The call of Claridge's

Gordon Ramsay is buzzing with enthusiasm for his latest venture, Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's. But for a man with fingers already in several pies, what was the lure of an association with the famous five-star London hotel? Was it money, prestige, or simply a new challenge? Tessa Fox finds out.

As Gordon Ramsay picked his way over builders' paraphernalia, it was hard to believe that London's newest and arguably most sumptuous dining room was to seat its first guests in barely two weeks.

But Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's opened on Monday on the site of the former Claridge's restaurant, and such is the draw of Ramsay and his three-Michelin-star cooking that the 65-seat restaurant is already full for the next six weeks, albeit at a slightly lower capacity while systems bed down.

Ramsay is clearly bursting with enthusiasm. Since the deal was signed and sealed on 12 March this year, Ramsay has been involved in every detail, working with Claridge's and New York-based designer Thierry Despont to create a dining room that he calls "a dream, an absolute dream". Neither Claridge's nor Ramsay will discuss the exact business arrangement, but Claridge's general manager Chris Cowdray says it is "very financially beneficial to both of us" and a spokeswoman for Claridge's described the arrangement as "truly a partnership".

The former L-shaped room that seated 120 has been turned into a perfect rectangle, the extra space bequeathed to the kitchen, a bar, fumoir, and two private dining rooms. The interior is a shrine to art deco with etched mirrors, elegant wall lights, luxurious drapes and woven silk chandeliers that have the effect of lowering the ceiling to give greater intimacy. Walls are covered with apricot-coloured silk, the seats are in rich shades of aubergine leather and the tables - all round - are laid with tableware chosen by Ramsay.

Claridge's has ploughed more than £2m into the new restaurant, the final stage of an overall £6m refurbishment of the hotel's entrance hall, Foyer and Reading Room that have all been redesigned by Despont. "The public areas were a mish-mash of Victorian, Edwardian and art deco," says Cowdray, "but Despont picked up on the art deco and we've gone with an enriched, sophisticated, luxurious 1930s look throughout."

So what was the appeal of such a project for Ramsay, already at the pinnacle of his career as the only British chef to hold three Michelin stars and with an array of thriving business interests in addition to Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Chelsea's Royal Hospital Road? For many top chefs, the appeal is a financial one with the hotel enabling the chef to operate in an otherwise impossibly expensive location, but, while Ramsay is looking to earn another three Michelin stars, he stresses that the Claridge's deal is not about money. "I needed a challenge," he says. "Claridge's has the site and we've got the talent and the experience in restaurants. I need them and they need me."

He rejects the idea that he's spreading himself yet more thinly as he adds Claridge's to his portfolio of concerns that include Amaryllis at One Devonshire Gardens, Glasgow, Pétrus in London, a consultancy at the Hilton Dubai Creek, Dubai, and the fledgling Gordon Ramsay Scholar competition, not to mention extensive media work and book-writing. "Claridge's is an exciting opportunity for me and it puts Mark Sargeant [who moved from Restaurant Gordon Ramsay to be head chef at the Claridge's restaurant] on the platform," he says. "It's my name over the door but it's obviously not me standing in five different places."

And the appeal for Claridge's? Cowdray says that the decision to go into partnership with a chef such as Ramsay was a response to market trends. "Guests want designer, celebrity restaurants, so it was becoming hard for us to fill our restaurant in the evenings on a continuous basis." As for the impact of the new restaurant on Claridge's income, Cowdray is coy. "Let's just say it will have a big impact on our profitability."

Crucially, Cowdray and Ramsay seem to get on well. "I get a buzz out of dealing with him," says Cowdray. "He's invested his time and people and we've invested in the physical project. There's no doubt there's a synergy here."

Both parties are keen to move away from the often-intimidating atmosphere of a five-star hotel restaurant. A separate entrance to the restaurant will help, as will a relaxed dress code, though Cowdray does expect dress to remain smart.

He wants to take the intimidation out of the bill, too, and prices, excluding wine, have been set at £21 for a three-course set lunch which offers three or four choices per course rather than the usual two, while dinner à la carte would typically cost around £38. "I want this place to be vibrant, affordable glamour. I'd like to think you could have lunch here for two for under £100 including wine, dinner maybe £120 upwards."

But while the focus of attention is firmly on the new restaurant and new chef, Ramsay's arrival has signalled a change for John Williams. Executive chef de cuisine at Claridge's for the past five years, Williams is responsible for all banqueting, room service, private dining and menus in Claridge's Bar and the Foyer and Reading Room. Until it closed to make way for Ramsay, he was also responsible for Claridge's restaurant.

It's clearly not a subject that either Ramsay or Williams is comfortable discussing, though both insist there is a good working relationship. Ramsay says: "The trade portrays this image of the guy having to leave because Gordon Ramsay's forced him out but it's just not the case. I get on with him, he's inspirational for my guys and he's been nothing but great support to me."

"If John was just doing the restaurant, with his technical ability he'd have been able to run it as a success. I've been here two or three times and had amazing food."

Williams says: "As far as him coming on board, there's no better person, it's wonderful for Claridge's and I'm sure it will work fantastically well."

Cowdray is confident that the new arrangements will settle well. "For any chef of John's experience and knowledge, losing a restaurant that's under your direction is hard. But he is an absolute professional and he understands the situation."

