Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

[Wyatt Earp]

At Heathrow Terminal 5. I went there while changing planes because it looked no pricier than Eat or one of those depressing places, and indeed it wasn't. And the food was much better: it won't blow your mind, but mine was good quality and very well cooked.

I'd heard bad things about it, but that's a bit baffling; it's a step up from anything else at Heathrow, and (I can tell yez) better by miles than anything at fucking O'Hare.

About 12 quid a main.

[The Exploding Vole]

Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

Article in the FT today about how Heston Blumenthal hasn't really transformed that one Little Chef that's apparently in the Good Food Guide. Pack the sandwiches, Doreen.

[San Bernardhinault]

Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

You've heard bad things about it? Where from? Who from?

I mean, say what you like about Ramsay - and my feeling is that almost all if his sweary-arse persona is put on for TV execs who tell him that his USP is being a sweary arse - but his restaurants are almost universally good.

Plane food is no different. My experience of it has been that it is a spot of gentle tranquility and not-too-crowdedness at Heathrow, where this is a genuine luxury.

Also that the food is fairly simple - you look at the menu and realise the food is designed to be cooked to order very quickly, so there's never a reason for delays and missing your plane. The butternut risotto, I think it was, was very, very good, when I had it.

The price is a step up from elsewhere in the airport, but not such a massive leap that it's not worth paying to sit in peace, have decent service, a nice glass of wine, and much better food than elsewhere at Heathrow.

[Wyatt Earp]

Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

Yeah, "no pricier" should read "not much pricier".

I had a pork chop with black pudding, Savoy cabbage and apple sauce. Nothing spectacular, just done well.

[Ginger Yellow]

Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

it's a step up from anything else at Heathrow, and (I can tell yez) better by miles than anything at fucking O'Hare.

That's really not very difficult. O'Hare (the international terminal anyway) must have the lowest quality to passengers ratio of any airport.

[San Bernardhinault]

Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

And it's an airport. So the idea of black pudding, pork chop and savoy cabbage done well (although, presumably, not well done) is a pretty rare experience.

As for Heston's Little Chef, I've not been to it, nor read the article, but the concept just made no sense at all. The advice he ended up giving - make decent, quick to cook, food out of decent product, and stop using the microwave - could have come from almost any half-decent restaunteur. And is really the advice Little Chef needed.

The stuff Blumenthal does makes almost no sense at all aimed at a mass market. Most people don't want to be shocked and entertained by their food. But even if they do, it makes no sense for it to be something that happens every time they want breakfast on the A14. It's the kind of thing that would really only work as a rarity.

[Wyatt Earp]

Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

La Lanterne Rouge wrote:

And it's an airport. So the idea of black pudding, pork chop and savoy cabbage done well (although, presumably, not well done) is a pretty rare experience.

Heh heh. "Rare". Heh heh.

GY: yeah, and it's no better at the American or United terminals. One of them, I forget which, used to have a kind of metastasized branch of the Loop's "Berghoff" brats-'n'-beer joint, and that was OK, but then the main restaurant closed for a while and I think the franchise lapsed.

As for turning off all the TVs in the terminal at a crucial point in the (as it happened) final ALCS game--well, words fucking fail. This Is Not America.

[Mitch]

Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

I thought O'Hare was much nicer than JFK when I was last there.

I managed to get scammed beyond all logic at a Starbucks there: $17 for a stale sandwich & a cold coffee.

[The Exploding Vole]

Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food

Stefan Stern in today's FT (and apologies if I'm hijacking the thread):

No sooner that had the film crews gone away than your columnist, and family, rolled up at the now celebrated branch of Little Chief just off the A303 one lunchtime a couple of months ago. And our experience was not quite the joyful one that Mr Blumenthal had. Service was poor. The waiting staff were distracted and inefficient. The food, which had delighted Mr Blumenthal only a few weeks earlier, was mainly pretty bland. This was not what you expect from a new Good Food Guide entrant.