Jamie Oliver's Opening a New Restaurant in Wellington, Hopefully

With his boyish charm and multimillion dollar cuisine empire there's not much that one of our favourite celebrity chefs can't do. And that includes opening a restaurant in Wellington.

Jamie Oliver is bringing his high-end franchise restaurant Jamie's Italian to the capital of this good land. Plans are set to have the ground floor and basement of the heritage-listed Public Trust building in Lambton Quay turn into an Italian food oasis for pedestrians and world-weary bureaucrats working nearby (the Ministry of Culture and Heritage will be located on the floors just above) to enjoy.

The Jamie's Italian franchise was founded in England in 2008 and currently has more than 30 restaurants worldwide. The first Southern Hemisphere offering was opened in Sydney in October 2011.

The restaurant is still TBC with a few dotted lines yet to be signed and some strengthening and repair work on the building is due to finish late this year (we know how those things go), but here's hoping it will eventuate - unlike back in 2012 when Wellington was promised a Jamie's Italian to no avail.

Via The Wellingtonian