21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Paul Ainsworth gives honest verdict on Gordon Ramsay after working together
Paul Ainsworth gives honest verdict on Gordon Ramsay after working together
Paul Ainsworth, who has worked in some of the best kitchens in the UK, including with the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, has given a rare insight into his relationship with the Hell's Kitchen star
Paul Ainsworth with Gordon Ramsay
(Image: GETTY )
Michelin star chef Paul Ainsworth has opened up about his unexpected encounter with Gordon Ramsay. Paul is the creative force behind Number 6 in Padstow, Cornwall, a restaurant that earned a Michelin star in 2013 and boasts four AA Rosettes.
He recently joined Tom Kerridge and Chris Stark at The Butcher's Tap and Grill in Chelsea for their podcast Proper Tasty, where he looked back on his culinary journey. Tom was the first person Paul contacted when his Padstow restaurant was awarded a Michelin star. However, decades earlier, he had met the individual who would ignite his career.
Paul was in Pimlico when he spotted Gordon pulling up to a phone booth in a silver Golf. Encouraged by his friends, he "waited for ages" for Gordon to emerge so he could seize his opportunity. Telling the full story of how he met the Kitchen Nightmares star, Paul revealed: "Do you know what? In a phone box in Pimlico outside the gallery pub.
"It was a Sunday - I knew I was wanting to make that move - and one of the boys was like 'That's Gordon Ramsay in a phone box'. Because you knew who he was in the industry - and he pulled up in this silver golf And I just went outside the phone box and waited for ages and eventually he came out and he is a presence - and he was also as well- a real unit back in those days.
Chef Paul at No 6 in Padstow
(Image: Cornish Guardian )
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"And he gave me the kitchen phone number and said ask for Mark Askew and we'll go from there and that was how it all started." Reflecting on the start of his career, Ainsworth recalled: "So I moved to London in 1988 and started with the late great Gary Rhodes - from there I went to work for Ramsay and from there to Marcus Wareing and Marcus Wareing to Padstow."
When discussing Ramsay's influence, he didn't hesitate to confirm it was "100%" fair to call Ramsay a mentor and summarised his opinion of the renowned chef with one word: "phenomenal".
Regarding his experience working at Royal Hospital Road, Ainsworth expressed his astonishment: "The best way I can describe going into Royal Hospital Road – which is what you call if you're in the industry restaurant Gordon Ramsay – was I'd just never seen ingredients like this."
He shared his initial shock upon encountering high-quality produce: "Up until that point, I had only seen sort of Greek farmed Seabass fillets. I had never seen a wild bass coming in at like 2 kilos and being cut into beautiful laser cut pavets."
Ainsworth was equally impressed by "80-gram lobster raviolis", stating that the standout aspect for him "was just the ingredients" and how "it was surreal."
Ainsworth's amazement extended beyond the ingredients to the pasta itself, saying: "That was where I saw pasta work and Gordon was obviously in the kitchen then and watching him make tortellinis and raviolis.
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"To work in a restaurant and be there for over a year and then go on to see it win a Michelin star made me realise the rarity of such an accomplishment. To be part of that environment, witnessing the determination, it underscored that everything was about securing that third Michelin star."
