Gordon Ramsay Plane Food
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Gordon Ramsay Plane Food is a restaurant owned by chef
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 ...
, located within Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 in London, United Kingdom. The restaurant cost £2.5 million to build and is located within the
airside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
area of the airport. It opened in 2008 alongside the rest of Terminal 5, and with several other Ramsay-related openings that year. Ramsay said that he aimed to keep the menu lean without the use of heavy sauces, and menus are also offered for quick dining as well as takeaway
cool box A cooler, portable ice chest, ice box, cool box, chilly bin (in New Zealand), or esky (Australia) is an insulated box used to keep food or drink cool. Ice cubes are most commonly placed in it to help the contents inside stay cool. Ice packs ar ...
es which contain a three course meal to be eaten on a plane. Critics have been mostly positive, although one initial poor review by
Jan Moir Jan Moir (; born August 1958) is a British newspaper columnist. She works for the ''Daily Mail''. Several of her articles have provoked widespread criticism, such as one about Stephen Gately that disputed his official cause of death and linked hi ...
was picked up by the mainstream media. The concept of the cool boxes was also praised. It was Ramsay's first airport-based restaurant, and in 2013 he announced that he was planning to take the concept to a number of airports within the United States.


Description

left, The interior of Gordon Ramsay Plane Food Gordon Ramsay Plane Food is located on the sixth floor of Terminal 5 within
Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
, London, next to the
Wagamama Wagamama (stylised as ''wagamama'') is a British restaurant chain, serving Asian food based on Japanese cuisine. History The first Wagamama was opened in 1992 in Bloomsbury, London, founded by Alan Yau, who subsequently created the Chinese rest ...
restaurant. It is
airside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
, meaning that only passengers who are about to go on a flight can access Plane Food. The restaurant cost £2.5 million to set up, and Ramsay signed an initial lease for ten years with the airport. Ramsay (2008): p. 276 The chef patron of the restaurant is Stuart Giles, who had previously worked at Ramsay's Boxwood Cafe. Since September 2015 the executive chef is Andrew Winstanley. The interior is decorated with a
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
bar, above which hangs a painting by Barnaby Gorton worth £90,000. There are large windows at one end of the restaurant, which look out onto the airport itself. The restaurant has a seating capacity for 175 diners. As with all restaurants at Terminal 5, Plane Food cannot use gas equipment due to safety reasons and so electric ovens and hobs are used instead as well as a single
microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...
. The cutlery is also a standard airport size so that the knives cannot be used as weapons. Ramsay requires that staff who are working at Plane Food must gain work experience in another one of his restaurants first.


Menu

Pricing is similar to other restaurants owned by Ramsay, and it is intended to bring a fine dining experience out of specialist airport lounges and make it available to any traveller. Starters include a pea, leek, and goat cheese tart, while mains include
sea bass Sea bass is a common name for a variety of different species of marine fish. Many fish species of various families have been called sea bass. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, the fish sold and consumed as sea bass is exclusively the European ba ...
which is steamed and served alongside
lemongrass ''Cymbopogon'', also known as lemongrass, barbed wire grass, silky heads, Cochin grass, Malabar grass, oily heads, citronella grass or fever grass, is a genus of Asian, African, Australian, and tropical island plants in the grass family. Some ...
and white asparagus. Chocolate
fondue Fondue (, , ) is a Swiss melted cheese dish served in a communal pot ( ''caquelon'' or fondue pot) over a portable stove () heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. It was promote ...
with marshmallows and waffles are among the options for dessert as well as a
knickerbocker glory A knickerbocker glory is a layered ice cream sundae that is served in a large tall conical glass, and to be eaten with a distinctive long spoon, particularly in Great Britain and Ireland. The ''knickerbocker glory'', first described in the 1920 ...
. Traditional fine dining dishes are also included on the menu, such as
Sevruga caviar Sevruga caviar is one of the highest priced varieties of caviar, eclipsed in cost only by the Beluga caviar, Beluga and Ossetra varieties. It is harvested from a variety of critically endangered sturgeon fish species, that are known for their small ...
. Ramsay said in interviews around the launch of the restaurant that he aimed to keep "it all very lean, lean, lean. No heavy sauces". He compared the menu to a cross between
The Ivy The Ivy is a British restaurant which is known for being popular with celebrities. It is located on West Street near Cambridge Circus in London, opposite the Ambassadors and St Martin's theatres, making it a popular restaurant for theaterg ...
, his own Boxwood Cafe and
The Wolseley The Wolseley is a restaurant located at 160 Piccadilly in London, England, next to the Ritz Hotel. Designed by the architect William Curtis Green, the Grade II* listed building was erected by Wolseley Motors in 1921 as their regional offices wit ...
. A specific menu is offered for quick dining, called "Plane Fast". This has multiple-course meals which aim to be served within 25 minutes.


