkins or plastic forks offered or on the counter when I purchased the food and had to go back and ask for them which for some reason were hidden under the counter? Put this small thing down to teething.
There didn’t appear to be any noticeable difference in the queues at half time and on Level 1 I certainly didn’t see any of the ‘Beer Buggies’ going around but maybe elsewhere in the ground they could have been?
The staff were good and showing a marked improvement over last year. No doubt Jamie’ s Customer Service training has kicked in and they were bright, helpful and all smiles – so credit where it is due for that too. Obviously this was day 1 so you would expect things to be pretty much spick & span and on the button along with one or 2 small niggles. Can the standard be maintained week in – week out for the next 9 months? That is the real challenge and it will not be easy. However, plaudits should go to the club for the efforts and not inconsiderable investment they have made on behalf of the match going fans.
To briefly summarise:
With the exception of the chips, which really do need to be seriously looked at in terms of quantity, presentation, taste and value for money urgently as they were truly awful the rest of it is good and to be fair as far as football stadium catering goes it is very good. It is a marked improvement over anything previous at Maine Road or the Etihad and that should be applauded. Due to the unmitigated and serious disaster with the chips the overall TGR rating is 7 out of 10.
Footnote:
If you are reading this GDM and no doubt you are ;-) You won the bet - I owe you a pie! I will gladly purchase this and formally present it to you at the next home game. Please let me know where you wish to meet in the stadium and at what time.
