Ramsaywatch UK

[howardlong]

Well reviews don't get much quicket than this:

Plane Food

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Had breakfast there this morning. Actually it was pretty darned good except for some rather amateurish service.

I had the "Classic" which is a full monty. Asked how I wanted my eggs, I answered "over easy". "Eh?". "Over easy". "Eh?". "Fried?". "OK".

Absolutely perfectly cooked eggs (for fried eggs that is, not for over easy). Great sauteed mushrooms. Bacon OK, but sausage I am sure was reheated or kept heated somewhere for some time after cooking, quite possibly the bacon too. Even the one slice of toast, despite being delivered from a basket with fifty other pieces, was more than paleteable.

The tea, despite being spilt by waiting staff over half the table, was by far the best tea I've had in any airport, and certainly the best I've had anywhere for some time. Proper tea pot with strainer I might add.

I had to remind the staff that an OJ was part of the deal. Glad I did, it was the good stuff, freshly squeezed.

From taking the order to arriving at the table wasn't much over five minutes.

I didn't ask for ketchup or brown sauce. But for the first time ever in a Ramsay restaurant I did apply my own salt and pepper.

OK so £18 inc service ain't cheap but dare I suggest that the breakfast could become an institution? A big call. But it beats the heck out of the bacon rolls in the BA lounges.

Cheers, Howard

[naebody]

If only to delay death by expurgation, it's worth using this thread to catch up on a few recent developments - the most intereresting of which is the continuing abasement of Jason Atherton.

First up, Maze clearly didn't have enough international brand recognition so it's now Maze Gordon Ramsay. This is, quite frankly, shamelessly cynical; even Joel Robuchon had the decency to do a bit of menu work before rolling out L’Atelier.

Walnuts likes to use the old analogy about not expecting Christian Dior to stitch your jacket himself, but this ratchets up the degree of separation by a notch. It's like taking a Helmut Lang jacket and gluing on a Dior label.

Meanwhile, Atherton is currently manning the pass at Maze Grill, GRH's B-level flesh franchise. And we have to assume he'll be manning the pass at half a dozen Maze Grill openings a year, meaning that'll be the full extent of his job from now on.

<joke>Appropriate for a grill, the reviews have been mixed.</joke> (Richard Vines, the voice of corporate bloodlust, is a fan. Guy Dimond, representing the artichoke heart liberal, isn't. Meanwhile, Jay see meat. Jay see fire. Jay like.) But everyone agrees that it's just a steakhouse. From ElBulli to this peer group inside a decade; as career paths go, that puts you in David Caruso territory.

Atherton had become little more than the foreman to Maze's conveyer belt cookery, and the resultant drop in quality means he may not have cared when his name was scratched off the door. Nevertheless, it defies belief that he'll now be spending his days pressing a thumb into charred lumps of meat, like an NVQ trainee on work experience. I can't think what more humiliation GRH could cumber, beyond getting him to cook his own knackers on the charcoal robata grill.

So how is Ramsay managing this reverse-Pygmalion trick? Surely it can't just be the money.

Edited May 8, 2008 by naebody (log)

[Jon Tseng]

Yes I've noticed that too. I've been to Maze/Maze Grill a couple of times in the last week and I noticed the doors on either side of the lobby were emblazoned "MAZE GORDON RAMSAY".

It struck me as a little odd at the time, give Maze is the probably the branch of GRRH which is most associated with its chef de cuisince rather that GR himself.

It seems odd that Angela Hartnetts Menu is distinctively branded while Jason Atherton's Maze isn't?

I suppose it makes sense from a franchising perspective (GR is still by far the dominant name in the group) but I do wonder what Jason Atherton thinks of that? After all Jason could have created Maze without Gordon. No way Gordon could have created Maze without Jason.

J

[Tim Hayward]

Having clearly mastered the world of cooking, the business of catering and worldwide televisual entertainment, the way forward for Gordo is now becoming clear...

G.Rex has apparently "...spoken to Gordon Brown about outlawing out-of-season produce".

Thank goodness the people of Britain are finally in safe hands.

Maybe we should just swap them over. At this point in their strategic development I can't work out whether the Labour Party or GRH would be happier to get rid their sour faced, dictatorial Scot.

Edited May 9, 2008 by Tim Hayward (log)

[olicollett]

Having clearly mastered the world of cooking, the business of catering and worldwide televisual entertainment, the way forward for Gordo is now becoming clear...

After this pronouncement from Buckingham Palace... G.Rex has apparently "...spoken to Gordon Brown about outlawing out-of-season produce".

Thank goodness the people of Britain are finally in safe hands.

Maybe we should just swap them over. At this point in their strategic development I can't work out whether the Labour Party or GRH would be happier to get rid their sour faced, dictatorial Scot.

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Not just out of season, but non-local too.

Is he going to lock himself up for using bresse chickens, foie gras etc.? I can see just about every asian restaurant in the UJK getting shut down now..

[Gary Marshall]

interesting jump on the green wagon when according to jay's recent book GRH turned down flat the idea of a £1 per cover carbon offset charge.

