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8 Episodes 2007 - 2007
Episode 1
47 mins
Gordon visits Ruby Tates in Brighton, owned and run by ex-actor and failed Hollywood wannabe Allan Love. Situated in an affluent and trendy area just one street back from the beach, it's an oyster bar and seafood restaurant but Allan's never tasted the food because he hates fish. He won't even put his head round the door of his own kitchen, where lurk two angry chefs - furious Frenchman Alex and indolent Aussie Jamie - busy doing nothing but turning out a lackluster menu including hot fruits de mer and aging lobster. They themselves admit they wouldn't eat it; and, incredibly for a seaside restaurant, there isn't a local fish in sight.
Episode 2
48 mins
Gordon visits Piccolo Teatro, a bijou vegetarian restaurant in Paris, France, run by Rachel, a feisty Scot/former waitress at the restaurant. Rachel bought it three years ago and now, along with best friend Stephanie, struggles to convert the carnivorous French into a nation of veggies. For Gordon it's a sentimental journey to the city where he spent his formative years as a chef, a food mecca full of gastronomic delights that should be a dream.
Episode 3
48 mins
When Gordon last visited The Fenwick Arms, Sunday service was booming and Gordon's brainchild, the 'Campaign for Real Gravy', was in full swing. But times have changed and new competition is threatening The Fenwick's success. The Highwayman, a new gastropub, has opened just up the road. It seems to have stolen over 50% of Brian's customers and a lot of his regulars. With landlord Brian's continual stress and interference in the kitchen, which Gordon believed was one of the main reasons for the pub's inefficiencies, and now the added pressure of new competition, it's no wonder the pub is in trouble. Gordon's not going to like what's happened in his absence.
Episode 4
48 mins
When Gordon first visited La Parra de Burriana, an ex-pat restaurant in Nerja on Spain's Costa del Sol run by 26-year-old ex-nightclub manager Laurence, he was confronted with steaks cooked by torchlight, raw kebabs, and a dining room littered with dog mess. When he last left the restaurant, he had simplified the menu to have clean, simple, honest, traditional food using local produce, hoping to bring back the locals and win back the faith of the ex-pats, but unfortunately not. Since Gordon was last there, Laurence's menu has become hideously boring. The ex-pats seem to be their core diners, but the restaurant isn't developing itself to get the Spaniards in. It's time for Gordon to show Laurence what Spain is really about and teach him the traditions that he seems to have forgotten--Flamenco and Paella.
Episode 5
48 mins
Gordon visits The Priory, a 100-seater carvery in Haywards Heath, Sussex owned by ex-IT consultant Scott. The former chapel of a 19th century convent, the restaurant is in a spectacularly beautiful location and offers bargain roast dinners from a carvery that's been running for twenty years. Scott bought the place for £300,000, but with an ageing clientele eating for half-price, he's losing £5,000 a week. And despite the heavenly location, the food is straight from hell: recycled meat, soup in a bucket, synthetic sauces and, worse still, a lazy head chef content to preside over food-encrusted ovens and a disaffected brigade.
Episode 6
48 mins
Gordon visits is The Fish and Anchor, pub restaurant near Lampeter in rural West Wales, owned and run by ex-boxer Mike and his wife Caron. Mike, a self-taught cook, is a one-man pressure cooker in the kitchen as he struggles to accommodate a vast menu, while Caron's unique style of front-of-house management includes abusing the customers, and her husband, in equal measure. Every night they go twelve rounds with the local clientele who are fast deserting them to the tune of a £1,000 per week loss.
Episode 7
48 mins
Gordon visits the Curry Lounge in Nottingham, the city with more restaurants per square mile than any other in Britain. This 110-seater Indian restaurant has been run since January by ex-sales director Raz who's new to the business - and it shows. Despite a £500,000 refurbishment, and décor like a Bollywood set, the honeymoon period's well and truly over. His once-healthy trade is evaporating and, at his current rate of loss, it's uncertain he'll make it past Christmas.
Episode 8
49 mins
Gordon visits The Granary in rural Hampshire, an upmarket restaurant which, at 200 seats, is the biggest he's ever taken on. Originally opened by entrepreneur Nigel Nieddu as an up-market dining club 4 years ago, the restaurant was relaunched after a £2,000,000 refit, but it's still losing £4,000 a week. It promises classy modern British cuisine but, in reality, the fussy menu features food sourced from all over the world and the locals, disconcerted by its exclusive reputation, are staying far away. Head Chef Martin doubles as parole officer to his unruly teenage charges in the kitchen, while Nigel stubbornly struggles to contain the front-of-house chaos that he's created.