History

Heathrow Terminal 5 was opened on 27 March 2008. Plane Food was announced in December 2007 to launch upon the opening of Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 on 27 March 2008. It was Gordon Ramsay's ninth restaurant opening in London, and his first in an airport. It was opened around the same time as Ramsay's first restaurant in France, Gordon Ramsay au Trianon, located within the
Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...
. He also expanded his restaurant empire in other areas during 2008, with
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 ...
(alongside
Angela Hartnett Angela Maria Hartnett (born September 1968) is an English Michelin-starred chef. A protégée of Gordon Ramsay who became well known by her appearances on British television, she was Chef-Patron at Angela Hartnett at The Connaught in London. Cu ...
), York & Albany and Maze Grill also opening. Partly due to the delays in opening the terminal, the restaurant had a loss of £780,767 during the first year. During 2009, Ramsay had financial issues with tax payments. A liquidation petition was placed by
HM Revenue & Customs HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...
against Plane Food,
Maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...
,
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 ...
and
The Narrow The Narrow is an alternative rock band from Pretoria, South Africa. Biography The band was formed in 2002 by guitarists Emile and Sid, bassist Jow Feldtmann and drummer Nelius de Lange. Shortly thereafter Emile brought in his former Not My Dog ...
. He was given two weeks to pay the tax debts accumulated by Plane Food. It was announced on 10 December that he had achieved this and the restaurant remained open. His 2010 opening,
Bread Street Kitchen Bread Street Kitchen is a restaurant owned by chef Gordon Ramsay within the One New Change retail and office development in London. History The restaurant cost £3 million, and the opening was delayed by a year and was subsequently expected t ...
, was based on the same concept as Plane Food, as its location within the
One New Change One New Change is a major office and retail development in the City of London. It comprises of floor space, including of retail space and of office space and is the only large shopping centre in the City of London, the historic nucleus and mo ...
office and retail development created a similar need to cater for quick dining and a high volume of single diners. In 2013, Ramsay announced that he planned to expand the Plane Food concept to several sites in the United States including
O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...
in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, and airports at
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
and
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. A partnership was also formed during that year with No.1 Traveller to provide a lounge experience within Terminal 5 for passengers. While the wider plans to include American airports never came to fruition, in December 2019 a Gordon Ramsay Plane Food To Go location opened up in Terminal 1 of the
Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distinguish ...
. In early January 2022, the HKIA location was "temporarily closed" due to
COVID pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifi ...
-related restrictions, but re-opened by mid-September 2022.


Reception

left, upA sea bream dish served at Plane Food Food critic
Jan Moir Jan Moir (; born August 1958) is a British newspaper columnist. She works for the ''Daily Mail''. Several of her articles have provoked widespread criticism, such as one about Stephen Gately that disputed his official cause of death and linked hi ...
was the first to review the restaurant after opening, after some five hours on the first day. Ramsay (2008): p. 284 She did not think that the quality of the food was enough to attract first and executive class passengers. Moir was also concerned that the pricing was too expensive for those travelling in economy. She said that the required use of electric stoves instead of gas resulted in her steak resembling a "parched leather shoe rotting in the rain". Jasper Gerard, in his review for ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' said that he enjoyed the caviar and the sea bass dishes, but did not like the vegetable accompaniments. He criticised negative reviews of the restaurant, saying "Are they comparing like with like? Heathrow will never be Royal Hospital Ro d Ramsay's Chelsea nosh house, but it's hardly a kitchen nightmare". Tam Cowan also reviewed it shortly after opening for the '' Daily Record''. He gave it a score of 20 out of 25, finding it difficult to believe that food of such good quality was being served inside an airport. He called a
macaroni Macaroni (, Italian: maccheroni) is dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes.Oxford DictionaryMacaroni/ref> Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machines ...
gratin Gratin () is a culinary technique in which an ingredient is topped with a browned crust, often using breadcrumbs, grated cheese, egg or butter.Courtine, Robert J. (ed.) (2003) ''The Concise Larousse Gastronomique'' London: Hamlyn The term may ...
with mushrooms and
Parmigiano-Reggiano Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months. It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' is ...
cheese "fantastic" and said that an apple crumble was "awesome". Mark Bollard, in his review of the restaurant for the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'' in 2009, was not expecting much from the restaurant. However, he called his
Caesar salad A Caesar salad (also spelled Cesar and Cesare) is a green salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with lemon juice (or lime juice), olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, Dijon mustard, Parmesan cheese, and black pepper ...
starter a "revelation" and said that the chocolate brownie was "dense, dark and rich". Although he was disappointed with the
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. ...
chips, he said overall that the food was "utterly sublime" and he suggested that Ramsay should expand the concept to railway stations across London. In 2012, John Walsh wrote about
Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...
's restaurant at
Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...
, saying that Ramsay's Plane Food had "pioneered the concept of non-revolting airport food". Chris Haslam reviewed a number of in-flight meal options on various airlines as well as Plane Food in an article for the ''
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''. He gave it a score of 7 out of 10, saying about the takeaway cool boxes that "as long as it lasts, it's like being in business class".


See also

*


Notes


References

*


External links


Official website (London)Official website (Hong Kong)
{{Good article Restaurants in London 2008 in London Restaurants established in 2008 2008 establishments in England Buildings and structures at Heathrow Airport