Gordon Ramsay Crashes Out Of World's Top 50 Restaurants

Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant has fallen out of an influential list of the top 50 restaurants in the world, denting the chef’s once unimpeachable reputation.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, a small venue in the heart of Chelsea, has long been considered one of Britain’s finest, if not its best.

However, it would appear that dishes such as quail and foie gras pithivier with wild mushrooms, confit leg and celeriac remoulade, no longer impress the critics as they once did.

For the first time since Restaurant magazine started publishing its annual survey of the top restaurants in the world, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay has failed to make the top 50. In fact, the restaurant, last year ranked 13th, dropped out of the longer top 100 list altogether.

A spokesperson for Gordon Ramsay Holdings said: "Gordon takes all these sort of surveys with a pinch of salt. As always, Gordon regards his thousands of customers as his most valued critics. They are his judge and jury." Source

Gordon Ramsay Defends 'Meals On Wheels' Scandal

Gordon Ramsay maintained that the food in his gastro-pubs was fresh yesterday, despite admitting it was prepared in a backstreet kitchen in south London. Gordon Ramsay maintained that the food in his gastro-pubs was fresh yesterday, despite admitting it was prepared in a backstreet kitchen in south London.

Staff in a Ramsay kitchen in Clapham prepared up to half the dishes for his three pubs in the capital – the Warrington in Maida Vale, the Narrow in Limehouse, the Devonshire in Chiswick – and for his Chelsea bistro, Foxtrot Oscar. Preparing food off-site for warming-up is common in mid-market restaurants but is less frequent in establishments run by Michelin-starred chefs.

Ramsay, who has 10 Michelin stars, more than any other British chef, has often spoken out against ready meals and praises fresh ingredients on his TV show Kitchen Nightmares.

A spokeswoman for his company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings, said prepping was "very common" in the restaurant business and insisted the food was fresh. "It's all sealed and delivered to the pubs and cooked freshly that day," she said. "So being cooked in one Gordon Ramsay premises and delivered to another is not going to make a difference." Two of the pubs, the Warrington and the Narrow, were in the top 10 pubs in the 2009 Michelin Guide, she added. Source

S. Pellegrino World’s Best 50 Restaurants List

1 = El Bulli, Spain (The World's Best Restaurant + Best Restaurant in Europe)
2 = The Fat Duck, UK
3 ▲7 Noma, Denmark (Chef's Choice)
4 = Mugaritz, Spain
5 ▲21 El Celler de Can Roca, Spain (Highest Climber)
6 = Per Se, USA (Best Restaurant in the Americas)
7 = Bras, France
8 = Arzak, Spain
9 ▼6 Pierre Gagnaire, France
10 ▲11 Alinea, USA
11 = L'Astrance, France
12 ▼7 The French Laundry, USA
13 New Entry Osteria Francescana, Italy (Highest New Entry)
14 ▲2 St John, UK
15 ▲5 Le Bernardin, USA
16 ▲11 L'Hôtel de Ville - Philippe Rochat, Switzerland
17 ▼8 Tetsuya's, Australia (Best Restaurant in Australasia)
18 ▼4 L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, France
19 ▼2 Jean Georges, USA
20 New Entry Les Créations de Narisawa, Japan (Best Restaurant in Asia)
21 ▲18 Chez Dominique, Finland
22 ▲21 Ristorante Cracco, Italy
23 ▲12 Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany
24 ▲16 D.O.M., Brazil
25 ▲9 Vendôme, Germany
26 ▲2 Hof van Cleve, Belgium
27 Re Entry Masa, USA
28 ▼16 Gambero Rosso, Italy
29 ▲13 Oud Sluis, Netherlands
30 New Entry Steirereck, Austria
31 New Entry Momofuku Ssäm Bar, USA
32 ▲16 Oaxen Skärgårdskrog, Sweden
33 ▼4 Martin Berasategui, Spain
34 ▼4 Nobu London, UK
35 New Entry Mirazur, France
36 ▼17 Hakkasan, UK
37 ▲13 Le Quartier Français, South Africa (Best Restaurant in the Middle East and Africa)
38 Re-Entry La Colombe, South Africa
39 ▲5 Asador Etxebarri, Spain
40 New Entry Le Chateaubriand, France
41 = Daniel, USA
42 Re-Entry Combal.Zero, Italy
43 ▼28 Le Louis XV, Monaco
44 ▲3 Tantris, Germany
45 New Entry Iggy's, Singapore
46 New Entry Quay, Australia
47 ▼2 Les Ambassadeurs, France
48 ▼25 Dal Pescatore, Italy
49 ▼13 La Calandre, Italy
50 New Entry Mathias Dahlgren, Sweden
Source

Iggy’s Takes Home Top Honours At The S. Pellegrino World’s Best 50 Restaurants Award

Illustrious Singaporean restaurateur and sommelier Ignatius Chan's five-year-old eponymous restaurant has been awarded the 45th position in this year’s S. Pellegrino World’s Best 50 Restaurants list, 32 places up from last year.

Voted by the public as Asia’s Number One restaurant in last year’s edition of The Miele Guide, Iggy’s is one of the only two restaurants from Asia that made it into the top 50 in the annual list organised by UK’s Restaurant Magazine.

