2008-06-08 1:38
《Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares》
由外國星級名廚 Gordon Ramsay 主理，為個人近期極度欣賞之電視節目。
Gordon Ramsay ，蘇格蘭人，少年時為足球隊員，但礙於連番腳傷，被迫放棄於球場發展，轉而投身烹飪行列。早年於英國不同的餐廳就職受訓，二十七歲登上總廚之位，其主理之餐廳於翌年取得第一粒 Michelin Star﹝註：Michelin Star 是歐洲飲食權威之評分等級，以三粒為最高評分，乃一眾歐洲廚師及餐廳夢寐以求的專業榮耀﹞。四年後自立門戶，其創立之餐廳於 2001 年取得三粒 Michelin Star 的美譽，並成為第一位取得如此佳績之蘇格蘭籍廚師。成名後其事業火速上揚，名下的餐廳相繼於世界各地開業，至今共取得十二粒 Michelin Star。
Ramsay 於 1998 年開始參與電視節目的演出，《Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares》是英國電視台 Channel 4 於 2004 年製作的電視節目，共有五個系列，每系列有四至八集不等。節目講述 Ramsay 受邀到不同瀕臨結業的餐廳進行訪察，他的任務是要在一星期的時間內找出餐廳經營失敗的原因，並利用其專業知識協助餐廳轉虧為盈。
《Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares》跟我過往看過的飲食節目｛尤其是香港的﹞有著明顯而巨大的差異。以香港的飲食節目為例，大部分所謂「食評家」都非廚師出身，而是來自完全不同的職業行列，簡單來說，看倌所接受的，是「食評家」的自身名氣與個人口味，而非其烹調知識與飲食造詣，所以大部分的飲食節目都是點到即止，「食評家」除了試食後自由發揮或就個人熟悉的題材拋拋書包以外便無所作為。Ramsay 令我另眼相看的原因，是他不但具有實戰的烹調經驗，還有卓越的領導才能與深遠的洞察識見。要在七天內找出餐廳的問題所在已非易事，還要讓一盤散沙的老闆員工通力合作，並將餐廳由廚房、樓面、菜單及裝修等全面修改再造，當中所需要的魄力、堅持與才能，足以令我佩服拜倒。Ramsay 於節目中的表現印證了他現實裡的成功並非僥倖，而是個人能力與環境因素所交集的合理成果。以節目信息的層次與深度而論，我過往所看的飲食節目幾乎不能相提並論。
Ramsay 其一受人批評的地方，是他那副粗言穢語的嘴臉。即使在電視節目裡，他依舊是不留情面的以粗話狠批餐廳的老闆員工。這點跟他的廚師身分關係密切，因為在我認知的範圍裡，不同餐廳食店，無論中西大小，粗話都是廚房裡的溝通文化。我明白一般人對粗話異常敏感，但假若細嚼 Ramsay 的粗口內容及其背後動機，便不難看見他對飲食的熱誠與執著。Ramsay 與餐廳員工的激烈對罵，對我這種處事一向以和為貴的人來說，無疑是一種衝擊警醒，亦令我強烈感受到，自己該於適當時候堅持己見，才能帶動眼前人事作出轉變。
萬事皆有共通相似之處，請不要少看一個小小的廚房，它內裡包含的運作藝術，可能已足夠啟發你在不同的領域上獨當一面。
when the show was on, my bf and i were watching 1 episode a day on YouTube during dinner time. As much as we enjoyed it, gradually we found out that most of the episodes have the same “story line”, esp. for the american series. So we started questioning if these are really real-life shows, or if they’re real-life situations supplemented by a script to dramatise them. The story-line really got so so similar that we could predict what’s going to happen, what would have gone wrong, and how the problems were to be fixed. We found no official proof that it’s a drama series rather than a documentary-like programme, but we got really sceptical. We continued watching and enjoyed it, but more like a drama series rather than a documentary kind of thing. :-)
Its actually an interesting point. According to the record in Wiki, Ramsay had won a High Court case in 2006 against the London Evening Standard newspaper which had alleged that “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares” contains fake story. The judgement decision can serve as a reference though it might not repesent the truth. I haven’t watched the US series so I have no comment on that. However the UK series looks real to me as different episodes show quite different restaurant problems and I personally think the owner and kitchen’s responses were genuine. After all I enjoyed the show and was glad to get inspired ;)