Series 4 Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: Abstract

Date Published:

23/10/2007

Gordon's advice

Loic, La Riviera's head chef, boasts an impressive pedigree including cooking for President Chirac. To help realise his dream of gaining a Michelin star, Loic has handpicked his seven chefs who all have star-studded backgrounds.

Owner multi-millionaire, Barry Larson, made his fortune from the catering business. But at La Riviera, Barry pays over £8k a week on food and staff costs alone. The gamble's not paying off. The restaurant is empty four nights a week. This is denting Barry's wallet - and Loic's ego. Loic is hungry for success but the locals aren't biting.

Before Gordon tries the food, he tries out dish names from La Riviera's menu on locals. They don't understand the French dishes. Ramsay says he can see the problem before he's tasted the food: the menu may appeal to south of France diners but locals don't understand it. La Riviera has lost site of the basics. He checks out the competition. The Inverness restaurant market is booming. He spots £5 two-dish menus everywhere, whereas La Riveria costs £34 for two courses.

Next he samples the food. He gets canapés and a prestarter which he says is OTT even by London standards. His potato soup starter is very complicated with too many flavours. Gordon says the golden rule is to keep it simple. Next up, he tries the duck. Again this is too complicated. And the main course is served in two parts which Gordon says is pretentious. Loic seems desperate to impress when six puddings arrive. Gordon's not impressed. Gordon tells Loic that technically the flavours are amazing but he doesn’t need so many flavours to make it work. Barry isn’t keen to restrain Loic’s ambition and doesn’t feel in a position to criticise. But Gordon is.

Next he checks out the kitchen. He's amazed by the the fridge: it's top of the league and the produce is the very best. They’re even flying veg in from France! During service, each plate journeys around the kitchen and each of the seven chefs adds a flourish. This is a waste of time and money. Gordon says Loic needs to let the food speak for itself otherwise it’s just outdated and pretentious: He has top ingredients, so he doesn’t need to over do it. Loic’s pride is dented. Ramsay challenges Loic to cook a St Jacques' dish. Though Loic doesn’t know Gordon’s invited an ex-AA inspector to sample their dishes. Ramsay’s dish has just four ingredients. Loic's has 14 flavours.The inspector prefers Ramsay's simpler dish. Loic feels stitched up, and French-Anglo relations hit all time low! But Loic admits his style of cooking may be wrong.

Barry's up for spending £35k on doing up the dining room, but Gordon comes up with a low-cost idea which he thinks will give La Riviera a unique selling point in Scotland. He wants to introduce a chef’s table in the kitchen. Ramsay says it's great for customers and good for keeping chefs on toes. Loic agrees.

But before the customers come, they need to make economies elsewhere. They start with the ingredients. Gordon gets the chefs to come up with tasty Ox tongue dish to put on the lunchtime menu to prove that you can turn something cheap into a fantastic dish. Then Gordon changes the menu: out go the French frills and in with locally-sourced Scottish produce including venision, mackerel, tuna and pork. Gordon leaves the restaurant with its simple menu.

Two years on, Ramsay returns to La Riviera, now renamed Abstract and finds it empty! He discovers Barry's opened an entirely new brasserie named Contrast next to Abstract which Gordon finds bizarre. Turnover at Abstract is down 22% in the last year. Gordon says he thought by simplifying the menu, he'd put them on course for a Michelin star. So what happened? There are strange new additions on the menu: peanut ice-cream and giblet sandwich! Gordon samples Abstract's food and says it's more like Silence of the Lambs with pigs trotters, black pudding and giblet sandwich on the menu!

Gordon says Loic's still trying too hard. Bizarrely, Barry and Loic did take his advice about a simple food menu, but that's next door in the brasserie - so why didn't Barry just save his money and do this in Abstract? Gordon then discovers that Barry and Luis are opening a third restaurant in Edinburgh modelled on Abstract. It'll cost £500k to open. Ramsay advises they keep it safe by opting for an upmarket version of Contrast not Abstract. Barry thanks him for his advice. Gordon has the final word: No restaurant will ever be successful with giblet club sandwich.

by Sarah Jagger