Review of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA

I hate almost all of Ramsay's TV output except for the UK Kitchen Nightmares which should be mandatory viewing in all UK catering colleges. The business of feeding people is deeply interesting. Whilst this US one is good, all his worst traits are coming to the fore which I dislike.

If you don't know the series, it's simple. He goes into a failing restaurant and (usually) fixes it. Most of his ideas seem incredibly obvious to us on the outside but when these people are up to the necks in it, they can find it hard to see a way out. He provides that way out.

The UK one usually has him pretty aggressive as always but tempered with a burning desire to help and direct. The anger only comes when the people won't listen. If a guy who runs a several-hundred-million dollar restaurant business gave me advice, I'd take it without question!

I've seen two US ones now. The dodgy Italian with the Sopranos wannabe and the one about The Mixing Bowl Eatery. Both set very near NY which makes you think the programme was made on a tight budget. The episode last night was a bit different because for once, there was no issue with the ability of the chef/owner, just with what he was serving. When they opened 10 years previously, there were 4 other restaurants. Now there were 41 and the menu hadn't changed!

In many of the UK ones, Ramsay just takes the "fresh local" approach which is usually appropriate. This time he needed a unique angle in a crowded market. So he went the healthy route which seemed perfect and looked like it suited the style of the owner. A quick room-revamp and lots of grief with the useless manager and all was fixed.

Despite enjoying it, I saw two problems with the show. First, he is doing that nonsense hyper-aggressive hyper-insulting bullshit from Hell's Kitchen rather than showing the people some respect. Second, the problems the restaurants have seem less interesting somehow. Maybe I've just grown bored of the show but I actually cared that the two Welsh nutters succeeded but I feel little empathy with those on the US show. Or is it because they are so obsessed with confrontation that they've forgotten the human side?

Still worth a look.