Gordon Ramsay’s New Fish and Chips Restaurant Is Its Own Kitchen Nightmare | Food

Gordon Ramsay’s monitor file on preserving eating places open in New York Metropolis isn’t good. The Scottish superstar chef whose TV appearances can contain “fixing” eating places amid a sea of profanity opened Gordon Ramsay at The London on West 54th Road in 2007. It went on to realize after which lose two Michelin stars amid stories of inconsistent meals and repair, closing in 2013 after having been bought because of monetary difficulties. Its extra informal companion, Maze, managed to remain open until 2013. Nonetheless, one can’t assist however marvel if Ramsay couldn’t have saved each if he’d made them the topic of considered one of his foul-mouthed Kitchen Nightmares makeovers.

Now he’s opened a modest fish-and-chips restaurant in Instances Sq. — Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips — maybe parlaying his media fame right into a low-brow success on the metropolis’s foremost vacationer mecca. He already has a number of hamburger eating places in Atlantic Metropolis, Las Vegas, and elsewhere, and has examined this fish-and-chips system in Washington, DC, Las Vegas, and Orlando. Can Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips succeed right here? To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, possibly New York, New York isn’t “his form of city.”

The restaurant, a barely adorned basement, is positioned at 1500 Broadway, however the entrance is across the nook on forty fourth subsequent to an Irish pub. A ramp leads downstairs, the place the ornament is especially tremendous graphic phrases like “fish” and “fried” in an vintage font and United Kingdom flag motifs. A line of blue-costumed workers stands behind the lengthy counter, which is furnished with deep fryers and prep areas. Condiments are stacked on the prepared in small plastic cups. Most of the three primary elements (cod, shrimp, and hen) have already been par-fried, and solely want a remaining greasy dip within the oil earlier than serving.

The guts of the menu is the fish and chips ($17.99): three same-size logs of cod with a glistening beer batter coating. The fish is nice, although mind-bogglingly bland. [“Why doesn’t this fish have any flavor, damnit!” Ramsay might have shouted on his TV show, his quaking face bright red.] But, for the Instances Sq. vacationer, this mixture of identifiable meals superstar and healthful, if boring, meals may be simply the factor. Even with browned, skin-on fries that look good however style mealy.

Once you order this fish and chips, you may be upsold three additional varieties of “soiled fries” that value $3 additional. It may be value it, as a result of Soiled #1 options jalapenos and crumbled chorizo, and, at $7.99 by themselves, can be a complete meal preferable to the plain fish and chips. In shrimp and chips ($16.99), 5 plump crustaceans with the identical beer batter are substituted for the cod, and they’re at the least extra fascinating, although I can consider a half-dozen coatings that might be preferable: tempura, for instance. However Ramsay’s mind is working extra time to provide you with a fast-food system that can contain the fewest elements and the least work — fairly the other of his TV pose on Nightmares, through which he usually admonishes his topics to be much less lazy.

The odd dish out amongst meal alternatives is the hen sandwich ($15.99). Anomalously, it includes two hen breast cutlets (want I say bland?) deposited in a pair of pitas on high of some coleslaw heavy with mayo. This sandwich, at the least, additionally accommodates greens together with tomatoes, although unaccountably — no pickle! The cutlets have additional been squiggled with mayo, and there’s mayo on the aspect, too.

Every order comes with two condiments. I gained’t hassle to explain the sauces, besides to say 5 of them are primarily mayo with slight modifications. What’s it about Ramsay and mayo?

Two milkshakes spherical out the dessert selections. The placement was out of the sticky toffee one, which looks as if an oversight on the a part of Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips. I did get to attempt the Biscoff shake, which can confuse American patrons. It represents a Belgian cookie that may also be bought as a peanut butter-type paste. With its burnt caramel taste, the shake ($8.99) is fairly good, and would as soon as once more make a greater full meal than the fish and chips. [“That’s dense as fuck,” Ramsay might have blurted out. “You can’t suck it up through the straw, so how’s the customer going to eat it?”]

Why go right here? There are many nice fish and chips in New York Metropolis already, with many variations bought in fish markets in Harlem and elsewhere from a counter within the rear. Oh, and there’s A Salt & Battery within the West Village, the place a number of varieties of fish can be found, and the dish has a sure pungency missing at Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips.