Jamie's secret is passion, says chef Gennaro

Oliver's commitments mean he can't be as hands on as he might wish, he has two very able deputies in chefs Gennaro Contaldo and Jules Hunt, keeping things ticking over.

The Wharf caught up with them to chat about their first six months in Canary Wharf.

Have you been surprised at the success here?

Jules Hunt: "We knew we were going to be relatively busy because of the number of people in the area, but the trading hours surprised us.

"We thought it would be a 12-7pm venue, but it's exceeded our expectations with people queuing until 10.30 pm.

"But what's amazed us most is the weekends. Our Saturdays are stronger than our Fridays. It's unbelievable, really."

The formula obviously works. Are there any changes planned?

Gennaro Contaldo: "Do we need a change? Look at that full restaurant.Whatever we are doing, we're doing right. We just have to carry on exactly the same, using the best of ingredients, giving maximum flavour. It's about freshness and seasonal stuff."

JH: "We're not complacent. The market here is pretty tough. The challenge this year is keeping the trade and keeping up those levels of consistency. We don't feel we need to change what's on offer but we'll keep it fresh.

"We knew it would be fast and furious lunches in Canary Wharf, so everything on the menu is cooked within six-and-a-half minutes and that will continue. One thing we are looking at is breakfast, and perhaps the take-out market, which is huge in Canary Wharf. We're now looking at how we'd manage that day-to-day."

Is there a secret?

JH: "When you get a business genuinely run by a group of chefs there's a very different feeling to that business. There's three people hugely passionate about what we do and the only thing that comes first is the food.

"We source things in Italy, rather than using a dried goods supplier in London, and we spend a huge amount of time on staff training, talking about knowledge and passion.

"We make all our pasta fresh on site. That's a big thing for us. For a restaurant that's doing up to 1,000 covers a day I'd say that's absolutely unique.

GC: "Can you imagine? We have someone making this from 8 o'clock in the morning and he don't stop until last thing at night. We have two machines running all day long without stopping. And it's still not enough - we need three machines. But there's no secret weapon. We just work very hard."

JH: "We're very happy with how it's going, but very humble with it."

With Valentine's Day looming, we asked Gennaro - described by Jamie Oliver as his mentor - what he would suggest cooking for that someone special.

The man who used to own the appropriately named Passione restaurant, came up with a dish combining meat with the fruit of love.

He said: "Last year at Jamie's Italian we had a fantastic free range chicken, which I cooked to give them a bit of colour. We wanted something different, so I cooked them with this fantastic fruit called pomegranate - the fruit of fertility - in the sauce. Delicious.

"It was really successful, but as soon as Valentine's was over we had to remove it from the menu. I wanted to keep it but Valentine's is a moment and the moment had gone.

"But the most important thing is the person you are with. You are sitting at the table, looking into one another's eyes, eating without noticing the dish."

Visit jamieoliver.com.