Ramsay's kitchen nightmares: HeathrowT5's Plane Food restaurant is 'plain awful' and LA's not ready

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Gordon Ramsay is facing the heat on both sides of the pond as his Terminal 5 restaurant is dismissed as "plane awful" and his latest American venture runs badly behind schedule.

The chef's already delayed eaterie in The London West Hollywood Hotel is due to open in just four days but is currently boarded up and shows no sign of being ready in time.

Meanwhile passengers struggling to stomach the debacle that is Heathrow's Terminal 5 may not find Ramsay's latest restaurant quite to their taste either.

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'Underwhelming': Gordan Ramsay, at the opening of T5's Plane Food yesterday, has not won rave reviews

Called Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food, the restaurant has "underwhelming food" and is "way too expensive for budget travellers", says a review on www.areyoureadytoorder.co.uk

One of the steaks was "flavourless", while another dish had "too much salt" and sandwich had "cheap ham and horrid cheese".

Although some dishes were praised, the review on the site, compiled by former Daily Telegraph food critic Jan Moir, concluded: "There is more wrong with Plane Food than there is right about it."

The review says: "Here, Ramsay has promised a civilising airport experience in a restaurant that will be a cross, he says, between 'The Ivy and the Boxwood Cafe, with a touch of the Wolseley' thrown in.

"A nice theory, but the harsh reality of airport catering economics and building restrictions means that the only real connection to be made with his statement is the word 'cafe'."

The restaurant is not allowed to have naked flames which means that with no gas permitted, steaks, for example, cannot be grilled.

The review says of a Casterbridge ribeye steak: "Ridges of fat and sinew are left in the sweaty meat because the temperature is not hot enough to get rid of them and it does not help that the steak seems to have little flavour in the first place."

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Tense times: Gordon Ramsay outside The London West Hollywood hotel - which is due to open in just four days

The review finds the celeriac risotto dressed with basil and wafers of Parmesan "delicious and cheering".

But a £9.50 Croque Madame sandwich is "an uncompromising squelch of glassy squares of lurid, cheap ham, horrid cheese and pappy bread".

The famously volatile chef is already under pressure to ensure his latest venture in the heart of the Hollywood Hills on the vibrant Sunset Strip opens on time.

Tipped to be his grand introduction to America's West Coast, these exclusive pictures of The London West Hollywood Hotel show things aren't going quite to plan.

With doors for the hotel set to open in just four days, the lobby is boarded up, the hotel unfurnished and the walls lifeless and bare.

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Situated in the heart of the Hollywood Hills, The London West Hollywood hotel is still looking somewhat rough around the edges

Builders are working round the clock in a desperate bid to convert the hotel from its former pink monstrosity into the trendy white hotspot.

However those who have booked $250 - $820 a-night-suites would be reaching "boiling point" if they saw the current state of the hotel.

Reservations for the luxurious hotel are being accepted on-line from April 1st, with Ramsay's namesake restaurant set to open in the hotel in July.

However with the hotel opening already delayed by four months, and the hotel not even half finished, this latest setback could leave hotel bosses and Ramsay looking the quintessential April-fools.

"We are supposed to open on Tuesday," confirmed one builder.

"There is still a hell of a lot to do. Inside the rooms are almost ready, but nothing else really is.

"The painting of the place is a huge part of the transformation.

"But we haven't even done half of it. I don't know if it can be done."

The London West Hollywood, sister to The London NYC hotel where Ramsay also has a restaurant, was originally set to open in the old Wyndham Bel Age in West Hollywood in January 2008.

However the slow renovation, which began over a year ago, led to the opening being put back to April this year.

With 223 suites, luxury interior designed by David Collins, a roof-top pool, hair salon and a Golden Door Spa, The London West Hollywood boasts it will represent the "creative vitality and vibe of LA".

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Workers are toiling around the clock to try and sure the hotel is finished on time

A bold statement but on this evidence it is looking unlikely.

At the moment boxes are stacked up both in and outside the hotel and the lobby is boarded up.

Gardeners are desperately trying to landscape the small areas of dirt and the entrance way as men are hoisted up on cranes to paint the hotel white.

Inside is total disarray with floors unfinished and red tape around everything.

The electric's are yet to be completed and furniture still lies around in plastic coverings and wooden boxes.

Anxious looking contractors are pouring into the building trying to get everything finished on time.

"Guests are booked in for Tuesday so it has to be liveable," said a valet.

"This is supposed to be a top celebrity hotel. But it won't be if it isn't done.

"Its going to be a 24 hour a day thing from now on I should think."

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Work in progress: Building works at the hotel are already behind schedule

Ramsay, Britain's most Michelin-starred chef, owns restaurants in New York, Dubai and London.

However in recent months the celebrity chef has suffered a downturn in fortunes with three of his restaurants closing within the space of six months.

In March Michelin-starred La Noisette at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, closed two years after opening.

That followed after Connaught, ended its contract with Ramsay in September 2007, whilst the Savoy Grill shut for a year while the hotel is refurbished.

Publicists for the hotel refused to comment.

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