SPURRED by Hilton's announcement of securing a Michelin-starred chef for its new hotel (Espresso, November 11), Crown last week finally let the Ramsay genie out of the bottle, confirming the worst-kept secret in Melbourne: that Gordon Ramsay Holdings would open at the complex in 2010.
Crown has confirmed what Ramsay told Espresso in April: that his Melbourne restaurant would be a Maze - his "bistro" brand - rather than a super-exclusive Gordon Ramsay signature restaurant.
The real news is that Maze will go into the forthcoming third Crown hotel - in Clarendon Street - rather than Crown central in Whiteman Street. Chef Jason Atherton, one of Ramsay's senior lieutenants along with Mark Askew, Angela Hartnett and Mark Sargeant, runs Maze, in London's Mayfair.
Maze does tasting portions rather than entrees and mains; the food embraces Asian flavours, but it's also worth noting that Atherton was the first British chef to complete a stage at El Bulli.
Ramsay told us this year he would be investing in a Melbourne restaurant rather than merely licensing his consultancy, as is the case in Tokyo and Dubai. He also suggested that he'd want to bring one of the many Australians working in his empire in to a Maze Melbourne kitchen as chef.
It has been suggested, but not confirmed, that the opening of Maze Melbourne might provide the platform for a reality television series. "I wouldn't just drop a chef in there that doesn't know me, that doesn't know the group, doesn't know the ethics, just on the back of a TV (program)," Ramsay told us in April.
"We have currently just over 45 Aussies working in the kitchens across London, New York and LA; talented, I mean really talented. So the idea would be to look at a potential search and put them through the mill ... I'm excited about Melbourne but I don't want just to do it for the sake of doing it."
(Credit: The Age)
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