Marco's , Hells Kitchen

[david goodfellow]

Nick's treatment was bizarre, and he is getting ever-more error prone. MPW perhaps hit the nail on the end the other night when he told Nick to watch his "ego".

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I thought he was bang out of order, and he knew it, hence the offer of a handshake.

He was of course correct in explaining about the way the dish should be served, but hey come on we all have preferences as to how we like our meat.

I think a stand up argument with a customer, perhaps sours things forever, with no possibility of them ever returning(not that they could here of course).

I had a problem with a dish a few months back, and the expert Maitre D whisked it away without fuss or aggravation.It saved the meal and ensured our return

Its his job to ensure trouble free service, not create pandemonium.

Did I hear correctly, Service 0 out of 10,

Says it all then!

Any Maitre D.s out there like to give us their thoughts?

[Hearno]

And it's particularly surprising that a maitre d working for MPW should be like his - Marco famously had no problems with people seasoning their own food or ordering whatever steak they wanted because, he realised, each palate is different.

A maitre d more precious than the head chef, eh?

[david goodfellow]

Nick's treatment was bizarre, and he is getting ever-more error prone. MPW perhaps hit the nail on the end the other night when he told Nick to watch his "ego".

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Now that Jody Latham has buggered of to Lancashire to wreak havoc (how on earth is he going to keep his staff?) the real star of the show can start to have his ego massaged.

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[Simon_S]

I'm not enjoying this series anything like as much as the last. They have camped up Marco into pantomime villain status, and the seem to have totally excised the parts in the previous series where Marco would teach them how to cook a new dish, etc. Basically, it's trash TV. I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm certainly disappointed.

Re: Nick etc. -- as I said, it's trash TV. I very much doubt that Nick would ever act that way in a real restaurant.

[food1]

Couldn't agree more. Caught about ten minutes on Sunday night, after getting in from work. Don't know if I was too knackered to watch but what a load of shite. Nothing to do with food is it, just big brother, reformatted.

As for MPW, talk about difficult and patronising. And whats with his voice now? He sounds like Obe 1 Kanobi when he is addressing his chefs ( Jedi Knights!!)

Anybody know of any decent food progs in the making?

[Corinna Dunne]

Agree, horribly disappointing. Complete trash.

[RedRum]

MPW sounds like he is under heavy doses of diazepam and anti-depressants... The pace of the show is painfully slow, I have to admit that good ole boy Ramsay is much better on TV.

[Simon_S]

The only saving grace is the positively delicious Claudia Winkelman.

Is there any hope, since this is happening "real-time", that the powers that be might start listening and including more food-related aspects, or are we just crazy outliers in the target audience?

[RedRum]

the only reason I wanted to watch this was for his masterclasses. Seeing him cook is a pleasure, and seeing how he does thing very instructional. what happened?

[olicollett]

The only saving grace is the positively delicious Claudia Winkelman.

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am I the only one who thinks she looks like she needs to put on a few pounds? She's a bit stick like for my tate, and Marco's i expect given the way he was trying to stuff desert into her mouth last night.

[Corinna Dunne]

The pace of the show is painfully slow, I have to admit that good ole boy Ramsay is much better on TV.

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Ramsay created the sweary TV chef. MPW jumped on the bandwagaon. He has nothing like the energy or commitment of Ramsay, and it shows. Not that I'm watching the show now anyway, life's too short.

[Gary Marshall]

The pace of the show is painfully slow, I have to admit that good ole boy Ramsay is much better on TV.

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Ramsay created the sweary TV chef. MPW jumped on the bandwagaon. He has nothing like the energy or commitment of Ramsay, and it shows. Not that I'm watching the show now anyway, life's too short.

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Is marco that sweary? without marco there'd be no gordon, i think the bandwagon jumper here is gordon.

Marco's tv persona has been pretty constant, there was a series about him opening the mirabelle on C4 years ago, the same character then. Ramsay went from RP chelsea boy to foul mouth in a couple of series.

