Gordon Ramsay

by Neil Simpson

  When it came, the news was terrible in itself. But it was even more shocking for the way it echoed the past. The call came through on Gordon’s mobile. His friend and favourite maitre d’Jean-Philippe – JP who had filmed both the British and the American versions of Hell’s Kitchen with his boss – had fallen 50 feet from a ledge outside his flat in Stockwell on to the pavements below. The 30-year-old had been taken unconscious to Kings College Hospital in London with a suspected broken back and a long list of possible internal injuries. He was in a coma and no one knew if he would survive. Gordon sat with Tana in shocked silence as they digested the news. The similarities with David Dempsey’s death, who had also fallen from a window ledge on the front of an apartment block, were chilling and impossible to ignore. Was history repeating itself, Gordon asked himself, horrified, as he waited for more news from London. Could his great friend JP possibly have suffered a similar, possibly drug-induced, reaction to the one that had helped kill David?

  Fortunately Gordon very quickly found out that there was nothing sinister about this awful accident. No drink or drugs had been involved at all when Jean-Philippe fell. It turned out that he had just been trying to break into his own flat late at night after leaving his keys at work. He regained consciousness after two long, terrifying days and Gordon rang him every 24 hours from his holiday to check on his progress before giving him a huge and tearful telling off back in London. Gordon had lost too many people he loved to risk losing another through something so stupid as a forgotten set of house keys.

  With this tragedy averted, Gordon did have other problems to face in late 2005, however. Like every successful person in Britain, he has faced a near relentless series of criticisms from people who seem desperate to question his motives or see him fail. What is often at issue is his genuine commitment to food – which cynics say does not ring true for someone who appears on so many television screens. The idea seems to be that in life you can be one thing or another: you are either a chef or a television star. The fact that you can be a television star because you are a good chef seems to pass people by. Yet asking Gordon just one question about food should prove his knowledge base, and his love of the subject, is far deeper than his critics allege. ‘Nothing is just skin deep when you speak to Gordon about food,’ said reporter Tamsin Richie, who spent an afternoon in his Claridge’s kitchens in 2005. ‘He has a genuine, overwhelming passion for finding the right ingredients and creating something extraordinary out of them. Details matter enormously to him and he can talk for so long about something as simple as a piece of raw salmon that your own eyes can glaze over while his are still burning. The science of cooking is as important as the flavour he creates. He wants to know why things happen as well as just making them happen. He will wrap you up in his enthusiasm and his new ideas and he simply fails to understand it if you don’t share his interest.’

  Another writer, the Observer’s Nicci Gerrard, made the point even more starkly after she too spent time watching the chef at work. ‘Ramsay’s bashed-in face, especially when he gets angry, can screw into a grooved and winded exhaustion that looks close to despair. He cares too much about cooking. It’s not love so much as obsession.’

  But had Gordon found a new love in television that would push his old passions to the sidelines? The £1.2 million Channel Four deal he had signed to make more series of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares included the option to make pretty much any other shows he chose – though everyone expected him to turn all the other proposals down so he could spend more time in his kitchens.

  The broadcaster got a pleasant surprise, then, when Gordon said he was up for a new prime time magazine-style show called – perhaps naturally – The F-Word. The nine week show was filmed live in the autumn of 2005 and aimed to give another look at what happened in a restaurant’s kitchens, bar areas and dining rooms when Gordon took control. His co-host on the show was the restaurant critic Giles Coren and sparks flew from the start: ‘If people think Gordon is a rude bastard, wait until they hear me,’ was how Giles put it as the pair launched the series. For his part, Gordon wanted to take the focus from the ‘chef idol’ element of the production and put the spotlight firmly back on the food. ‘We’re going undercover and exposing bad service, bad value and bad food on behalf of customers. We’re also trying to encourage more women to consider careers in restaurants and keep people up to date with what’s going on in the food industry,’ he said.

  And to those who said he was once more straying too far from his own kitchens his response was typically frank. ‘**** off, it’s one night a week. Everyone deserves a night off,’ he said, dismissively just before the cameras started to roll.

  What the new show also proved was that Gordon hadn’t yet lost his addiction to adrenaline. Live television is hugely stressful – about as stressful, in fact, as running a Michelin starred restaurant. So Gordon had seen to it that his nights off continued to be as tense as his nights on.

  When he was in his growing family of kitchens Gordon did admit to having mellowed towards many of his former bete noirs, however – including picky diners and vegetarians. ‘The other day a customer asked for tomato ketchup and I told him to go to Europa Foods. Two years ago I would have thrown his table out of the window,’ he says when asked about the former. When it comes to vegetarians Gordon is finally prepared to admit he can learn things by leaving the meat in the fridge. ‘Two nights ago I roasted lettuce, in the oven, with a beautiful thyme stock, and it has to be the most amazing dish I have ever eaten. It was for a vegetarian – we have a vegetarian menu in all my restaurants now and this was to die for. It was served with shavings or Parmesan and roasted ceps – beautiful. And the vegetarian lady gave me a big kiss on the lips, because she had never eaten vegetarian food quite like that. That was a big learning curve for me. I am still learning – that’s the beauty of my food, I’m still getting better. I still consider myself a cook but it takes years to become a great chef.’