It's not as if Williams is at a loose end, though. He has been developing the other food offers at Claridge's in the Bar, Reading Room and Foyer to include light meals and more modern presentation.

There can be little doubt Ramsay's partnership with Claridge's will help him towards his ambition of collecting another three Michelin stars. "We're going for three stars. We're not there to beat Royal Hospital Road but I'm confident we can match it," he says.

Cowdray is quietly confident too. "Gordon's future reputation hinges on what he does here and he is so incredibly passionate about this restaurant. Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's will be one of three three-star restaurants in the country," he says with more than a hint of pride.

Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's

Brook Street, London W1A 2JQ
Tel: 020 7499 0099
Web site: www.claridge's.co.uk

Chef de cuisine: Mark Sargeant
Restaurant director: Dominique Corolleur
Staff: brigade 35; front of house 25
Seats: 65, plus private dining for up to 32
Forecast average spend per head: from £60 for dinner, including wine

The food

Mark Sargeant has moved from Restaurant Gordon Ramsay to become head chef at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's. He is supported by a nucleus of chefs who have been with Ramsay for several years, while others in the 35-strong brigade include some of the finalists in the inaugural Gordon Ramsay Scholar competition.

The large brigade reflects the large menu. Details were yet to be finalised as Caterer went to press, but the à la carte includes 12-14 starters and main courses and 12 desserts, the set lunch three or four choices per course and there's a five- to seven-course menu prestige (£48) in the evening.

Food will be light and seasonal, with a third of the menu based on the food served at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, the remainder made up of the 70 or so dishes that Ramsay has been developing. Among the dishes on the private dining menus are starters of pressed ham terrine with vinaigrette of peas and fèves; and tian of crab with gazpacho sauce. Main-course options include roast fillet of halibut on braised baby gem lettuce with asparagus and girolles, horseradish velouté; and shin of beef with braised vegetables and celeriac purée, while puddings could be poached peach with a mint-scented crème brûlée; or blood orange jelly with Campari sorbet, orange-scented financier.

The kitchen, entirely separate from the main hotel restaurant, has been designed to Ramsay's specification and kitted out with state-of-the-art equipment.

A key feature is the chef's table, which seats 12 and is in full view of the pass; another is the CCTV control installed at a cost of £20,000. Revolving cameras, discreetly positioned in the dining room, relay images on to five monitors sunk into the wall above the pass, giving chefs a better understanding of what's going on in the dining room and enabling them to call tables to be cleared rather than rely on the waiting staff. "It's the first of its kind in the UK," says Ramsay. "Whenever the kitchen gets behind, the service gets blamed so this is a way of enhancing service."

Top chefs in hotels

Gordon Ramsay is not the first top chef to put his name to a restaurant attached to a hotel - and if industry experts are to be believed, he won't be the last.

Chris Brown, director of food service consultancy firm, Turpin Smale, says: "In such an arrangement the chef gets a location he couldn't otherwise afford and the hotel gets a named chef who will attract business."

Melvin Gold of hotel consultancy firm Pannell Kerr Forster calls such arrangements a "marriage of convenience" between the chef looking for a prime site, low capital costs and ready-made client base and the hotel looking to increase revenue and inject life into an often underused facility.

Nico Ladenis claims to have been the first to tie the knot, moving his then two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Chez Nico, from a small site in Battersea to the Grosvenor House hotel on Park Lane in 1992. For Ladenis, the relationship between restaurateur and hotel general manager is the crucial one: "If they get on and if the restaurateur has the full backing of the hotel, then it will be a success."

Next came Marco Pierre White, who first won three Michelin stars in 1995 while at the Hyde Park hotel and transferred them to the Oak Room Marco Pierre White in the M‚ridien hotel, Piccadilly, retaining the accolade until he retired from cooking at the end of 2000. White credits hotelier Sir Rocco Forte with "showing [him] what could be achieved" and has more recently worked with Sir Rocco to open the River Room Marco Pierre White in the RF Hotels Manchester property, the Lowry hotel.

Back in London, the Berkeley hotel boasts two top chefs with Pierre Koffman's Tante Claire and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Vong restaurants both within its walls. The Halkin recently signed up renowned Australian chef David Thompson to bring the flavours of Thailand to London at Nahm, while the Millennium Knightsbridge hotel has attracted Tetsuya Wakuda and his Japanese restaurant, Mju.

For John Burton-Race, who runs John Burton-Race at the Landmark on Marylebone Road, such arrangements are a question of money. "As a private individual it's too expensive to get a site in London and there are these lovely five-star hotels with restaurants that aren't doing very well. The best hoteliers don't necessarily make the best restaurateurs."

Burton-Race's views are echoed by Giorgio Locatelli, whose first appearance at the stove since quitting Michelin-starred Zafferano will be next February, when Locanda Locatelli opens in the five-star Churchill Inter-Continental. "The cost of putting up an operation in central London is enormous and not possible for me and my wife alone," says Locatelli.

Jurgen Baumhoff, general manager at the Churchill, says the decision to link up with a well-known chef was made as part of a £10m investment in the property.

"We already had the right offer for business guests but the question was how to attract local business in such a competitive area - a named chef was the answer," he says.