Yesterday, The Sun reported that TV chef Gordon Ramsay is allegedly “serving up ready-made meals costing as little as £1.92 at several of his fancy bistros”

The report adds that diners at Gordon’s restaurant, ‘Foxtrot Oscar’ in Chelsea, pay £9.95 for a fishcake which actually costs £1.92 per portion to buy and what’s more, the article says the dish is “knocked up across town.”

However, the assistant manager of the restaurant told the paper, “Everything is cooked here. It’s Gordon Ramsay — it’s very good.”

But The Sun claims to have seen pre-prepared food delivered by the van load to the backdoor of Foxtrot Oscar…

Pre-made food being delivered to Ramsay's gastropub

It’s further claimed that Gordon’s ‘gastro pubs’ use ready meals that are “churned out by his mass production backstreet kitchen in a run-down part of South London” before being reheated and sold to customers at a whopping 586% mark-up

The revelations in the paper could well put a rather large dent in Ramsay’s reputation given that he insists that all good restaurants must prepare fresh food on the premises.

A spokesperson for Gordon’s TV shows told the paper, “On an average day up to 50% of the menu at the three gastropubs and Foxtrot Oscar could be done off-site.” However, he added, “No fresh produce, such as cuts of meat are done off-site.”

Gordon’s own spokeswoman, Jo Barnes, said it was “normal practice for eateries with small kitchens to prepare dishes offsite and then cook them to order” adding, “This isn’t a guilty secret at all, far from it.”

So what do you think? Does this make Gordon a hypocrite when he slates other restaurateurs for using ready-made food or would you be happy to eat food that’s been mass produced, albeit that his pubs and restaurants are supplied by Gordon’s own company which owns the factory where the pre-prepared food is made?