Knives were expected to fly when Gordon Ramsay officially opened his new restaurant at Powerscourt in Co Wicklow yesterday. The Scottish chef, once voted TV's most terrifying celebrity, is famous for his fiery temper and expletive-ridden vocabulary.
So what would set him off this time? His wife, Tana, was upstairs in her room at the Ritz Carlton and was delaying the photo shoot. Sit back and watch the fireworks.
But lo, here he is on the phone to her. "Are you ready now, sweetie?" he cooed. "Yes, everyone's here waiting, sweetie - thank you, darling," he murmured, almost caressing the phone.
The tanned, tousled-haired chef was relaxed as he posed with reporters and photographers and praised chefs such as the late Robbie Millar and Belfast's Michael Deane. He even magnanimously wished his rival, Marco Pierre White, well with "his new pizzeria" planned for Dublin.
Marco Pierre would probably prefer to call it a brasserie but let's not nit-pick. Then the happy mask slipped for a moment when Ramsay added: "if you think I'm going to bed worrying about a f**king pizzeria, you're joking."
Describing his new restaurant, which has spectacular views of the Sugarloaf mountain, he said: "it's not exactly a light-hearted café...it's quite sumptuous," but added that it was the sort of place where his Mum would feel comfortable "without feeling that it's reserved only for the high and mighty".
The floor-to-ceiling glass-fronted room seats 89 people and two private dining rooms seat up to 14 and 16 guests each. For the select few, the chef's table in the heart of the kitchen has room for eight.
If you feel like a glass of Laurent-Perrier Brut champagne while you peruse the menu, it will set you back €21, while a Bellini costs €19.50. Starters vary from €17 (watercress velouté with poached hen egg and crispy pancetta) to €25 (ravioli of local lobster and Clare Island salmon with lemongrass velouté). Main courses range from €39 for the roast partridge to €46 for the turbot on the bone with prawn colcannon.
Maeve Binchy has written shorter books than the wine list. Thirsty reporters noted that the extensive selection includes a burgundy - a 1993 Romanee Conti - which comes in at €8,400.
The restaurant received more than 3,000 calls in its first 48 hours of opening and Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights are booked up until next year.
Ramsay praised Irish produce and said he wanted to have 95 per cent of the produce sourced locally. "It's down to availability, it's down to the weather...as much as we can get we'll use."
He collects Michelin stars like marbles and his restaurant empire now boasts 12. He hopes to add three more with this latest venture. His collection of restaurants and pubs reached 15 yesterday, with two more restaurants due to open next year. That doesn't give him much time for Powerscourt but he insisted he would be there at least once every six or seven weeks or "as often as I can be...this place is fabulous. It's an hour's flight, which is great news."
