Maze is one of four bar/restaurants in resort-tycoon Sol Kerzner’s new Cape Town venture called One&Only at the V&A Waterfront.
According to the One&Only website: “Maze by Gordon Ramsay is modelled on its incredibly popular British namesake and presided over by rising culinary star Jason Atherton. Prepared in an open show kitchen, a creative menu of tasting-sized dishes features the best in South African seafood and game as well as organic produce from local farms.”
The 170-seat restaurant is the latest outpost of Gordon Ramsay Holdings, which owns 25 eateries worldwide.
Ramsay will most definitely not be visiting his fellow celebrity chef – Conrad Gallagher while in Cape Town. Like Ramsay, Gallagher is also a Michelin-starred chef in addition to his role as group executive chef and restaurant consultant for the Sun International Resorts Group.
He is also the creative mind behind Geisha Wok and Noodle Bar at the Cape Royale Hotel. However there is no love lost between these two chefs since Ramsay said on a radio talk show about Gallagher, “He’s not running a chain of restaurants – he couldn’t even run one.”
According to the Irish Independent Gallagher had this to say about Ramsay: “I’ve only met him once in my life and wouldn’t know much about him. He does what he can to generate publicity but I don’t want to feed his publicity.”
Maze will compete directly with One&Only’s other celeb owned restaurant – Nobu. Co-owned by Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa’s and Robert de Niro – this is their first outpost in Africa.
Ramsay will also have to adapt to South African standards quite fast as some of his other ventures are feeling the credit crunch. Maze in Prague recently closed down and other Ramsay ventures, including his eponymous New York restaurant, have stopped serving lunch. Waiting lists for his flagship restaurants, including Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s, have also been hit by the economic downturn.
Now start saving or get ready to max out those credit cards if you want to have one of these One & Only dining experiences.