Top-rated
Mon, May 23, 2005
The venue for tonight's first programme is La Lanterna in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. Twenty-eight-year-old owner and head chef Alex offers modern Italian cuisine, a taste of Little Italy in England's first garden city, and the restaurant is run by his best mate maitre d' Gavin, helped by his ex-air hostess girlfriend Emily. But Alex has no customers, cookers that don't work and an expensive menu that's about as authentically Italian as a spag bol. He re-mortgaged his house to buy the business, it's losing £1,000 a week, he hasn't slept for months but still runs round town in a flash car (number plate: A1CHEF) that's worth more than the restaurant. Running out of money, inspiration and energy, Alex is on the verge of losing everything. Gordon rolls up his sleeves and sets to work on the encrusted kitchen cookers and hapless front-of-house staff. Can a strict diet of brutal honesty, radical food surgery and undiluted energy turn things round, or is it only a matter of time before the lights go out at La Lanterna for good?
Mon, May 30, 2005
The venue for tonight's second programme is D-Place in Chelmsford, Essex run by Mexican-born Israel and his English partner Tara. They've sunk £150,000 of their own money into their trendy café bar which offers a vast selection of fusion cuisine. In charge is Executive Chef Philippe, producing everything from all-day breakfasts to hoi sin noodles with an astounding lack of flair; the plastic food is dire and boomerangs back from the dining room as soon as it's cooked. Restaurant manager, spunky Essex boy Dave, loathes his chef, and their mutual hatred spills over into permanent running battles. Faced with dysfunctional staff and a disastrous menu, Gordon is about to face the longest week of his professional life. Can he quell the panic, banish the deep fat fryer and bring D-Place back from the dead, or will it disappear forever?
Top-rated
Mon, Jun 6, 2005
The venue for tonight's third programme is Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack, an intimate forty-seater a stone's throw from Brighton's sea front. Big soul momma, owner CHARITA JONES, produces a menu of irresistibly unique classics from the Deep South. The food's hard to fault but the punters are nowhere to be seen, Head Chef Brian and a rag-tag collection of part-timers are taking the mickey - and despite working a seven-day week Charita's got an empty restaurant and a £65,000 debt. If ever there was a case of too many cooks, this is it. Charita's a natural, but she's never made a profit on the restaurant and is now facing financial disaster. Can Gordon successfully shut her out of the kitchen, get the chef back on the boil and put the soul back into the business, or will the shack shut up shop for good?
Top-rated
Mon, Jun 13, 2005
The venue for tonight's fourth programme is La Riviera, a fine dining restaurant in Inverness. Owned by multi-millionaire BARRY LARSON and costing £8000 a week to run, the place boasts top French chef LOIC LEFEBVRE and an impeccably-trained kitchen staff with Michelin star-studded backgrounds. Loic is on a mission, to bring sophisticated French cooking to the home of haggis, tatties and deep-fried Mars bars. But though he's hungry for success he's French, he's arrogant and the food's pretentious. The locals aren't biting and the restaurant's empty most nights. There's a sharp smell of déjà vu in the air for Gordon whose own venture in Scotland - Amaryllis - had to close. This week it's personal as Ramsay tries to save La Riviera from the same fate. Can Gordon tone down their act, demystify the menu and, most importantly, get the punters in?
Fri, May 20, 2005
Saturday night at The Glass House Restaurant in Ambleside was a disaster. Orders in the kitchen were mixed up, the food wasn't cooked properly and the customers were complaining. Not only was the chef in tears, but the owners were on the brink of bankruptcy. A few months on, there have been some departures from the Glass House. Who is in charge of the kitchen now? And, more importantly, is Ramsay's Caesar salad still on the menu?
Fri, May 27, 2005
The Walnut Tree Inn was in big trouble ... there was no head chef, the customers had dwindled, and the owner had been forced to sell the family home to keep the business afloat.Set in beautiful Welsh countryside, The Walnut Tree Inn was a successful business for 37 years and became a national institution. But when Francesco bought the place 3 years ago he made the mistake of turning the warm and welcoming country inn into a cold and stark London-style restaurant. And when things went wrong he tried to run the kitchen as well as the front of house.With its Michelin star in jeopardy, Ramsay's first job was to recruit a new head chef so the owner could concentrate on customers. But has Francesco managed to follow Ramsay's advice and stop meddling in the kitchen?
Mon, Jul 4, 2005
Nick and Richard are self-confessed restaurant virgins. They've both had successful careers in the brewery business so when they bought Moore Place they believed they could make it an instant success. What they hadn't realized was just how difficult it would be to fill the 90-seater oak-paneled restaurant and how hard it would be to find a chef who could cook decent food. Has Ramsay's fast-track guide to restaurant success helped these brewery whiz-kids transform their failing ex-Berni Inn into a profitable business? And is the building still painted that disgusting shade of purple?
Mon, Jul 11, 2005
The episode that has gone down in TV history. Tim Gray was the 21 year-old Head Chef at Bonaparte's in Silsden, West Yorkshire. Claiming to specialise in 'fine dining', he had ambitions to be a TV chef and dreamed of opening restaurants in London, Paris and New York. Unfortunately, Tim couldn't even cook an omelette and his trademark scallops made Ramsay throw up. A true kitchen nightmare if ever there was one. With no customers and a fridge full of fancy ingredients, Bonaparte's was losing money fast. Ramsay soon established that what the people of Silsden really want to eat is Beef and Ale Pie and Treacle Tart. Ramsay soon had the restaurant chocker block but what state is it in now?