[Andy Lynes]

After this pronouncement from Buckingham Palace...

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I'm so glad British food has managed to shrug off its reputation for being dogmatic. I've often felt that a meal in a restaurant would have been so much better if only the food had held more reasonable opinions and had been willing to enter into a sensible dialogue with me.

[Tim Hayward]

Aaaah, the rumbling of a bandwagon....

Edited May 9, 2008 by Tim Hayward (log)

[Romaney O'Malley]

I can just imagine it now - signs with photos of asparagus emblazoned with 'NO MORE IT'S THE LAW'

nanny state? what are you talking about?

[MobyP]

Ramsay is just being a moronic hypocrite on every level imaginable. The hypocrisy is nothing new - not only does he not believe in either eating only local produce nor serving it in his restaurants, he never has - but the idiocy is really insulting.

What next? Tana Ramsay asking us to believe she actually comes up with recipes for those books of hers?

[Corinna Dunne]

Having clearly mastered the world of cooking, the business of catering and worldwide televisual entertainment, the way forward for Gordo is now becoming clear...

G.Rex has apparently "...spoken to Gordon Brown about outlawing out-of-season produce".

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Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay says British restaurants should be fined if they serve fruit and vegetables which are not in season.

Rambo seems to have a thing about fines.

When he was over in Ireland to do his PR bit for the opening of his restaurant here, he said that parents who feed their children rubbish should be fined. And it looks like this is going to be his next mission on the F Word where once again, he’s trotting out the get people back into their kitchen line.

Speaking to the BBC before the start of the fourth series of his Channel 4 show The F Word, the father-of-four said he plans to get the nation back into the kitchen, cooking healthy, wholesome fare.

He says the obesity problem in the UK could soon rival that of the States, and he blames parents for giving into children and not having the discipline to say no. 

[RDB]

A look at his local and seasonal dessert offerings at RHR:

Roasted banana tarte Tatin with banana and walnut ice cream

Gianduja chocolate parfait with passion fruit and guava coulis

Sablé Breton with marinated figs, pistachio parfait and spiced ice cream

Lets put Gordon to the test and for the months of Feb and March, see if he can maintain 'amazing' three star food using strictly only what is in season and local, not just fruit and veg but everything?

Gordon, if you and the makers of the F word are reading this, would you be up for taking the challenge? It would be great to see you really go the full mile for local and seasonal food?

If you don't want to go public PM me mate

[jayrayner]

interesting jump on the green wagon when according to jay's recent book GRH turned down flat the idea of a £1 per cover carbon offset charge.

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Nice spot, Gary. Column on just this subject on Sunday

[Jon Tseng]

Have def seen asparagus and raspberries on menu at RHR in the depths of winter...

[Corinna Dunne]

Well, Gordie’s back on the telly, with a huge audience I’m sure, after his publicity stunt rant about fining chef’s for using out of season produce.

This time round he’s everybody’s friend and the new happy clappy F Word looks like a pilot for a US audience, where of course he’ll make a lot more money if the networks bite.

[bakerestates]

And he popped up on Great British Menu last night - I was enjoying it until then but thankfully I was watching on I Player, so fast forwarded him.

He was referred to by Jenny Bond as 'the celerbrity chef Gordon Ramsay' rather than 'Gordon Ramsay' or 'chef Gordon Ramsay' - puts him right up there with Ainsley and AWT.

[algy]

puts him right up there with Ainsley and AWT. 

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"down there" surely?

[PhilD]

And he popped up on Great British Menu last night - I was enjoying it until then but thankfully I was watching on I Player, so fast forwarded him.

He was referred to by Jenny Bond as 'the celerbrity chef Gordon Ramsay' rather than 'Gordon Ramsay' or 'chef Gordon Ramsay' - puts him right up there with Ainsley and AWT. 

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Are there are two Gordon's out there? On the F Word we get the dumbed down Gordon for the mass market, which unfortunately detracts from his skill. But every now and then do we see the real Gordon? i.e, his praise for Jason Atherton on the last couple of GBM's appears genuine and sincere, and his analysis of Jason qualities appears very well considered. Is his dreadful media personality hiding quite a nice bloke..? (his new restaurant in Paris also seems to be getting the thumbs up from the French board so it looks like he knows what he is doing in the kitchen - I have yet to try a GRH venue).

[Andy Lynes]

You have to hand it to Gordon (or more likely, Jo Barnes his publicist), he really knows how to handle the media.

He knows that its a physical impossibility for the British media not to report his every move and utterance, however ludicrous. So he doesn't say "I think it would be a good idea if more chefs used seasonal produce." No, he says he spoken to the bloody prime minister no less about pushing legislation through parliment - and the quicker the better mind you - to force chefs to be local and seasonal and fine them if they don't .

Somehow, he manages to keep a straight face, knowing that he has always used unseasonal, non-British produce on his menus and always will. So that's one round of news stories, convienently timed to coincide with the run up to his new series of the F Word of course.

As surely as night follows day, some bright spark in a newsroom says "hold on, I had lunch at Claridges the other days and they served me pata negra with my English asparagus, thats not very local and seasonal is it? Lets stick it to him."

