Gordon Ramsay at Powerscourt

[Robot Coupe]

Interesting, but not surprising. Here’s the piece in the Daily Mail

Head chef Paul Carroll, one of Ramsay’s most trusted employees, resigned just weeks ago, telling fellow staff he was unhappy with how it was being run.

‘The problem was that Gordon was never there and Paul was running the joint single-handedly,’ says my mole. ‘The restaurant is often empty and it is very expensive and people simply aren’t enjoying the experience.’

I don't know what gave him the idea that Gordo would be there to hold his hand. He doesn't do it anywhere else. In any event, it’s not closed and they are still taking bookings for the chef’s table, with Johnny McIver now acting as head chef. If he’s the guy who was cooking the night I was there, the place is doomed.

Things are tightening up a bit in Ireland with the recession. I heard that Capella Castlemartyr , a high profile luxury hotel in Cork, which opened with Roger Olson (ex Pied a Terre) as head chef, has gone into liquidation.

There are now a glut of hotels in Ireland that were built for tax purposes. The nursing homes of the future?

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So Johnny cant cook and Roger is not allowed to cook, is he still there?Who is taking over?

[Patrick_O]

I heard over the weekend that Paul Carroll is to take over as head chef at the Lyons Estate in Celbridge, which has also had it's fair share of turbulence over the past year.

[Corinna Dunne]

Wow, that’s a retrograde step. He didn’t make much of an impact when he was at Lyons before, when they had fine dining at The Mill. And now, it’s pretty straightforward stuff with just Café La Serre... a very diminished Lyons estate.

Did you hear were Fred Cordonnier is these days?

[Patrick_O]

I haven't heard where Fred is Corinna but I have it on good authority that they plan to return to fine dining despite the fact that Cafe La Serre does a decent brasserie trade and fine dining never worked for them in the past.

Not sure what the thinking is behind the move.