More turbulence for Gordon Ramsay?

Late last night the blog received several messages concerning Gordon Ramsay operations. The bad new first, it  appears that highly rated chef, Josh Emett has been allegedly relieved of his duties, along with his immediate superior, an un-named General Manager. At the time of writing this, details were a bit thin on the ground, but it is widely rumoured within the industry, allegedly, that Ramsay & Emett have a volatile working relationship.

His last post within the Gordon Ramsay Holdings organisation was to oversee Maze Melbourne along with Maze Grill & in room dining (room service to you & me) at the newly opened Crown Metropol . Prior to this, Mr Emett had over 10 years of loyal service with GRH, gathering many accolades along the way.

Starting as Snr Chef de Partie at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in 2000 he was quickly noticed & rose through the ranks, working under Mark Sargeant at Claridges then in 2003 as Head Chef under Marcus Wareing at The Savoy Grill. Having gathered a Michelin star in under a year at The Savoy, Mr Emett was moved to the freshly opened American operations in late 2006. Once again the Michelin inspectors were impressed with his handy work, awarding 2* to The London NYC and 1* to the Hollywood operation.

In January 2010 he relocated closer to his native New Zealand to open Maze Melbourne & Maze Grill, but rumours persisted of alleged friction between Emett & Ramsay with the alleged lack of presence from Mr Ramsay being a regular topic of conversation. In September 2009, Mr Emett announced that he would be embarking on a film project called ‘The Chef de Cuisine Project‘ which will be a 3 part series documenting his rise in the culinary world.

With a CV which encompasses Gordon Ramsay & Donovan Cooke as former employers & gathering Michelin stars on two continents, the world is pretty much his oyster & we wish him well for the future.

Yet more rumours coming out of Gordon Ramsay Holdings reveal more about something we heard a long time ago. After receiving lukewarm reactions from bloggers, restaurant critics and the like in recent years, with claims that it was resting on it’s laurels, Mark Askew was brought back to Royal Hospital Road. One critic said to the blog of RHR:

It’s dated, the white chocolate bon bons with dry ice is old hat, you don’t go there to be impressed any more.

Certainly in the past two years it has been discussed on various foodie & chef forums about a loss of a Michelin star, we were asked about this (along with if there was a leaked guide). The answer is, with Mr Ramsay’s alleged closeness to former senior Michelin man Jean Luc Naret it was unlikely. Now there has been a change at Michelin guides, both in London (new editor) & at global level (although Mr Naret is back as an external consultant). Last year with the arrival of Mr Askew back at Royal Hospital Road the rumour mill started talking about Miss Smyth’s departure. We heard persistent rumblings that she would be leaving, whether to set up on her own or to be backed & funded by Mr Ramsay.

We now have it on good authority that Miss Smyth will take over what is currently known as Foxtrot Oscar, having already installed one of her old Sous chefs. We naturally assume that Foxtrot Oscar will be re-packaged & relaunched later in the year, the main problem for Miss Smyth will be a troublesome quote she gave in an interview when she became Head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

During said interview she was asked about the comparison between her & then fellow female stable mate, Angela Harnett. It was a loaded question and an unfair one to ask, but the answer will come back to haunt Miss Smyth.

I really hate it when people compare me to her because, in all honesty, Angela is a one-star Michelin chef  and I’m a three-star one.

Only time will tell, but we wish Miss Smyth all the best for her new venture.

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