Can it really be true? The weekend sees reports, apparently credible, that Gordon Ramsay is considering opening restaurants in both St Ives and Toronto. (The latter must be credible, as it comes from the man himself.)
Yes, those two places have in common… well, precisely nothing really. One is a charming and arty English seaside town which has become a surprisingly vibrant dining destination in recent times, and another is a major North American city.
We all know that Gordon plans to build up a major multi-level restaurant portfolio but – if these reports really are both correct – it remains pretty unclear what strategy, if any, can lie behind it.
PS (30 April) Truth really is getting stranger than fiction. The Press Association now reports that Ramsay has also now stated an intention to open in Chicago during 2009.
At a cook book launch, he said: “Chicago is at the forefront of the culinary world right now and I want a piece of that action.” Perhaps that’s the strategy – to get “a piece of the action”, wherever that action may be?
PS (8 September). In a Times interview, Ramsay gives quite an interesting insight into his life. “Ramsay’s summer in LA was supposed to be a holiday with his wife, Tana, and his four children. But in reality, he’s been busy recording TV clips, working out and spending every other night in the London’s kitchen.” So not much time to make input to the London restaurants, it would seem.
“I’m s***ing myself with the size of the business,” he says. “Normally, we do two big projects a year, but last year was three and this year is four: Paris in January, LA in June, now Murano… then our first boutique hotel in October, the York and Albany.”
Next on the Ramsay ‘hit list’ for expansion is Washington. Then perhaps Moscow and St. Petersburg. What about Toronto? What about Chicago? What about the New York gastropub “announced” only this month?
How can we take Ramsay’s pronouncements at all seriously when there is no consistency in them at all?
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