Gordon Ramsay: from Royal Hospital Road to restaurants worldwide

^{SCOTTISH-BORN CHEF, CHELSEA FLAGSHIP AND A GLOBAL RESTAURANT GROUP}

Gordon Ramsay is a chef born in Johnstone, Scotland, in 1966, who trained under Marco Pierre White at Harvey's and Albert Roux at Le Gavroche in London before cooking in France for Joël Robuchon and Guy Savoy. In 1993 he became head chef of Aubergine in London, and in 1998 he opened Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea, which won its third MICHELIN Star in 2001 and holds three stars in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide. Around that flagship, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants has built a group whose current list runs from the Savoy Grill and Bread Street Kitchen in London to venues in Las Vegas, Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore and Macau. Alongside the restaurants, Ramsay has presented television series including Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef and Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.

^{WHERE DID GORDON RAMSAY GROW UP AND TRAIN?}

Britannica records that Ramsay was raised in Stratford-upon-Avon after his family moved from Scotland to England. He played football for the Oxford United youth team, but a knee injury ended his prospects of a professional career. In 1987 he earned a vocational diploma in hotel management from North Oxon Technical College and moved to London, where he began cooking under Marco Pierre White at Harvey's and then worked under Albert Roux at Le Gavroche. In the early 1990s he went to France and cooked classic French cuisine in the kitchens of Joël Robuchon and Guy Savoy. Le Gavroche had been opened on Lower Sloane Street in London in 1967 by the brothers Albert and Michel Roux.

The Caterer's history of Le Gavroche, published in 2007 for the restaurant's 40th year, sets out its record in the MICHELIN Guide: a first star in 1974, a second in 1977 and a third in 1982, the year after the restaurant moved from Lower Sloane Street to Upper Brook Street. Michelin reduced it to two stars in 1993. The magazine's family tree of former staff lists Ramsay at Le Gavroche from 1988 to 1990. In his entry, Ramsay recalled that when he joined the team in 1988, "it was the place every chef wanted to be", and described the energy needed to work there as immense.

^{AUBERGINE, ROYAL HOSPITAL ROAD AND THREE MICHELIN STARS}

In 1993 Ramsay became head chef of Aubergine in London. The Caterer's timeline of his restaurants records the restaurant's first MICHELIN Star in 1995, and both The Caterer and Britannica record that Aubergine had won two stars before he left it in 1998. That year he opened Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. The MICHELIN Guide lists its address as 68-69 Royal Hospital Road, London SW3 4HP, and classes its cuisine as French. A second London restaurant followed quickly. Pétrus, which The Caterer says Ramsay financed for the chef Marcus Wareing, opened in 1999 and, according to Britannica, earned a MICHELIN Star within seven months.

The Caterer's timeline dates the third MICHELIN Star at Royal Hospital Road to 2001, three years after the restaurant opened. In the same year Ramsay signed a deal with the Savoy Group and, in October 2001, opened Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's. Britannica lists the Savoy Grill, Boxwood Café and Maze among the MICHELIN-starred restaurants that followed in London. The flagship has kept its top rating: the 2026 MICHELIN Guide United Kingdom lists Restaurant Gordon Ramsay with three stars, which the guide defines as exceptional cuisine, 25 years after the third star was first awarded.

^{WHAT IS ON THE MENU AT ROYAL HOSPITAL ROAD?}

The MICHELIN Guide calls the Chelsea restaurant Ramsay's "elegant yet relaxed flagship" and lists three ways to eat there: a set menu called Prestige, a surprise menu called Carte Blanche, and an à la carte menu. The signature dishes it names are lobster ravioli and roast veal sweetbread, and its description singles out the sweetbread for its balance of flavours and textures. The listing places the restaurant in the guide's selections of the best French restaurants in London and the best restaurants in Chelsea. It serves lunch from 12pm to 2.15pm and dinner from 6pm to 9.15pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and is closed on Sunday and Monday.