  This sort of humility is not what many people expect to hear from a man who has steam-rollered through so many challenges on his way to the top. But for all the clarity of his public persona Gordon remains the ultimate man of contrasts. He is the foul-mouthed former footballer who says moisturiser would be his ‘desert island essential’. He is the multi-millionaire who celebrated his 38th birthday in a fish and chip shop just outside Blackpool. The man who shouts and swears at every member of his staff but ensures even the cleaners in his kitchens get a share of their restaurants’ tips. The father who won’t watch his children being born but takes them to a greasy spoon lunch every week to make sure they share quality time with him. The devoted husband who says Elizabeth Hurley is his dream dinner date.

  And he is also the man who has taken so much from life, but is always prepared to give something back. A little girl who had just left hospital recently got a rare glimpse of this private Gordon Ramsay. ‘She was 11 years of age, she had a brain tumour and she was totally obsessed with food. She wanted to have a last meal cooked by me but apparently she didn’t think I would ever make fish and chips. I said: “Listen, not only am I going to make you fish and chips, I am going to make you the very best fish and chips in the world.” She even got ketchup with them and she was so pleased she could hardly speak.’

  Gordon’s other charitable instincts are not always carried with the decorum that might be expected, however. Every year he holds a special lunch for the scarlet-jacketed Chelsea Pensioners at his eponymous restaurant in Royal Hospital Road, for example. And some years they get more than they bargain for. ‘We love holding this lunch for them but you have to watch them carefully as the years haven’t dimmed their amorous appetites,’ he says. ‘This year I took on five extra waitresses to deal with them and added some Viagra to their pudding.’

  It is this kind of irrepressible irreverence that seems to win the public over when his other words and actions seem too arrogant to take. And this is the final contrast that shines through Gordon’s life. He won’t take hi
mself or anyone else too seriously. But his food must always be treated with the utmost respect. Laugh at me all you like, he challenges the critics. But don’t ever dare underestimate how much I care about food.

  ‘The day that I can accept that opening a scallop properly doesn’t matter is the day I have to get out of this business,’ he said when people first criticised the relentless perfectionism he displayed when he first opened Aubergine nearly a decade and a half ago. ‘The day that I walk into a kitchen and think of the money and forget my standards is the day I retire.’ Fortunately it looks as if that day is still as far away as ever. Today, Gordon is making sure he has even more kitchens to walk into around the world. Yes, he is still agreeing to a huge number of television shows, including another series of The F-Word, more of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares another series of Hell’s Kitchen and now Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares for America plus Cookalong Live and other new projects around the world. And yes, he is expanding his own-label china and publishing ventures. But throughout 2006 and beyond he was also getting ready to open even more restaurants.

  The first big one was in New York – the city where there is tougher competition and a more Michelin stars per square mile than anywhere else on earth. All of Gordon’s role models, mentors and rivals had hugely expensive restaurants there. When he joined them Gordon would be competing with the likes of Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon and Thomas Keller. But Gordon, true to form, was determined to do things differently. He says many of the big name chefs simply sign contracts to work in the restaurants that bear their names. The idea is that if the venture goes sour the company behind the deal might lose money but the chef can just walk away unscathed. The boy from Glasgow decided that this was too safe an option for him. So when he launched Gordon Ramsay at The London he would be putting a huge amount of his own money on the line. It was a high stakes deal. If it goes well, he could draw telephone number payments from it. But if it failed he would take a huge personal hit and would pay dearly for his bravery. ‘I’m here to cook my arse off and I thrive on the competition,’ he said as he unveiled plans for the new restaurant, at the London NYC Hotel on West 5th Street. Some £3 million was spent on the kitchen alone in a restaurant that would offer formal dining for up to 45 guests with up to 70 more in its more relaxed areas. One of his longest standing colleagues, Neil Ferguson, was picked to head up day-to-day operations in the city and Gordon found himself one of the autumn’s most frequent transatlantic travellers as the November opening day approached. Before it did, though, Gordon had one big day to celebrate in London – his 40th birthday. He and Tana had picked X-Factor to Chicago star Brenda Edwards to sing the serenade at a vast party in London’s Banqueting House where celebrity guests, family and friends all mingled until the early hours. Then, of course, it was back to work. Gordon had an international Emmy award to collect in New York for Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Then he had to face the fact that his Manhattan transfer might still end in tears. There were rumours that a walk-out was being planned by his kitchen staff in a row over tips. Then there were claims that the unions were unwilling to let their members face the ‘verbal abuse’ Gordon was famous for dishing out to his workers. ‘The stilettos are out for Ramsay,’ wrote the New York Post after asking some high profile ‘ladies who lunch’ what they thought of the star chef’s public persona. An even lower blow came from The New York Sun. In its preview article for the new restaurant it described Gordon as ‘a television host’ – one of the worst insults the chef could have imagined.

