Uproar as Ramsay restaurant found using ready-made meals

GORDON RAMSAY was forced to defend his reputation yesterday after it was revealed he uses ready-made food at one of his restaurants and in his gastropubs.

A spokeswoman for the celebrity chef, who has said it is a crime not to use fresh food, issued a statement after a national newspaper revealed that pre-prepared food was being bought in, heated up and sold with mark-ups of up to 586% at one of Ramsay’s high-profile restaurants and three of his gastropubs in London.

Foxtrot Oscar in Chelsea, west London, uses a kitchen facility in Wandsworth, south London, to prepare components of dishes which are then cooked and sold at the restaurant, the chef’s spokeswoman admitted.