Oak Room to close

[Andy Lynes]

It'>http://www.observer.co.uk/business/story/0...,00.html

It's

been rumoured that Robert Reid is to take over at The Capital from Eric Chavot, but where Chavot might go is not clear.

[Simon Majumdar]

The most remarkable things about this article are

1) The words "Ramsay" and "value for money" appearing in the same sentence

2) MPW being called a "people person"

Ahem! on both counts

S

[Scottf]

Though I don't like passing on info 3rd hand, whilst mentioning Chavot may be leaving The Capital to my brother he said he'd read a similar story in a trade magazine but Chavot had denied it.

A bit like a football transfer saga by the look of things!

[stephen wall]

gordon ramsay is an entirely different restaurant to La Trouvaille:it is in a different league,as I'm sure your already well aware.To compare the two is foolish,and if you compare the prices of GR to other 3 stars, and might I add in capital cities, it is not at all out of the way.

[Simon Majumdar]

Thank you for your insightful comments.  I feel as if the scales have fallen from my eyes

Er, now, if I might return to planet Earth for one moment.  My comparison was not between the cooking at LA T or GR's nor indeed their aspirations.  Rather it was about value for money.  I have eaten at many 3* that were far more expensive than GR's but in every aspect better value for.  I have also eaten a places that cost next to nothing which were not even worth that.

What is it they say about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing?

S

(Edited by Simon Majumdar at 4:08 am on Jan. 25, 2002)

[stephen wall]

perhaps Simon,but in what way were others better value?Somehow whenever I come out of GR, I feel immensly satisfied.

[Lord Michael Lewis]

Ramsay is poor- boy ambitious. That's why he names his restaurant after himself. So, like buying a BMW, eating at GR is a marketed, buy in to the high-life, theme park experience. It is for the wealthy and vacuous who believe that fame is an indicator of quality.

La Trouvaille on the other hand is a restaurant.

I'll leave it to you to decide at what point the fool parts with his wad.

[Jon Tseng]

But is GR good because he's famous or famous because he's good?

[Lord Michael Lewis]

Neither.

[stephen wall]

how can you seriously slate Ramsay's food like that?Its just plain wrong, not to show at least some respect for the quality of food he's producing.

P.S(Are you actually a Lord)

[Lord Michael Lewis]

Ramsay corresponds to an archetype we have in Britain. Like the androgenous soothsayer present is so many cultures, Ramsay is the Russel Grant of his ilk. We place great value on the work of the tortured artist/artisan especially if he is socially inept. The tempermental is tolerated because of his preternatural skill.

Ramsay is no genius, he is a hard working but bad mannered ex hospital chef who observed Marco Pierre White in action and correctly surmised "I could do that".

If Ramsay was ever any good it was at Aubergine. As soon as the name goes up over the door anything good marches out of it.

[Tony Finch]

I've not eaten in any of Ramsey's establishments but by calling the restaurant after himself he's only following in the tradition commonplace in France where there are lots of eponymously named restaurants.

[Simon Majumdar]

Quote: from stephen wall on 3:54 pm on Jan. 27, 2002

how can you seriously slate Ramsay's food like that?Its just plain wrong, not to show at least some respect for the quality of food he's producing.

How can I seriously slate him? Easily.  I have paid over £300 for two people to eat at the much vaunted new place ( claridges ) and both the cooking and the service fell miserably short of acceptable.  There is bad food but this place abused the privilege

Ramsay's problem is that he can cook, he is just so stretched now ( and even more so when he takes over The Connaught ) that he is having to focus more on his pathetic marketing persona than the kitchen.

Good luck to him that he is making a lot of money, but please don't try and persuade me that he is any longer anything than a very ordinary chef

(Edited by Simon Majumdar at 6:49 am on Jan. 28, 2002)

[stephen wall]

I accept that GR at Claridges has had initial problems, but recent meals at RHR, where we mustn't forget his 3 michelin stars are from, have been of a consistently high standard.