Ramsay’s kitchen nightmare as his Savoy chef is fired
THE Savoy Grill is Gordon Ramsay’s pride and joy — and is where Margaret Thatcher used to dine with her husband, Sir Denis, by the Thames.
And the TV cook painstakingly picked a celebrated young chef — who has won a spate of Michelin stars for top hotels — to run the kitchen.
So I’m surprised to hear that Matt Worswick, 28, has suddenly been fired after only seven months in the role.
‘We are all shocked,’ says my man with the silver spoon. ‘There was an explosive incident in the kitchen and then Matt announced he was leaving.’
Worswick was being trumpeted as a protege of Ramsay, 55. Just like the short-tempered Glaswegian, he showed great early promise, winning a Michelin star aged 26.
Hiring him was a coup for the Savoy Grill: he’d previously worked at double-starred restaurant Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham, before becoming head chef at Glenapp Castle in Scotland, which was where he won his first star, and earned The Latymer hotel in Surrey a Michelin star after that.
Viewers of BBC show Masterchef: The Professionals may recognise him, as he reached the semi-finals in 2010.
Things were going so well for him at the Savoy that he was asked to launch a second restaurant at the five-star hotel, The River, in September.
But the chef confirms: ‘My journey has come to an end at the Savoy. I’d like to thank all the staff, past and present, for all their hard work and dedication. I’d like to wish Gordon Ramsay all the very best and
continued success for the future.’ Ramsay was apparently abroad at the time of the incident in question.
It is, of course, just the latest colourful chapter in Ramsay’s career. He rocketed to fame off the back of his angry antics, including firing a waiter for sipping water in view of customers and using the F-word 111 times in one edition of Kitchen Nightmares.
Known for his hot-headedness, he once slung the distinguished late critic A.A. Gill and his companion, Dame Joan Collins, out of his restaurant after Gill described him in a review as a failed sportsman who acted like an 11-year-old.
He has insulted other chefs, including Raymond Blanc whom he described as a ‘little French t***’.
Hotels are having bad luck with their top restaurateurs at the moment — I recently revealed that Claridge’s chef Daniel Humm stormed out after the hotel refused to let him turn the menu vegan.