The last time we saw Gordon Ramsay he was larking about on the Aran Islands and sampling the local seaweed for his Uncharted series. Now he’s back with the resurrected Kitchen Nightmares USA (Channel 4, Thursday), where he blitzes through failing eateries and turns the businesses around via the traditional means of rolling his eyes and swearing at the sous chef.
It’s nine years since the previous Kitchen Nightmares – a format he exported to the United States after it went down a storm on Channel 4 – but in the interim, running a restaurant has become more challenging than ever. This is the motivation behind the return of the series, the presenter explains in the first of 10 new episodes. “Things have been challenging for all of us in the food service industry,” says the celebrity chef, net worth €60 million. “It’s harder than ever before to bring customers back and stand out from the crowd.”
He’s on his way to Bel Air, a diner in Queens, New York, which suffers from a stuffed menu featuring dishes the staff have never heard of. (“Coco veen?” the waitress stutters when Ramsay orders coq au vin.) There’s also a power struggle between brothers Peter (front of house) and Kal (kitchen), each of whom believe he’s the one keeping things afloat.
Worse horrors await Ramsay in part two as he crosses the state line to a strip mall in New Jersey and the Bask 46 gastropub. Open less than a year, it’s already going down the tubes – mainly, it seems, because of a head chef, Bobby, who earns $100,000 a year and describes himself as a “culinary gangsta”.
He certainly runs a criminally awful kitchen. Ramsay is appalled to be served a mac and cheese that falls short of its billing. (“Good effing luck,” the presenter swears.) There is also the issue of oversized portions – “how many customers walk away with more food than they are eating?”– and QR code “menus” that don’t function properly.
Ramsay charges through the kitchen, where he is appalled at the conditions in which food is stored. He tells stressed-out owner Steve that he needs to rethink his business model, particularly his loyalty to bad boy Bobby.
To his credit, Bobby comes around to changes insisted on by Ramsay: a better-organised kitchen and the ditching of a “signature” cheese dish made with brought-in ingredients. Along the way there’s a lot of shouting, swearing and crying – and that’s just Steve, hiding in the man cave he has constructed in the restaurant’s attic.
Foodies will be appalled at the shenanigans, but for those who enjoy their reality TV hot and spicy there’s a lot to enjoy. While contrived as anything, there is no denying the fun factor in seeing Ramsay flip his lid when he discovers a chicken drumstick chucked in with the ice cream. As TV fast food goes, Kitchen Nightmares remains highly snackable.