The MICHELIN listing puts the restaurant in its highest price band, records an interesting wine list and air conditioning among its facilities, and notes that the restaurant manages its own bookings rather than taking them through the guide. The dining room is also the subject of a book. In August 2023 Hodder & Stoughton published Restaurant Gordon Ramsay: A Story of Excellence, which the publisher describes as an intimate look behind the scenes of the restaurant, combining Ramsay's personal reminiscences with 40 signature recipes and following the team's quest for culinary perfection. The publisher calls the tiny dining room "the jewel in Gordon's crown".

^{HOW DID THE GROUP GROW IN LONDON?}

Gordon Ramsay has operated the Savoy Grill on the Strand since 2003, according to The Caterer. In 2023 Gordon Ramsay Restaurants closed the Grill for a two-month refurbishment that began on 26 February, ahead of the venue's 125th anniversary. The redesign was by Afroditi Krassa of the design studio Afroditi, in a 1920s Hollywood Regency style with deep red velvet booths, blush silk-lined walls and a scalloped pewter bar, and it added a wine experience room for wines from the Grill's cellar. Executive head chef Michael Turner's menu retained classics such as lobster thermidor, duck à l'orange and beef Wellington.

Bread Street Kitchen opened in September 2011 at One New Change, the St Paul's development in the City of London. Restaurant Online's report on the launch described a large two-storey, warehouse-style space with a 1970s industrial look: vintage armchairs, orange leather banquettes, reclaimed furniture, coloured glass light fittings and a wine balcony holding about 2,000 bottles. The interior was by Russell Sage, the head chef was Erion Karaj, and the menus were devised by Ramsay, Stuart Gillies, Simon Gregory and Karaj. The name now covers Bread Street Kitchen & Bar sites at St Paul's, Battersea, Limehouse, Southwark, The City and 22 Bishopsgate, a Bread Street Kitchen, Bar & Rooftop at Stratford, and sites in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Bath.

The group's current list also includes Pétrus by Gordon Ramsay, Restaurant 1890 by Gordon Ramsay, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High, Heddon Street Kitchen, The River Restaurant by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay at Sea Containers, Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill in Mayfair and Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen London. Lucky Cat trades in Mayfair, at 22 Bishopsgate and in Manchester, and Menu by Gordon Ramsay in Glasgow. Street Burger trades at The O2, Farringdon and Charing Cross Road, and the Gordon Ramsay Academy cookery school has branches at 22 Bishopsgate and in Woking.

^{PUB & GRILL, STEAK AND HELL'S KITCHEN: THE INTERNATIONAL BRANDS}

Britannica dates Ramsay's first American restaurant to 2006, when Gordon Ramsay at the London opened in New York City, and the United States now has the group's longest list of venues outside Britain. Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill trades in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Gordon Ramsay Steak has sites in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Baltimore, North Kansas City, Westlake in Louisiana and Elizabeth in Indiana, and Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen restaurants operate in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Miami, Washington, D.C., Lake Tahoe, Foxwoods and Southern California. The list also includes Gordon Ramsay Burger in Las Vegas, Chicago and Boston, Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips in Las Vegas, Washington, D.C. and Orlando and Ramsay's Kitchen in Boston, Las Vegas, Naperville and Oklahoma City.

The group's first venue outside Britain was in the Gulf. Britannica names Verre, opened in Dubai in 2001, as Ramsay's first international restaurant, and The Caterer's timeline places it at the Hilton Dubai Creek from October that year. The current list has Bread Street Kitchen & Bar and Street Pizza in Dubai, Gordon Ramsay Burger and Street Pizza in Doha, and the Gordon Ramsay Academy in Riyadh. In France, Britannica records that Gordon Ramsay au Trianon began serving in Versailles in 2008. Elsewhere in Europe there are Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill in Budapest and Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen in Ibiza.

