
Gordon Ramsay was born in 1966 in Johnstone, Scotland. Since 2001 Ramsay has held 3 Michelins and become a global television success best known for presenting Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef and The F Word.
Ramsay’s career began in the early 1980s working as a commis chef at the Wroxton House Hotel. After progressing through the ranks he went on to run the kitchen and 70 seat dining room at the Wickham Arms. In 1987 Ramsay then moved to London, where he worked in a series of restaurants until working at his first Michelin Star restaurant under Marco Pierre White at Harvey’s in Wandsworth (now Chez Bruce) who would be an influential force in his chef career.
It was at Harveys that Ramsay had his first brush with television featuring on the 1988 documentary ‘Marco’. After becoming one of White’s favourite Chefs at Harveys. He advised Ramsay to follow his path and work under the tutorlage of Albert Roux at Le Gavroche in Mayfair. (While at Le Gavroche, he met Jean-Claude Breton, now his maître d’ at Royal Hospital Road.)
After working at Le Gavroche for a year, Albert Roux invited Ramsay to work with him at Hotel Diva, a ski resort in the French Alps, as his number two. From there, Ramsay moved to Paris to work with Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon, both Michelin-starred chefs. Ramsay then took a lucrative job in 1992 as a Super Yacht Private Chef for Reg Grundy for just over a year to recharge his batteries and save money to eventually open his own restaurant. As ever Ramsay was a trailblazer as one of the first chefs to go from Michelin Restaurants to work as a Private Chef. Ramsay spent 12 months travelling the world as the Private Chef on Grundys yacht, saving money for his eventual return to the London restaurant scene.
In 1993 Gordon returned to London and initially worked as Head Chef at the Three Michelin starred La Tante Claire in Chelsea under Pierre Koffmann. But soon Ramsay was offered a Head Chef position with a share of the restaurant in ‘The Rossmore’ owned by friends of Marco Pierre White. The restaurant was renamed Aubergine and went on to win its first Michelin star soon after its opening.
Fans of the TV show ‘Boiling Point’ will now the story from here on in. Aubergine won a 2nd Michelin Star but Ramsay never the less decided to move on and setup a restaurant under his own steam with Marcus Wareing by his side. In 1998, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea’s Hospital Road opened with the help of his father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson. The restaurant gained its first Michelin Star in its first year of opening and by 2001 had Three Michelin Stars.
The TV show Boiling Point shown on BBC make Ramsay a television star in the United Kingdom. From this point his restaurant empire grew rapidly. Next opening Petrus (named after Ramsay and Wareing’s favourite wine) and then Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s. Restaurants soon followed in Dubai, Tokyo and New York.