Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, also known as MENU, was a restaurant owned by

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a tot ...

Holdings and run by chef Angela Hartnett. It was located within The Connaught in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

, London. The restaurant was opened following Ramsay's successful opening of Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, within the Claridge's hotel, which is owned by the same equity group. Ramsay had originally been asked to move

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, also known as Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, is the signature restaurant owned and operated by Gordon Ramsay, located at Royal Hospital Road, in Chelsea, London, Chelsea, London. It opened in 1998 and was Ramsay ...

into the space, but suggested that Hartnett should run a new operation there instead. The restaurant was awarded a

Michelin star The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

in the 2004 guide and held it until it closed in 2007.

History

Following the successful opening of Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's,

was invited to attend a public relations event for the Savoy Group in New York. It was there that he heard that The Connaught hotel in London was looking for a chef to take over the restaurant operation, and had recently been showing around a chef from the United States. The Connaught restaurant had previously been run by Michel Bourdin for 26 years. His father in-law and business partner Chris Hutcheson spoke to Blackstone Group, the owners of The Connaught at the time, and also of

Claridges Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. It has long-standing connections with royalty that have led to it sometimes being referred to as an "annexe to Buckingham Palace". Claridge's Hote ...

. They were immediately interested in Ramsay running the restaurant there. However, they wanted Ramsay to move his three

Michelin Star The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

restaurant at

Royal Hospital Road Royal Hospital Road is a street in Chelsea, London, England. It runs between Chelsea Embankment on the north bank of the River Thames to the southwest and a junction with Lower Sloane Street, Pimlico Road and Chelsea Bridge Road to the northeas ...

into the hotel. Ramsay was opposed to this as he wanted to specifically keep that restaurant independent of any hotel operation. Ramsay (2008): p. 74 The negotiations with Blackstone continued, who wanted a female chef to be brought in. Ramsay suggested Angela Hartnett, who was running his restaurant in Dubai and had worked with him since he ran Aubergine. She was brought back to the UK to meet with Blackstone alongside Hutcheson, and hit it off with members of the investment group immediately. Following the meeting, Blackstone agreed that she should be the one running the restaurant at The Connaught. It took six months to refurbish the main restaurant, but the hotel was also partially closed for refurbishment of many of its rooms. The restaurant's kitchen was gutted and refitted with new appliances, and vermin infestations were dealt with. New carpets were laid throughout the restaurants, although due to wear and tear, they needed to be replaced after only eleven months. It made a loss from the first month when it opened in 2002, and would take two years to turn a profit – far longer than the initial estimates of six months. Ramsay (2008): p. 80 The opening of the restaurant was filmed for a BBC television series, ''

Trouble at the Top ''Trouble at the Top'' was a business-based BBC television fly on the wall documentary broadcast on BBC2. The series focussed on business failings or disputes between business people. Mainly the series depicted half-hour documentaries on large b ...

''.

The Connaught restaurant operation was run by 35 chefs to seat 65 diners, and initially run by Neil Ferguson who became Hartnett's head chef once she arrived properly from Dubai. Although later referred to as Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, it was initially called MENU. She was keen to distance the operation from a typical Ramsay restaurant, saying that he would not be working there at any point and was not going to a copy of the Claridges operation. Several of the previous staff transferred over into the new regime, although one successfully took Gordon Ramsay Holdings to court after being sacked and won a settlement of £30,000. Ramsay (2008): p. 88 Claire Porter, a chef who had appeared in an episode of '' Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares'', began working in the restaurant in 2004 but left soon afterwards. Diego Cardoso was one of the chefs who was transferred, and Hartnett recognised his ability. Cardoso became head chef at her restaurant in Florida in 2006. At the time, Harnett assured the media that she wouldn't be leaving The Connaught and would instead place a new head chef there in her stead. Angela Hartnett at The Connaught closed as the hotel closed for refurbishment following the sale of the Savoy Group to the Quinlan Private Equity Group. Gordon Ramsay Holdings decided not to renew the lease following the renovation of the hotel. There was later speculation in the media that this was due to the restaurant's refusal to provide room service, something that owners