Chan was ecstatic the morning after the grand celebratory dinner that was held at London’s Freemason Hall on Monday night (20 April). The modest, soft-spoken epicure revealed that he did not expect it. “It was an exuberating moment! It was a really fantastic surprise,” said Chan. “I want to take this opportunity to thank every person who has supported Iggy’s since day one,” he added.

Clearly overwhelmed with pride and joy, Chan did not fail to mention how much he is looking forward to returning to Singapore to celebrate with the rest of his culinary team. “They have put in a lot of effort,” said Chan.

Recognising how spectacular it is to be placed alongside restaurants from countries that have tremendous agricultural support like Spain, Italy and France, the unassuming restaurateur thinks that it is a great honour to be among the top 50 in the world. He is happy to be able to “represent little Singapore, a city with little or no farms, in a global competition like this.”

New Bar Promises to Get You Drunk Without You Taking a Sip

Londoners are lining up to enjoy their regular tipple in a very different way -- in vapor form.

At Alcoholic Architecture, an experimental bar that opened last Thursday for weekend business, customers actually breathe in their beverage. Co-creators Sam Bompas and Harry Parr say they are looking to change the way Britain looks at its favorite libation.

Visiting Alcoholic Architecture is a unique experience. Customers are given a protective suit at the door, so that they can enjoy their evening without ruining their clothes. Once you're kitted up, there's time for one liquid libation at the upstairs bar before heading down into the dark-green mist.

"It's sticky, very sticky ... and sweaty, nice sweaty, though," first-time visitor Andrea Gelardin told ABC News recently.

"It tastes like lime mixed with sweat," another customer added.

The "g 'n' t" mist is released with a high-tech vaporizer machine. Customers breathe through half a gallon of gin an hour, for about $7.25.

Perhaps Keevo Johnson from Seattle summarized it perfectly, saying, "I've been in an alcoholic fog before but never like this." Source

World Most Expensive Dessert Cost $25,000

The most expensive dessert in the world used to be the $14,500 “Fortress Aquamarine” served at a luxury resort in Sri Lanka. But today Sri Lankans can choke on their gilded shame, for the Upper East Side’s Serendipity 3 has put America back on top with a $25,000 triumph called the Frrrozen [sic] Haute Chocolate. Break out your giant diamond-encrusted foam fingers, because the Guinness Book of World Records will now list this as their number one entry!

The dessert blends 28 different cocoas and five grams of edible 24-karat gold, served in a goblet lined with edible gold. It’s consumed as conspicuously as possible with a gold spoon decorated with white and chocolate-colored diamonds and is crowned by an 18-karat gold bracelet with 1 carat of white diamonds. Both the spoon and bracelet are intended for the diner to keep, along with a vastly over-inflated sense of social status. Source

What The World Eats, Part II

What's on a family dinner table in fifteen different homes around the globe? Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet".

What The World Eats, Part III

What's on a family dinner table in fifteen different homes around the globe? Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet".

EXPOSED: Gordon Ramsey Served Pre-prepared Meals From Central Supplier

Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay has defended the use of 'boil-in-the-bag' meals in his restaurants, claiming are still 'freshly prepared'.

It has been revealed that customers at four of the celebrity chef's restaurants are likely to be served pre-prepared meals produced by a central supplier. The food arrives in transit vans, is reheated – then sold for up to six times the cost price.

Food critics said this amounted to hypocrisy, as Ramsay has always stressed the importance of freshly cooked ingredients.

He recently told Olive magazine: ‘My food hell is any ready meal. It’s so easy to prepare a quick dish using fresh produce, such as a simple stir-fry, but people still resort to ready meals that all taste exactly the same.’

In another interview he condemned roadside restaurants which employ staff ‘to heat up pre-prepared food’ rather than hiring chefs to make food on site. Source

What The World Eats

What's on a family dinner table in fifteen different homes around the globe? Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet".

Morton's Steak and Seafood Special

Morton's is featuring a steak and seafood set dinner for only S$95.00!

which includes:

1) your choice of any salad: caesar, center cut iceberg, Morton's salad, sliced beefsteak tomato or chopped salad

2) single-cut filet: Morton's leanest and most tender cut of beef... with upgrades available for your favorite steak!

3) choice of one seafood option:
- Morton's jumbo lump crab cake
_ three pieces of Morton's famous Colossal Shrimp Alexander
_ or Broiled sea scallops wrapped in bacon with apricot chutney

4) One Morton's signature potato or fresh vegetable

S$95.00 Special good through June 30, 2009

KFC Gambling on Chicken that is Grilled, Not Fried

In a culinary gambit backed by buckets of big money, KFC is hoping to replicate its founder's recipe for success with the national introduction of Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

This week's rollout is KFC's most ambitious attempt to win over health-conscious customers as the chain known worldwide for fried chicken tries to reinvigorate lackluster U.S. sales.