[Corinna Dunne]

I missed the C4 series, which I'd love to have seen. But I still think that Ramsay is the one who really popularised the controversial TV chef. I've no idea of the numbers, but would assume that he's shot more series than most. Was MPW on US TV back then too?

Without a doubt, MPW was a huge talent and a major force when he was cooking... but now... I think he's just creaming it and giving very little value for money.

[Gary Marshall]

gordon was the first to make it big on tv certainly, but his schtick is basically an amped up marco.

I don't think he'd be the same if he'd spent all his years at the gavroche/le manoir etc

marco broke the mould, and set a new standard of behaviour.

[Hearno]

If you're interested, check out the YouTube videos on the last series.

Although that was undeniably trash TV, there was far more cooking involved, ranging from MPW demonstrating how to cook various dishes to the slebs trying to learn them.

He even taught them how to make pigs trotters a la Koffman.

[Corinna Dunne]

marco broke the mould, and set a new standard of behaviour.

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... and Gordo showed him how to make money out of it I don't blame either of them for doing it, just sick of looking at them and their mould breaking behaviour.

[RedRum]

I have seen the youtube videos Gary Marshall has put on when MPW was 27, he still had the same demeanour on screen, calm, not talking much, though he was much different in the kitchen (as we all know). I think what Gordon very successfully did was his kitchen persona on screen, the full-mouthed swearing on-8ball-energy type of chef. He was the first to do it, and no one has done it successfully on screen since.

On the other hand, watching MPW work in the kitchen when 27 was amazing, I have never seen a chef on screen with such elegant way of moving in the kitchen and such immaculate technique

[PhilD]

I think what Gordon very successfully did was his kitchen persona on screen, the full-mouthed swearing on-8ball-energy type of chef.

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Has anyone worked with GR to confirm this?

For some reason I always thought his on-screen personality was a bit of an act (even the first TV programme about him striving for the 3rd star). t times on "Kitchen Nightmares" I though I saw a chef who liked to develop talent by giving people a chance, coaching them and stretching them as evidenced by people like Wareing, Harnett, Atherton, Sargeant, Zanoni etc. Which does seem at odds to the TV persona.

Which is the real Gordon...?

[Stephen_K]

The only saving grace is the positively delicious Claudia Winkelman.

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Couldn't agree more Mr S.... Only thing worth watching..... However as much as I like Ms Winkleman, even her charms cannot persuade me to continue watching this awfull trash.... Pandering to the great unwashed this time around I'm afraid..

[RedRum]

I think what Gordon very successfully did was his kitchen persona on screen, the full-mouthed swearing on-8ball-energy type of chef.

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Has anyone worked with GR to confirm this?

For some reason I always thought his on-screen personality was a bit of an act (even the first TV programme about him striving for the 3rd star). t times on "Kitchen Nightmares" I though I saw a chef who liked to develop talent by giving people a chance, coaching them and stretching them as evidenced by people like Wareing, Harnett, Atherton, Sargeant, Zanoni etc. Which does seem at odds to the TV persona.

Which is the real Gordon...?

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Of course anything needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, especially when TV in concerned. I think Boiling Point showed a glimpse of GR. Maybe some of his tantrums were could be a bit exaggerated, but I can confirm that when I had eaten in RHR when he was actually running it (more that 10 years ago) I could hear him scream a couple of times..

[Basildog]

pretty poor show really, no masterclasses with the Great White.And Ade was robbed in the end.

"and like a tree without roots, Hells Kitchen without MPW really cooking is, well, a bit rubbish"

[Gary Marshall]

i've let these build up on the sky +, so am way behind, as you say bas without any real sign of marco's talent they aren't that interesting from a foodie perspective, think it took me about 5 minutes to scan through an episode last night looking in vain for something of interest.

Maybe it works as reality tv for the minor celeb obsessed, i don't know?

GBM offers for me a more interesting diversion, and can be reduced with judicious fast forwarding into a 15 minute watchable programme. The ability to turn off the voice over would be welcomed though.