Maybourne Hotel Group Maybourne Hotel Group is a Qatari-owned British luxury hotel operator, which owns and manages The Berkeley, Claridge's and The Connaught hotels in London. History and Background The Maybourne Hotel Group, formerly The Savoy Hotel Group has been ...

subsequently denied. When the restaurant reopened, the restaurant had been refurbished and taken over by another female chef, Hélène Darroze. Harnett took most of her team with her to eventually work at her new restaurant,

Murano Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was on ...

, and they were placed elsewhere within the restaurants of Gordon Ramsay Holdings whilst the new premises were prepared.

Hartnett described her menu as having Mediterranean influences due to her Italian roots. She was also keen to emphasise that she would be the one designing the menu, saying that "I'm not going to be doing Gordon's food, or Marcus Wareing's food, or anyone else's for that matter – I'm going to be doing my food." Prior to taking over the kitchen, she went on a culinary tour of Spain, France, Italy and the United States in order to find inspiration for the new menu. Whilst it was officially described as serving Modern European cuisine, some food critics claimed that it was serving Italian cuisine, whilst others thought it was French style Haute cuisine. Italian dishes on the menu included a risotto with

leek The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alli ...

s and prawns, pheasant agnolotti and rabbit served with wild mushrooms and

polenta Polenta (, ) is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. The dish comes from Italy. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled. ...

. Other mains which were on the menu included fillets of John Dory with a bouillabaisse sauce, served with saffron potatoes and fennel. The dessert options included soufflés, which were made to order.

Reception

The hotel's regulars were not happy with the restaurant upon opening. In Ramsay's autobiography ''Playing with Fire'', he attributed this to the restaurant being fully booked and the former clientele were unable to simply arrive at the restaurant and expect to be seated as well as improvements to the previous menu. Restaurant critics who attended the restaurant shortly after opening gave it mixed reviews. ''

Harden's ''Harden's'' is a UK restaurant guide, publishing print, online and mobile reviews and ratings for both London and UK restaurants. Like New York's Zagat Survey (which no longer has a London edition), the ratings and reviews are based on the result ...

'' restaurant guide described the opening as an "anticlimax".

Matthew Fort Matthew Fort (born 29 January 1947) is a British food writer and critic. Matthew Fort is the son of the Conservative MP Richard Fort, who died when he was 12. His brother is the writer Tom Fort. He attended Eton College, and later Lancaster Un ...

reviewed the restaurant for '' The Guardian'' in May 2003. He enjoyed the mix of classical French cooking such as a dish of roast lamb with aubergine and rosemary au jus, while he felt that other dishes had more Italian touches such as the monkfish with chicory and a sherry vinegar based sauce. He said that he was sad that the old restaurant had passed, but embraced the arrival of Harnett. He gave the restaurant a score of 18 out of 20.

Fay Maschler Fay Goldie Maschler (''née'' Coventry; 15 July 1945) is a British journalist who was the restaurant critic of London's ''Evening Standard'' newspaper for nearly 50 years. She won a contest for the position in 1972, when her tenure was supposed ...

for the '' Evening Standard'' said that the "Italian influence on the cooking is deliciously subversive rather than high-handed". In 2004, she ranked the restaurant as one of the top 5 in London with a "female touch". The restaurant was awarded a

in the 2004 guide, which it held until 2007. It was named the Best New Restaurant at the BMW Square Meal Awards in 2003.

Notes

References

* {{Gordon Ramsay 2002 establishments in England 2002 in London 2007 disestablishments in England Defunct restaurants in London European restaurants in London Michelin Guide starred restaurants in London Restaurants disestablished in 2007 Restaurants established in 2002

History

Menu

Reception

Notes

References