London: Gordon Ramsay Restaurants? Q?
 

The recently completed Hell's Kitchen TV show in U.S. was a competition between young chefs, the winner who would get a plum opportunity of some kind.

Actually i only caught a tad of the show so don't really know the details of the 'plot' but it was a reality show and

Gordon Ramsay (sp?) was the Simon Cowell of the show i believe - the big cheese - and then yesterday on NPR

they were interviewing one of the contestants - perhaps the winner and he said if you ever go to London you must go to one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants and

then he said there is a waiting list on months just to get in.

Me being a fancy restaurant neophyte who never goes to them but likes to know about them and walk by the place to size it up, etc.

Where are the Gordon Ramsay restaurants in London

and do you have to get on the wait list months in advance

and what's the local opinion of them?

thanks

Just check his site, which lists his restaurants. A big article in the New Yorker recently about his New York restaurant , which was having problems.
http://www.gordonramsay.com/

You live in London and you don't know who Gordon Ramsay is??? COME ON!! Gordon Ramsay has been a famous London chef since the late 90's. I ate in his restaurant in London in 1999 and it was the HOTTEST ticket in town.

How could you possibly size up a restaurant from walking past it???????? You have to go inside and eat you daft geezer.

I honestly think you are pulling a mickey.

I like to know a lot about a lot of stuff in London, whether i go there or not.

And yes, though i can' afford to even have an appetizing probably i still like to yes, when i pass by it, realize that this is an establishment of great repute, etc.

I do not live in London or the U.K.

i just finished reading a book called The Devil in the Kitchen by Marco Pierre White one on England/London's most famous and successful chefs. Gordon Ramsay trained in one of White's Restaurants.
If you are interested in the London restaurant scene in the 80-90's this is a great book to read.
It also talks about many of the super fine 3 star restaurants owned by White when he was a chef. He is now retired.

If you're tootling about the tourist bits of London you're not going to see Gordon's restaurants. His flagship is in Chelsea - by the Hospital, but he has lots more ranging upwards from a pub in Islington(ish).

They are fantastic - but the three star places do have enormous waiting lists.

I assume the specialize in 'English cuisine'? Though that could be an Oxymoron?

PalenQ- LOL!

First time I saw him on one of the BBC shows we get in the USofA I thought he was a vulgar pig. Then, I watched a series of shows where he goes into restaurants in an advisory position. He was funny, human, and dare I say it, sensitive. Often right and comes across highly arrogant but when one knows something...has a track record...well?

I'd find one and give it a go.

Palenq: Gordon Ramsey is a very interesting personality who is not shown at his best on Hells Kitchen, IMHO. He reveals much more compassion, intelligence and more of his philosophy of food on the UK show (which is shown in Cananda but perhaps not the US Food Channel?) called Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen.

Anyway, his theme in the British show is fixing restaurants that are in difficulty and his solutions are almost always to make it simpler: local foods, in season local ingredients, keep the menu short and stick to your knitting i.e. if you are a pub, serve the best of local pub food.

His own restaurants are perhaps more complicated than the advice he gives to others? I don't know and am not likely to find out as I suspect there is nothing simple about his prices and London (Chelsea or Islington) are dreams for the five-year plan.

"I assume the specialize in 'English cuisine'? Though that could be an Oxymoron?"

You're a bit behind the times, PalenQ.

I loved GR's "Kitchen Nightmares" show-the UK one. The promos for the US edition have him yelling and screaming like he does in "Hell's Kitchen" though, so I don't think it'll be quite the same-very unfortunately.

The programme referred to above is callled Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares in Britain - and there are DVDs etc available. He also hosts a programme called The F Word which is a sort of magazine programme about food.

Here are some reviews of his Royal Hospital Street restaurant:

http://www.london-eating.co.uk/17.htm

Time to change the oil in my car, the regular sneer at English food.
You forget that some of us travel to the US and try to find decent grub there.
It's steak, steak, steak or junk.

However I digress,
This is interesting http://tinyurl.com/2t2qz9

I quote: "Peter Harden, a co-editor of the guide, said there had been a particularly strong rise in restaurants specialising in traditional British food. "Traditional British cooking is a favourite among openings, and it is part of a general variety in London which shows a maturity of the restaurant scene that perhaps we have not seen before. London has been playing catch-up in a lot of different kinds of cuisine, but now it's quite hard to see areas where it is weak," he said"

Okay, so here is my question about Gordon Ramsay's restaurants after watching several seasons of Hell's Kitchen:

Does he really yell and curse at his staff that much when he isn't on tv? Because I can't see paying to have an elegant meal at an elegant restaurant and hear "Get out of my face, you f***ing donkey" coming from the kitchen every five seconds.

Maybe the kitchen is sound proofed. Maybe his regular kitchen staff knows what they are doing and doesn't get yelled at.

Johanna

His own staff worship the ground he walks on - he inspires loyalty like almost no other. So he doesn't need to shout at them as most have them have been with him for years.

Josser- i agree but could not help making the cheap crack. Sorry - i know English cuisine is much more than fish and chips, mushy peas and Wimpy burgers!

Fish chips and mushy peas is one of the worlds great dishes (yes I'm entirely serious).

While in deepest France recently, one restaurant owner told me he'd been auditioned for a French version - starring the man himself - of Ramsay's Kitchen Nighmares.

Apparently Ramsay's going to be touring France, telling their chefs how to cook.

Which I'd have thought would go down among <i> les grenouilles </i> like a <i> ballon de plomb </i>

I think GR will have to clone himself!

Please, there is nothing real about reality TV. You really don't know how Gordon Ramsay reacts in his kitchen because reality TV shows are edited for high drama. Mr. Ramsay may call someone a &quot;bloody donkey&quot; once in 10 hours of film footage, but the producers will edit that footage to make it seem like he insults people every 5 seconds.

My ex-boss, Todd Oldham, is on Bravo channel now with a design show and I can tell you that nothing about that show is for real. NOTHING.