Gordon Ramsay on Michelin: “Pressure is healthy”
The chef was speaking at the launch of the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2019 yesterday (1 October), where he presented the awards.
Ramsay - whose restaurant empire currently has seven stars – has held the triple rating for his eponymous dining room on London’s Royal Hospital Road since 2001.
When asked about the pressure to maintain the accolades, Ramsay said: “Do you have any idea the shit I’d get if I lost my third star? Pressure is healthy.
“Opening up five days a week, having a life and making sure the brigade have a life. Being consistent from day one. Three stars in a city guide was a quick jump. But the journey getting there is easy, maintaining it is even harder.
“I don’t know if you noticed but I am a control freak, Matt Abe [chef de cuisine, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay] is a control freak and so is Clare Smyth. Look at them now running their own kitchens brilliantly, they never send a mistake.”
He also offered advice to chefs winning their first stars: “Don’t change anything and don’t put the prices up.”
Taking inspiration
Ramsay also said the rise of social media had helped drive consistency in restaurants, but that it was “lazy” for chefs to copy other dishes they saw posted online.
“The Michelin inspectors themselves are now tweeting live, which puts the fear of god in all of us,” he joked.
“Chefs are obsessed with other chef’s dishes and we’re constantly looking across the globe.
“In all honestly I think to copy is lazy. To take elements and inspiration from a one, two, three star, Bib Gourmand or even a local bistro. [But] it’s still important to see, taste and dissect.
“Sharing those kind of images makes you better long term.”
Ramsay said it had been a “tragic” year following the deaths of “two of the greatest chefs ever”, Paul Bocuse and Joël Robuchon, and that he felt a responsibility to pass on skills to the next generation.
He said: “Becoming unselfish is crucial. When you teach someone something magical it’s quite inspirational to see them grow and become stars in their own right. I’ve never been unselfish, I’ve worked with some fantastic chefs who’ve always shown me everything they’ve got. Royal Hospital Road [opened] 20 years ago this month, it’s my time to continue handing that over.”
