Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Nightmare kitchens - Shocking restaurant confessions

Date Published:

28/11/2007

Behind the scenes in the restaurant. What the customer doesn't see (and wouldn't want to). By Charlie Cottrell

Whilst no restaurant will ever admit to unsavoury revenge tactics like spitting in food, or worse, the stifled smirks on the faces of people we talked to suggest that the addition of 'chef's special sauce' is not beyond belief. "I'm not saying anything", said one waiter, "but let's just say, with some of the stories that I've heard, you'd be happy if they'd just spat in your food."

What about the expensive, beautifully presented main you sent back because it had a hair floating in it? "Depends on the dish. If it's a soup, or a basic salad, something simple we'll do a new one. If it's a complicated dish with lot of effort involved - fish it out, send it back. A bit of hair won't kill them."

A tough old bird

It's not just dodgy looking establishments whose practices might have you reaching for the sick bag. A chef who worked in a high end central London eatery before opening his own restaurant told us how even expensive kitchens like to look after the pennies.

"The first task we gave someone who came to us looking for a cheffing job was to make a meal with the chicken that was 'on the turn'. There's a way of treating the chicken with salt water that draws out the bad juices so that you can cook with it and it still tastes ok. That's important to a kitchen because it means you can get another day or two days out of your meat. If a chef could do this I knew he was experienced in restaurant kitchens."