It's exciting times for foodies as world renowned celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, is set to open his first Manchester restaurant.
Stunning images of the new '1930s Tokyo-inspired' Lucky Cat restaurant offer a tantalising glimpse into what we might expect from the eagerly anticipated dining spot. But it's the first time the confrontational TV chef has opened a major restaurant in Manchester, a city now celebrated for its thriving culinary landscape.
Anyone who has watched any of Ramsay's shows will know the meticulous standards for both food and overall dining experience he asks of restaurants and staff. And it's fair to say, the potty-mouthed chef has never held back his opinions.
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For a taste of he high standards Ramsay will expect from his own Manchester venture, we can take a look back nearly 20-years to when he cast his critical eye over venues in Lancashire, Cumbria and Cheshire. The UK stint of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares saw the renowned chef try to help pubs and restaurants thrive.
The show in which Ramsay used his years of experience running high-end restaurants help struggling venues get back on their feet, lasted a few seasons before it moved stateside. In that time, he visited several restaurants close to Greater Manchester.
There's no doubt the reality TV show only offered a small glimpse into just one week at the restaurant, edited down for our entertainment. But what we do see is tempers flare, insults fly, and one chef collapse as Ramsay tried desperately to save the businesses.
A number of Ramsay's brutal takedowns were previously reported by Lancs Live. If you're at all curious at what other UK businesses came in for the same treatment, many of the early noughties shows are still available on 4OD.
The Fenwick Arms, Lancaster, Lancashire
Ramsay headed to The Fenwick Arms in 2006 and was tasked with turning the Claughton pub's fortunes around. Owned by Brian and his partner Elaine for three years, Ramsay opened the show saying: "Time is running out for The Fenwick Arms - a country pub that thinks it’s Claridge's.
"This week, I'm trying to help the most stubborn fruit cake I've ever met. Seven days to teach this old dog some new tricks. It will take a miracle."
Early on, we learn Brian has 30 years experience in the kitchen and running pubs alongside Elaine, but they are currently losing £1,500 a week in their Lancashire pub. The pair said they worked 120 hour weeks and only had Christmas Day off, and Brian claims that he went back to work just seven days after a triple heart bypass
Claiming the atmosphere is "static and dreary," Ramsay states the menu is "far from being a pub menu" and that the list of "pompous sauces" is "ridiculous." He orders a prawn salad to start, before moving onto a rack of lamb.
Ramsay said: "How the f*** do you get in? How do you get the lamb out. Not only is this not pub food, but it’s plain awful. It's like chewing a f***ing golf ball. Brian’s got a lot to answer for."
The next day, we hear the business is £250,000 in debt and, since his heart operation, Brian sets a timer for every dish to keep on top of things. The kitchen clutter, full of second hand Ebay equipment and plates hoarded by Brian is also a red flag for the top chef.
Ramsay later gives the owners the night off, their first in 18 years, to relax and come in for dinner. But when they arrive, he sends them back home to change into more casual outfits.
On Bank Holiday Sunday, the pub is empty and Ramsay takes their thick, tar-like gravy that you could "re-tile the roof with" from the kitchen to cover up a pothole in the car park. To tackle the emptiness of the pub on Sundays, he comes up with a campaign of being known for the best gravy in the area, which sees them cheering and chanting through the village.
Despite customers left gathering at the bar, the relaunch night is a success and the customers love the gravy and Yorkshire puddings on their Sunday roasts. They made £2,447 in just one service - £2,000 more than the last Sunday lunch.
A month later, Ramsay returns on a Sunday lunch and the car park is full, with campaign for real gravy still going ahead. But Brian returned to the kitchen just seven days after Ramsay left and so did his plates.
In 2009, Brian and Elaine are said to have moved to The Ship Inn in Aldborough and the Fenwick was bought by new owners who completed a revamp. In 2011, the pub closed and was put up for sale again before reopening in June 2013 as a pub and seafood restaurant.
Clubway 41, Blackpool, Lancashire
Insults flew in the hot kitchen of 'Blackpool's best restaurant' after Ramsay paid it a visit. The episode of his visit to the seaside resort's Clubway 41 appeared on our screens in 2006.
Run by Dave Jackson and his partner Dawn Brindley, the failing restaurant came in for some brutal home truths despite it being voted Restaurant Of The Year by Blackpool Tourist Board. As Ramsay heads into the restaurant his first impressions are not good and he can't believe what he's seeing saying: "Is that it? That can’t be it. Actually looks like a sex shop."
Ramsay later expresses his disbelief at the bizarre food combinations on the menu. Items such as Tomato and Quantro soup, as well as salmon and strawberries, do not go down well with the multiple Michelin starred chef.
The following day, it's revealed that business from downstairs greasy spoon café, that the couple also own, is the only thing keeping them afloat. With the diabolical service at an end, Ramsay returns the next day to persuade the owners of Clubway 41 to change its "strip club" name.
It's agreed the restaurant will be renamed Jacksons (owner Dave's surname) before the hard work of teaching the ailing head chef how to cook before the next night's service for 50 guests begins. It's here where the two chefs' hot tempers bring the already simmering kitchen to the point of boiling over.