^{WHERE ARE GORDON RAMSAY RESTAURANTS IN ASIA?}

Britannica records that Ramsay later opened ventures in Japan, Australia and South Africa. In Asia, the group's current list includes Bread Street Kitchen Singapore and Bread Street Kitchen & Bar in Sanya, China. The Bread Street Kitchen & Bar name is also used at two Bangkok sites, Emsphere and Iconsiam, and Thailand has Street Pizza and Street Burger in Bangkok and Street Burger in Pattaya. South Korea has Gordon Ramsay Burger in Seoul, Street Burger in Seoul, Incheon and Suwon, and Menu by Gordon Ramsay. Kuala Lumpur has a Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill, the Philippines a Bar & Grill, Fish & Chips and Street Burger, and India Street Pizza in Mumbai and Street Burger at Delhi Airport.

In Macau, the group's venue is Gordon Ramsay Pub & Bar, which Gordon Ramsay Restaurants lists as Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill Macau, on Level 1 of The Londoner Macao. The group describes it as an authentic and convivial British gastropub and steakhouse in an upscale pub-and-grill setting. The menu it lists is built around Ramsay signatures such as Beef Wellington and fish and chips, with charcoal-grilled steaks, draught and bottled beers, handcrafted cocktails and a premium wine selection. Service runs in two daily sessions, from 12pm to 3.30pm and from 5.30pm to 11pm.

^{TELEVISION SERIES AND BOOKS}

Ramsay's television debut was Boiling Point, a Channel 4 series in 1999, according to the Royal Television Society. Britannica records that in 2004 he launched the British series Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen, followed in 2005 by The F-Word, and that by 2007 he had begun starring in American versions of Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen. The American MasterChef, which Ramsay co-hosted, debuted in 2010; Hotel Hell, which applied the Hell's Kitchen format to hotels, began airing in 2012; and MasterChef Junior, with children as contestants, began in 2013. Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, in which Ramsay travelled the world to experience different cuisines and cultures, made its debut in 2019.

In April 2016 the Royal Television Society reported that Ramsay had launched Studio Ramsay, a production company that he would own outright, through a joint venture deal with the production group All3Media. The new company was set up to make both scripted and unscripted programmes with a food theme. Ramsay's publishing career began earlier: Britannica records that Gordon Ramsay's Passion for Flavour, published in 1996, was the first of many best-selling cookbooks. He also wrote the autobiographical volumes Humble Pie, published in 2006, and Gordon Ramsay's Playing with Fire, published in 2007.

^{GORDON RAMSAY PUB & BAR AT THE LONDONER MACAO}

Silverfox Studios completed Gordon Ramsay Pub & Bar at The Londoner Macao in 2023. The design cue is the London Bridge to Greenwich railway viaduct of the 1830s, which runs on 878 brick arches. Many of those arches are now occupied by shops, restaurants, bars and pubs. The venue, on Level 1 of the resort, is the Macau branch of the pub and grill name that Gordon Ramsay Restaurants also uses in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, where it trades alongside Gordon Ramsay Steak and Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen.

In the interior, steel, timber, metal and cast iron are layered into brickwork and vaults. The dining room sits under arched brick vaults with scalloped ceilings and dark green enamel cast iron columns. The fit-out also includes Victorian pub cabinetry, panelling and mouldings, the joinery whose development is traced in the history of the Victorian gin palace. Silverfox Studios completed the Macau venue in the same year that Gordon Ramsay Restaurants refurbished the Savoy Grill in London to a 1920s Hollywood Regency design by Afroditi Krassa.

SOURCES

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica Gordon Ramsay
2. MICHELIN Guide Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
3. The Caterer Le Gavroche at forty
4. The Caterer The rise and rise of Ramsay restaurants
5. The Caterer Savoy Grill reopens after two-month refurbishment
6. Restaurant Online (BigHospitality) Gordon Ramsay opens latest restaurant Bread Street Kitchen
7. Royal Television Society Gordon Ramsay launches production company
8. Hachette UK Restaurant Gordon Ramsay: A Story of Excellence
9. Gordon Ramsay Restaurants Restaurants and Bars
10. Gordon Ramsay Restaurants Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill Macau