Tue April 21st, 2009 from Sky News
Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant has failed to make it onto an influential list of the top 50 restaurants in the world for the first time.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London was ranked 13th last year but did not even feature in the top 100 of S.Pellegrino World's Best Restaurants.
It was the chef's first independently-owned restaurant when he opened it in 1998 - long before the growth of his worldwide empire of eateries, and it has earned him three Michelin stars.
The news comes less than a week after it was revealed in a national newspaper that the chef uses pre-prepared food in one restaurant and his three gastro-pubs.
Foxtrot Oscar in Chelsea, west London, and the Ramsay pubs all use a kitchen facility in Wandsworth, south London, to prepare components of dishes which are then transported by van to the restaurants where they are cooked.
Responding to news of his departure from the list, a spokeswoman said: "Gordon takes all these sort of surveys with a pinch of salt. As always, Gordon regards his thousands of customers as his most valued critics. They are his judge and jury."
There was better news in the S.Pellegrino poll for Heston Blumenthal, whose Fat Duck restaurant retained its position at number two on the list, despite having to close for two weeks last month after a series of guests fell ill after eating there.
But he said news that the foodie destination in Bray, Berkshire, is still considered second best in the world was much needed "good news".
"I'm very happy and especially in the light of the last six weeks, I needed some good news. If you had told me 10 or 15 years ago that I would be in the top 200 restaurants in the world I would have been delighted," he said.
The top title went to El Bulli, in Catalonia, Spain, for the fourth year in a row.
It was first opened in 1961 to provide food for people playing at a nearby minigolf course and opens for only seven months a year.
Head chef Ferran Adria offers dishes such as white asparagus with virgin olive oil capsules and lemon marshmallow and lamb's brains with sea urchins and sea grape.
Three other British restaurants made the top 50. St John, Hakkasan and Nobu are all in central London.
More than 800 chefs, restaurant critics and industry insiders are given a vote in the poll which is organised and compiled by Restaurant Magazine