How Gordon Ramsay Reacted To Brutal Restaurant Reviews

When life hands you lemons, fry up some cod and throw chips in there with it, mate. Gordon Ramsay, celebrity chef and the picture of cool, calm, collectedness, probably said this at some point in his life. Not one to overreact, chill-as-a-dill Ramsay is famously slow to anger, often opting for the path of least resistance when challenged. So why would a sour review or two ruffle his feathers? Surely, the monk-like chef and restaurateur would simply harness his chi, open his chakra, and send nothing but light, love, and good vibes the critic's way?

Yeah, not exactly. Though an interview with Ramsay in Britain's edition of GQ describes the chef as "more softly spoken in person than the pantomime villain we see giving poor US MasterChef contestants the hair dryer treatment on television," there is no question that Ramsay still has a fire in his eyes, and his belly, keeping him in the game. "People always think it's about the money," Ramsay tells the interviewer, "but it's not; it's the passion. I need the pressure. I need that hit."

But woe betide you if that hit is a little heavy-handed. Ramsay welcomes criticism, but admits that one particularly brutal review in 2010 of his restaurant, Pétrus, in London, was a humdinger. In the colorful language that has become a hallmark of his creed, Ramsay admits that that particular restaurant review, er ... stung a bit: "When Giles and Adrian did a number on me they f***** me sideways," he told GQ. Referring to British journalist Giles Coren and AA Gill, the former food critic for The Times who passed away in 2016, Ramsay went on to explain that at least some of the vitriol in the review may have been a result of Ramsay's own actions, as the chef has made the news on several occasions for ejecting critics from his restaurants. (In 2011, the Independent reported that when Ramsay threw Gill and his party out of Ramsay's new Chelsea restaurant, he was "continuing an honorable tradition.")

But today's zen Gordon Ramsay is far more understanding, and tells GQ that he makes it a point not to take critics so seriously. "You have to take it on the chin," he says, before explaining that when harsh reviews get written about his restaurants these days, they get sent to the chipper. "Every s***** article like that we send to Vegas to make paper for my new fish and chip shop." So Ramsay gets to have his feelings and eat them, too.