Gordon Ramsay interview: How fiery chef's mum helped shape new Hong Kong restaurant
Gordon Ramsay has unveiled his first outpost in the city, and he's hungry for more
Viewing YouTube clips of Gordon Ramsay icily demoting two chefs de partie to commis (trainees), threatening to fire both cooks and waiting staff while using expletive after expletive in the same way that other people would say "wow!" or "amazing!" is not the best way to psych yourself up for interviewing him.
As I arrived at his latest restaurant, Bread Street Kitchen & Bar, which opened on September 18 at the LKF Hotel on Wyndham Street, I was, to put it mildly, very anxious.
So it came as a surprise when Ramsay - looking more relaxed and affable than he's portrayed on his many television programmes such as and - walks into the restaurant's private room and, after a firm handshake, asks politely if I mind if he takes off his jacket before sitting down and talking about how pleased he is to be here.
With Bread Street Kitchen, you have the comfortable, fun environment, but you also have the Gordon Ramsay 'taste' coming through
"I've always been a big fan of Hong Kong. It's amazing here - very similar to London - multicultural, vibrant, and the work ethic is strong. It's a powerhouse - determined, humble, but nothing too flash. Rents are expensive but the customers are amazing, and they know good food. That's the most important thing."
Ramsay is working with the Dining Concepts restaurant group, which already has chefs such as Mario Batali and Michael White in its stable. "They're a well-established brand, they work with international chefs, and they have a proven track record. Sandeep [Sekhri, the managing director] has quite a foothold on suppliers and design - so that's a huge weight off our shoulders as the new kid on the block. Having this kind of heavyweight partnership makes the restaurant stronger."
Hong Kong is a stepping stone into other parts of Asia, says Ramsay. "Macau is next - that will be in early 2015. It's going to be very exciting. Shanghai and Beijing potentially as well, sometime down the line. And Singapore in the spring of 2015."
Bread Street Kitchen & Bar is a branch of the original in London, and it's one of Gordon Ramsay Holdings' 25 restaurants in England, the US, France, Italy and Qatar. Choosing to open BSK - as opposed to one of the chef's fine-dining places such as Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Royal Hospital Road in London's Chelsea - was calculated.
"I'd love to do something more prestigious next time. With Bread Street Kitchen, you have the comfortable, fun environment, but you also have the Gordon Ramsay 'taste' coming through. I didn't want to become too precious, I didn't want it to be too much of a destination, a fine-dining experience that was intimidating. I didn't want to pitch too high, too soon - we need to walk before we can run.
"I look at my restaurants and I think of one person - my mum. Would my mum be more comfortable in Bread Street Kitchen or in the three-star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay? Bread Street Kitchen 100 times over, because Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is not where I came from.
"Getting to the top and winning three Michelin stars was the ticket to freedom because it gave me the passport to create, but does it make my mum feel relaxed eating there? She's eaten at that restaurant once, but she loves Bread Street."
Ramsay's television programmes don't always cast him in a flattering light; in his search for perfection, he yells, he curses, he humiliates. He's also had fallings-out with people close to him - most famously, his father-in-law, as well as other chefs, including former protégé Marcus Wareing. But there are also chefs who are fiercely loyal to him. Ramsay is quick to point out that he's not the first chef to be tough on those working under him, and cites Joël Robuchon, for whom he worked at the now-defunct, three-star Jamin, in Paris.
"The guy is a legend, a miserable legend - a hard-ass. If you think I'm firm, I wish you were a fly on the wall when I was 23 - they didn't have cameras and Go-Pros and secret footage [back then]. I got the best experience learning how to make the best mashed potatoes in the world, and how to cook fish brilliantly. It was extraordinary working at Jamin. I loved the experience. And the more you got told off … it was almost like being a martyr, to learn from him.
I loved working at Jamin. And the more you got told off ... it was almost like being a martyr to learn from Robuchon
"I remember I was cooking sea bass - caramelising shallots, deglazing the pan with star anise and white wine. And Robuchon made me get a bottle of ketchup and - splat - right into the pan. Ketchup. Tomato ketchup. I thought, 'F**k me, Joël Robuchon, you legend. You're using ketchup in your sauce for sea bass - what a dream.' Caramelised ketchup with sea bass, star anise and shallots - it was amazing. So I called mum, saying, 'Guess what, this man - the most talented man I've ever worked for - he puts ketchup in his sea bass.' You know what my mum said? 'What's sea bass?' I just said, 'Mum, I'll call you next Sunday'."
In addition to opening restaurants in Asia, Ramsay has plans for more in other parts of the world. When asked, "How many restaurants is too many?" Ramsay replies, "How long is a piece of string? I'm 47, I have no desire to slow down. The strength of the group is based on the talent. Chefs come and go, wine waiters get poached - that's the nature of the business. We spent the past four years providing a new tier of strength for greater development. We've just become a food ambassador for what British food stands for - Great Britain, great food.
"I don't think I've slowed down. But I'm not working harder - I'm working smarter - that's an important turning point for every chef. I don't want to stand there and sweat and panic and worry - I want a life outside the kitchen. I'm in the best shape of my life. I don't worry where the business is going. I need the pressure - pressure's the fuel. If I don't have that pressure, I'm the worst chef in the country. If I'm under immense pressure, I can perform."
He's well aware of the dangers of the pressures of his career. "There have been quite a few chefs over the past decade: Santi Santamaria - he died of a heart attack. Depression set in with Bernard Loiseau - he committed suicide. I lost a chef years ago to a nasty addiction to cocaine. So I keep myself fit. Last year I did my first Ironman in Hawaii - it's a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride, then a marathon. I found time for myself. I have three girls and a son."
Ramsay's love of soccer is well documented and as a teen he hoped to make a career of it, before injury forced him to pursue another profession.
If i don't have that pressure, I'm the worst chef in the country. If i'm under pressure, I can perform
"If I was still playing soccer - could I play on a first team place at 47? I'd be on the f**king pile. I'd be in the physio room, on the bench. There are times when I still play for Unicef, and turn out at Old Trafford in front of 75,000. There was a time when I'm walking out of the tunnel and [Diego] Maradona was on my shoulders. You have that split second thought as you're walking out onto the pitch and [hear] this roar and you're playing an amazing game. Then you flashback - but I don't like looking back for too long because it hurts. So everything I got out of soccer, I get out of food."
And that love of food runs in the family. "A few months back, I was watching [youngest daughter] Matilda - she's 12 - film her new cooking show in LA. It's called , and it comes out in early 2015. It was just fascinating watching her, saying, 'Dad's food is posh, but my food is real food', and showing this to her friends. She has a TV programme at 12. She has all the makings of a great chef. If you had put me in front of a camera at age 12, even then, I would have told you to f**k off.
"I'm 47 - I'm getting fitter, but I'm not getting younger. There are parts of my body that are hanging and dropping beyond belief. In 20 years time, I want to have fun with Matilda in the kitchen, not sit there with my Zimmer frame, breathing oxygen and worrying about my heart bypass."