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After finding out that Dave had never cooked mussels before, digs from the shocked Ramsay cause the head chef to snap back: "I haven’t. Don’t take the p**s out of me for it though!" An argument seems to act as a valve releasing the pressure and leads to an honest heart-to-heart conversation between the two.
The big night with 50 hungry guests arrives and the new look restaurant, now moved downstairs where the greasy spoon operates, and a simplified, home-cooked menu is put to the test for the first time. The restaurant fills with guests and a seemingly confident and in control Dave's off to a good start.
However, nearly an hour in, and the busy kitchen has trouble keeping pace with the guests' orders. Only a bit of free champagne and Ramsay stepping in to help out brings the night to a moderately successful conclusion.
Months later, the top TV chef returns to see how Dave and Dawn are faring in the recently transformed Jacksons restaurant. Things, however, have not gone well.
To save money, they abandoned the evening restaurant after just two months in favour of returning to cooking frozen greasy spoon fare. Things had been made worse by a bus exchange being built just outside the café, causing their visibility to drop along with their trade.
Despite leaving on an optimistic note after another attempt by Ramsay to promote the restaurant with some creative PR, Jacksons restaurant closed in September 2006 with the owners Dave and Diane splitting up soon after. The restaurant reopened with new owners in 2007 as the Market Street Diner but later closed again.
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The Glass House in Ambleside, Cumbria
In the first ever series of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares in 2003, the world famous chef was faced with the impossible task of saving a failing Lake District restaurant. Ramsay headed to Ambleside to try and turn around the fortunes of the failing Glass House restaurant.
Head Chef Richard Collins, who trained at Claridges, couldn't get any of his kitchen staff to respect him and spent much of the episode trying, but failing dismally, to follow Ramsay's advice. Soon after the episode starts, the camera shows a table of unhappy customers as Ramsay tells us restaurant owner Neil is "about to crack up".
Early in the episode, Ramsay sits down to sample head chef Richard's signature dishes. A plate of duck cakes with chilli jam arrive and the TV chef soon makes clear he's not a fan, calling them "pretentious crap" and like "camel's b******s".
A clearly upset Ramsay makes his way down to the kitchen after finding a duck bone which nearly got stuck in his throat. Clearly unimpressed with the head chef, he dons his whites to observe the service in the kitchen on one of the busiest nights of the year.
Pressure soon reaches boiling point as Ramsay watches food being sent back, staff running around "like headless chickens" and the stressed restaurant owner about to "p**s his pants". Following the night's service, the camera cuts to owner Neil in philosophical mood, saying: "Maybe I shouldn’t give a s**t. Maybe I should just say f**k you, give us your money, thanks very much.
"Then it wouldn’t bother me and I could go and it wouldn’t matter if I’ve got a s**t restaurant because there’s loads of them out there and the owners are driving around in bloody Porsches. I’m driving a sh**ty Astra van and I’m f*****g close to tears."
Second day at the Glass House and Ramsay enters carrying buckets and mops to tackle the kitchen's poor hygiene. Footage secretly filmed the week before showed kitchen staff tenderising meat with the back of a frying pan and making pesto in a bucket on the dirty kitchen floor.
Soon enough, the TV chef begins to turn things around. A revamp of the menu and encouraging the staff to communicate better in the kitchen starts to lift the mood and the service.
Three months later, Ramsay returns to the Glass House to see if things had improved. Despite losing a few members of staff, Richard remains in charge of the kitchen.
New dishes are also on the menu. A pomegranate risotto which Ramsay tells Richard "sounds f*****g disgusting." However, not all the new dishes are bad and the visibly less stressed restaurant owner Neil is feeling much more optimistic about the future. Despite Ramsay returning to the Glass House in series five of Kitchen Nightmares, the restaurant didn't stand the test of time closing in March 2014.
Oscar's, Nantwich, Cheshire
Ramsay faced his own kitchen nightmare during filming for this episode of the show which aired in 2006. The fiery Scot thought he'd killed Cheshire chef Lenin Dooris when the Irishman collapsed in the kitchen of his Nantwich restaurant.
Amid fears that he'd suffered a heart attack, Lenin was rushed to hospital in an ambulance watched by a visibly-shocked Ramsay. With the cameras rolling, the foulmouthed chef said: "I hope the hell he's OK. It was a ******* shock."
Lenin, was later discharged from hospital having tried to hide his drinking from Ramsay - which in turn had aggravated health problems and caused him to black out. Sitting in the restaurant as a customer on his first night, Ramsay waited 90 minutes for his main course. It was "possibly the worst service I've ever seen".
With customers in revolt, he went behind the scenes to discover a chef who cooked ribs braised in Coca Cola, loved sugar sandwiches and stormed out when things got too much. Ramsay said: "A head chef who can't stand the heat? This kitchen is a pressure cooker waiting to explode."
The real reason for the chaos took more time to uncover as Lenin finally confessed to his drink problem. Speaking about his experience after the episode aired, Lenin said the programme and Ramsay helped him to turn his life around.
He denied rumours that the collapse was a result of Ramsay's tough-talking outbursts. Oscars would not continue for much longer after the episode filmed, closing soon after.
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