  Meanwhile Gordon kept pushing away in the kitchens to make sure the menus and the preparations were right. He kept checking the white, silver and blue interiors of the dining rooms to ensure they had the classy but comfortable look he knew he needed. And most importantly his telephone staff kept on taking bookings for the restaurant’s opening weeks. Gordon’s plan was never to take bookings more than two months in advance and his first block of dates were soon sold out. While a new war of words between Gordon and his fellow New York chefs broke out in the media it seemed as if Gordon Ramsay at The London might defy all the odds and be a success.

  On November 14 Gordon did a book signing in New York before heading to the cocktail party that would launch his restaurant. Until the end of the year he would be spending four days a week in the city, before taking a private plane back to see his family in London and deal with his other business interests. Two things gave him the energy to survive the new regime. First, the early reviews and the booking trends suggested he had a hit on his hands. His prices were deliberately lower than in many of the city’s other mega-restaurants – and diners seemed to love them just as much as the food itself. Secondly, his business advisers said he should now go ahead with plans to roll out even more restaurants in America. So Gordon poured over the details of sites in LA and Boca Raton, Florida where his next two openings were due – Las Vegas continued to be a possibility for a third stateside site.

  In London he also got a kick out of guiding his latest scholarship winner on to great things. Aled Williams, 24, had gone in front of Gordon and the other judges at the BBC Good Food Show earlier in the year and was now in his kitchens learning from the master. Critics continued to say that Gordon was spending too much time away from his kitchens. But he knew that whenever he felt tired, under pressure or unhappy he had only to walk back into one of them to feel alive again. Cooking had saved him so many years ago. It still does today.

  So who cares if it sometimes feels as if the critics are ganging up on him? Who cares if the bigger his global empire becomes the harder it can feel to control? No-one thrives on pressure like Gordon Ramsay. No-one wants more, bigger challenges or tougher fights. That’s why he sleeps so little, gets up so early and works so hard. From all his existing shows on Channel Four to a possible foodie version of the X-Factor where Gordon will be the ideal candidate for the sharp-tongued Simon Cowell role. From a new chef school to a chain of gastro pubs and Ramsay-branded mid-range eateries there is still no stopping him. From Maze to Foxtrot Oscar there could well be a Ramsay restaurant in very many more places in the future. And as Kitchen Nightmares takes off in America and around the world, there are many more ways to hear him swear on screen as well.

  Unlike some famous names he is still happy to get up close and personal to the public – and to face the high-wire act of live television to get his message across to as many people as possible. That’s why he still does master classes at food shows. It explains why he loves the unique challenge of Cookalong Live on Channel Four, the show where viewers can cook alongside Gordon, in real time, as everyone prepares the same dishes. Ingredient and utensil lists are published in advance. Gordon quickly sidesteps any criticism of his demands. ‘A lot of people have equipment in their kitchens that they don’t even know what to do with,’ he said when someone pointed out that one recent show required the use of 34 utensils and 32 different ingredients. For Gordon, this was a Jamie Oliver moment: his chance to persuade people to stretch themselves the way life has always stretched him.

  But while he is desperate to encourage fans to fulfil their potential he refuses to sugar-coat the experience. Making a perfect meal won’t always be easy, he points out. It will take dedication, determination and sheer hard graft – just like life. He also wants to make the point that the battles never really end. ‘I worry all the time. I worry that what you make can be taken away, that it won’t last. It really scares me,’ he admits in a rare, candid moment when he was asked why he worked so hard. But it is the adrenaline – and the competition – that keeps him fighting for more. ‘I don’t hold back. I revel in it. Every time I go into the kitchen I’m in a boxing ring. I’m walking out, they’re carried out,’ he says, the clear victor of every bout.

  His failed opponents range from out-of-depth trainee chefs to so-called master chefs who constantly speak out against him. ‘The majority of chefs I know can’t run a fucking bath, let alone 12 restaurants around the world,’ he said defiantly when yet another riv
al spoke out against him. What bothered him more was when others tried to jump on the same bandwagon. Hypocrisy in the press, or lazy reporting just to get a cheap headline, are amongst his biggest bug bears. ‘We got nine out of ten in the Good Food Guide, but, apparently, my nine out of ten was lower than Heston Blumenthal’s nine out of ten. What a load of crap. I can’t take it seriously any more. I’m fed up with having to keep justifying ourselves. I shut my mouth now. But you know what I do take seriously? What we do every day. What my customers get served. That’s far more important.’

  To check that Gordon is getting everything right on this score you only need to speak to the real experts in his field, people like Tim Zagat, editor of the international and hugely influential Zagat restaurant guide. The publication uses thousands of volunteers to conduct its reviews and believes this makes it the most independent and accurate barometer of culinary talent. ‘We have been in London since 1997 and Ramsay has been in first place, and occasionally second, without exception,’ Zagat said recently. ‘This success is about his restaurants, not his media profile and there are only about 30 restaurants across the world that have scored as consistently well as Ramsay. Sure, his business is growing fast but all the major chefs have multiple restaurants which they staff by training the best. I would say that by reputation Ramsay is still the number one chef in London.’