Gordon sits back for round two as everyone calls him a hypocrite and chefs eagerly join in the fray and either defend or attack him.

Round three comes when Ramsay issues his offical statement admitting he only uses the very best ingredients, and by definition not all will necessarily be local and seasonal.

So that's three bites of the media cherry from something that should never have been reported in the first place. The man's a f**king genius, yes?

[CaptainJack]

Gordon sits back for round two as everyone calls him a hypocrite and chefs eagerly join in the fray and either defend or attack him.

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Very good points there, it is interesting to think about these behind the scenes media manipulations.

However, I think that most chefs will roll their eyes at this type of statement, crusades against our childrens school meals are one thing, asking for penalties against fellow chefs is another.

Edited May 15, 2008 by CaptainJack (log)

[Romaney O'Malley]

Gordon sits back for round two as everyone calls him a hypocrite and chefs eagerly join in the fray and either defend or attack him.

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Very good points there, it is interesting to think about these behind the scenes media manipulations.

However, I think that most chefs will roll their eyes at this type of statement, crusades against our childrens school meals are one thing, asking for penalties against fellow chefs is another.

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Andy is right though. The guy doesn't believe in this for a second. He is just poking everyone with a stick and sitting back while he progressively gets more and more publicity

[Tim Hayward]

I think the point about this being a PR exercise is well made but I think there's slightly more to it.

The basis of the statement - seasonal local fruit and veg in the restaurants - was carefully crafted. We have to imagine that the compliance of his own restaurants would have been checked very rigorously before the statement was made and in fact, though it's a fairly new development for him, he is making a reasonable fist of living up to this.

There were two things that must have made his handlers twitch, though. It's a classic PR problem when, no matter how well he's been media trained and briefed, an inexperienced Principal lets his mouth run in the excitement of the interview. The first slip was allowing himself to slip into implying a broader seasonal/local agenda than just the F&V, the second was giving the absurdly arrogant impression that he'd been reading the riot act to the PM.

I don't think anyone disagreed with his suggestion that seasonal and local were better but by overstating his case this way he put himself in the position of appearing hypocritical.

As you say, the result was more media coverage which is usually regarded as no bad thing.

It's a common misconception outside the world of PR that any publicity is good publicity. In fact, it's the flavour of individual cockups like this that builds the broader impression of the 'star' in the public eye.

No one is going to suddenly disregard everything Ramsay says, just because he let himself slip on the news. OTOH, an event like this adds another tiny grain to the mountain of opinion that his statements are for publicity rather than heartfelt and that he's now more of a media creature than a cook.

The events of the last couple of days have probably enhanced his income quite a lot and eroded his credibility only a little. On balance, as you imply, he's probably happy with that.

[jayrayner]

I think the point about this being a PR exercise is well made but I think there's slightly more to it.

The basis of the statement - seasonal local fruit and veg in the restaurants - was carefully crafted. We have to imagine that the compliance of his own restaurants would have been checked very rigorously before the statement was made and in fact, though it's a fairly new development for him, he is making a reasonable fist of living up to this.

There were two things that must have made his handlers twitch, though. It's a classic PR problem when, no matter how well he's been media trained and briefed, an inexperienced Principal lets his mouth run in the excitement of the interview. The first slip was allowing himself to slip into implying a broader seasonal/local agenda than just the F&V, the second was giving the absurdly arrogant impression that he'd been reading the riot act to the PM.

I don't think anyone disagreed with his suggestion that seasonal and local were better but by overstating his case this way he put himself in the position of appearing hypocritical.

As you say, the result was more media coverage which is usually regarded as no bad thing.

It's a common misconception outside the world of PR that any publicity is good publicity. In fact, it's the flavour of individual cockups like this that builds the broader impression of the 'star' in the public eye.

No one is going to suddenly disregard everything Ramsay says, just because he let himself slip on the news. OTOH, an event like this adds another tiny grain to the mountain of opinion that his statements are for publicity rather than heartfelt and that he's now more of a media creature than a cook.

The events of the last couple of days have probably enhanced his income quite a lot and eroded his credibility only a little. On balance, as you imply, he's probably happy with that.

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No attempt was made to check the restaurants. The first Mark Askew knew about it was after the fact when he got a call from within GRH warning him he might get a few media enquiries.

[Tim Hayward]

No attempt was made to check the restaurants. The first Mark Askew knew about it was after the fact when he got a call from within GRH warning him he might get a few media enquiries.

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Dear God... that's worse than hopeless.

[Corinna Dunne]

Are there are two Gordon's out there? On the F Word we get the dumbed down Gordon for the mass market, which unfortunately detracts from his skill. But every now and then do we see the real Gordon?  i.e, his praise for Jason Atherton on the last couple of GBM's appears genuine and sincere, and his analysis of Jason qualities appears very well considered.

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More love and effusive praise from Geordie the culinary father on the Great British Menu yesterday. It looks like Jason Atherton has become the culinary son (stepping into the shoes that Marcus Wareing is so eager to kick off, if rumours are to be believed).