"It's going to get people who haven't eaten KFC for a long time to come back into our restaurants," said KFC President Roger Eaton. "It's going to get people who have never eaten KFC to come into our restaurants." Source

New York City to Tax Soda to Make You Stop Drinking It

New York City's health commissioner, Thomas Frieden, is leading the way. He's the guy who purged trans fats from the city's restaurants and made them post calorie counts for menu items. Lately he's been pressuring food companies to remove salt from their products.

Now he's going after soda. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Frieden and Kelly Brownell, the director of Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, propose a penny-per-ounce excise tax on "sugared beverages." That's nearly $3 per case. Why so much? Because this tax, unlike the petty junk-food taxes of yesteryear, is designed to hurt. Its purpose is to discourage you from buying soda, on the grounds that soda, like smoking, is bad for you. Source

Bakery Attract Customers Using Twitter

The Albion in Shoreditch has installed a system that lets staff update the website as goods are taken from the oven.

Local businesses and workers are being encouraged to sign up to the webpage. "We loved the idea, but we were really unsure if it would work," said Peter Prescott, one of the owners of the café/bakery. "We tested it by telling people we had fresh scones, and five minutes later we had sold out."

The system, named Baker Tweet, uses a control panel next to the oven. As bakers remove hot food, they turn a dial to select the product and press a switch. A twitter update - or "tweet" -is sent.

Londoners can follow what is happening via the Twitter name albionsoven, and more than 300 people have signed up already. "We've been amazed by the response. It has made a big difference to sales," said Mr Prescott. "We generally update once a day as we don't want to overwhelm people, but we're now thinking of offering updates at unusual times - for instance, as we're in Shoreditch, offering fresh bread later at night - or running special offers." Source

Harvard Professor Develops Inhalable Chocolate

A Harvard professor has come up with what he call "Le Whif" — inhalable chocolate with zero calories. Each Le Whif dispenser — a box of 24 will cost 40 euro, or about $53 — looks like a blend of an asthma inhaler, a tube of lipstick and a shotgun shell.

Le Whif comes in "four luscious flavors: mint chocolate, raspberry chocolate, mango chocolate, and plain chocolate," and will be introduced at a gala party in Paris on April 29, followed by 10 days at the Cannes Film Festival and then later a "surprising" appearance in Chicago. Source

Top 10 Cookery Schools in Europe

1. Menfi
2. Finca Buen Vino
3. Le Marmiton
4. Vallicorte
5. Gualtiero Marchesi's Gourmet Cookery School
6. L'Ecole de Cuisine
7. Cooking with Stavros
8. Casa Ombuto
9. Promenades Gourmandes with Paule Caillet
10. Refúgio da Vila

Source

Easter Entices Food Spend

Australians have taken their love of chocolate to a whole new level this Easter as they find solace in comfort foods, the Australian National Retailers Association has advised.

“Retailers are experiencing double digit growth in sales of all things chocolate this year,” ANRA CEO, Margy Osmond, reported. “The talk of rising unemployment and economic doom and gloom, certainly has its effects on people’s morale, and treats like chocolates help provide that much needed boost.”

“Our members are noticing that people are getting in early this Easter and it’s not necessarily because they’re organised. It appears that more chocolate is being eaten before the Easter Bunny even arrives,” Mrs Osmond remarked. “(And) it’s not just the Easter bunny that is popular this year. A cast of characters including Dora the Explorer, Ben10, Hannah Montana, Bob the Builder and My Little Pony will be delivering chocolate treats this Easter.”

Mrs Osmond added that the most prominent products on consumer shopping lists had so far been the Cadbury Creme Egg, Red Tulip solid eggs, Cadbury rabbits, egg crates and the Lindt gold bunny. Source

Host of Bravo's "Top Chef", Padma Lakshmi Loves Carl's Western Bacon

Supermodel and no-nonsense host of Bravo's "Top Chef", Padma Lakshmi shows her love for Carl's Jr.'s Western Bacon Cheeseburgers in new TV ads. The burger is a special love from her youth that helped her transition from vegetarian to carnivore.

SM Goh: Poor Hygiene Is Ungracious

SM Goh says mass food poisoning case shows how poor hygiene can affect public health.

"If you have poor hygiene, spitting in public places, littering, food all over the place, rats running around the market, that's very ungracious behaviour," he said.

In what is possibly Singapore's worst case of mass food poisoning, two women died after eating rojak from a stall in the Geylang Serai Temporary Market. 150 people also fell ill and four are still in hospital. Source

Father's Day Dining Promotion with Carousel, Royal Plaza on Scotts

Thank dad who gives you strength and support selflessly by treating him to a palatial spread by Carousel on Sunday, 21 June.

With seven open-concept kitchens, indulge in a wide selection of seafood and crustacean like main lobsters or feast at the rotisserie station with oven roasted Australian prime ribs. Delight him with palatable desserts like New York Cheese Cake with Mango Mirror or Jivara Chocolate Mousse with Crispy Feuilletine

The spread is available as follows:

Lunch
12 noon – 2.30pm
$50.00 (Adult)
$35.00 (Child)

High Tea
3.30pm – 5.30pm
$34.00

Dinner
6.30pm – 10.30pm
$52.00

Guests are able to contact Carousel at 6589 7799 or carousel@royalplaza.com.sg for enquiries or reservations.