TV Chefs and Restauranteurs

[HalcyonDaze]

Watching a show with Luke Nguyen and I realise he is one of the few TV chefs whose restaurant I've dined in. As this was years and years go (generally pre TV shows for him) I'm fairly confident he would have been cooking there.


I have been to Bill Granger's place, but doubt he was actually cooking.

And as for the Jamie and Carluccio chains, yeah, I think they are never in the kitchen at all.


How about you?

[Queen]

I suspect most tv chefs design the menu but don't cook it. Some of the super stars have so many restaurants there's no way they're even supervising the cooking.

I have eaten at a couple of restaurants that have chefs who are celebrities in the chef world, those people are rarely on tv.

[Bastet]

I've eat at Heston's in London, it was amazing. No idea if he cooked, probably not. I really wanted to get tix for "Fat Duck" here but they were all gone by the time most of the general public found out about it.

Jamie's restaurants always had average to bad reviews where I found them in England last year so I didn't try it.

[Queen]

Not a Jamie fan... I've been to the "Fifteen" restaurant here (I like the concept), it was a big disappointment. The reviews on the restaurant site here score it pretty poorly.

[riverhorse]

Jamie

Antonio Carluccio (the proper flagship restaurant that used to be in Covent Garden, as well as the bistro chain)

Caldesi (as well as a course at their cooking school in Marylebone)

Rick Stein

Can't think of any more at the moment but there are probably a few more

[tzarine]

agree w q
ate @ aquavit years ago where marcus samuelsson was actually there & came out to greet us
tzar's mentor who is a rather well known writer was having lunch w us
tzarevich got comped meatballs

have eaten @ a few french bistros w chefs known in the industry
in ny, chef driven places come & go

[lolasf]

We have a lot of places near me that were started by relatively famous chefs. I've been to a few, with generally great results. The exception would be Guy Fieri's spots- not so amazing, as you might guess. Actually one of them used to be reliably decent, but that only lasted the first year or so.

[tucano]

We went to his place in Times Square (not my choice). The salmon was surprisingly good, but the cocktails were horrible. He was there, actually, but not cooking.

[brodiebruce]

A mate of mine used to work for Gordon Ramsay in London - Gordon gave him a bollocking so mate told him to stick his job up his fucking arse and walked.

Gordon called him a few years later to offer him a job at a new restaurant he was opening up in Tokyo - mate accepted and one night had to cook for Gordon and Anthony Bourdain (no pressure there then). Mate said he was absolutely shitting himself that night.

Been to the original Fifteen and it was pretty good. Ate snacks at the Ramsay place in Tokyo. Was going to take parents to a Gordon Ramsay's in London but they really wouldn't have enjoyed it - they far preferred the local pub meal.

Went to Carluccio's for a meal once and it was shit. £11 for a bit of pasta and a couple of mushrooms. I've made better at home.

[weeg]

I think the closest I've come is Carluccio's, and I wasn't impressed. They put cream in the carbonara iirc. The deli is really good though.

I have tried to get a table at The Kitchin in Edinburgh before, but no luck. I used to go a a place called Oloroso, run by Tony Singh, for cocktails on the terrace in summer. It was a rooftop, accessed by a lift, so was usually tourist free, despite the views of the Castle. Good times.

[wombatrois]

I haven't been to many - Nahm in Bangkok (David Thompson) and Maha in Melbourne (Shane Delia). A couple of Andrew O'Connell places, but he's not really a celebrity chef, just a celebrated one.

Fifteen came to us for our annual food festival one year - I didn't think much of it, really, I thought it was a bit like them trying to sell ice to people in snowy, icy places - cooking seasonally, doing as little to the produce as possible - the food was probably not quite as good as I would cook (the slow cooked meat was dry).

It was held in a local winery, so the wine was fabulous!

[Liiisa]

I never know who is or is not on TV, but I do know about Heston Blumenthal; I've been to his restaurant at Heathrow, of all places. It had the absolutely best grilled chicken salad that I've ever had, but terrible terrible boring ice cream. It tasted like ice, basically, and probably cost $12 a scoop. WTF. I know he's good, though, and would love to go to Fat Duck, if I ever manage to get that grant for doing nothing but swanning around the planet looking at insects and eating in top-rated restaurants.

I've been to some of the local places that my friends have told me have chefs who have been on top Chef or whatever that is, and I frankly am always surprised when the food is good - tbh I expect TV restaurants to be splashy and mediocre.

[leela]

I've been to Glynn Purnell's place in Birmingham. A friend and I had a celebration there and had the many many courses tasting menu. It was wonderful. Really inventive and delicious stuff served with a real sense of occasion and lots of clever surprises.

[kingcnut]

Carluccio's is OK for coffee and cake, and they do a fair breakfast. I don't get why anybody would go for an evening meal though. Chains don't appeal, but maybe if you're in an unfamiliar town and just want to get a predictable meal without taking the time to look or read around they have a place. Never had my dinner cooked by anybody off the telly, or had my hair cut by anybody off the telly, or had a suit made by anybody off the telly.

[HalcyonDaze]

kingcnut, they also have a place when you have a child and want to eat early. Often for kids predictable is good and it makes it easier for the parents. And you are also saved the 'OMG, you're bringing a CHILD here' brigade, who throw their hands up in horror if you want to dine out somewhere decent with your kid.

[brodiebruce]

This just turned up on Facebook......have to admit that it did make me laugh (deep down.....I'm non LOL'ing).

[jimm]

We went to St Katherines in Kew (Melbourne) a few times - it was quite nice. It's owned by George Calombaris the Masterchef (Oz) judge. We saw him there one day talking to staff.

[jimm]

Aug 18, 2015 4:36:39 GMT -5 HalcyonDaze said:

Watching a show with Luke Nguyen and I realise he is one of the few TV chefs whose restaurant I've dined in.
...

Luke's TV show was one of the main reasons we went to Vietnam a few years ago. Rick Stein's far east series was the other reason.

We never got to Cha ca la Vong though.

[sprite]

carluccio's is a celeb chef? i love their little chocolate-cream-espresso tray. three little jugs that you mix in your cup, with a couple of little biscuits. adorable.
and the deli does a massive meringue with either cocoa powder or some red 'berry' dust--they aren't too expensive, and make a nice at home eton mess for two people.

we went to cornwall 15 several years ago and really enjoyed it. but also we got rather drunk. it was my first encounter with the concept of more than 5 courses and seafoam. maybe if i routinely went to those sorts of places, i'd have been less impressed?

we have a jamie's italian, and it's one of the few chains i like. ours has a lovely decor, the food is always tasty and just a little bit different than what i eat in other places, the service is good, the portions are decent but not obscene, and it's not a lot more than dinner out at the pub.

[Phar Lap]

On TV Chefs and Restauranteurs, here a two of the early ones -