Ramsay takes heat off daughter

British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is one of the most recognised names in the culinary world, but another Ramsay is slowly but surely grabbing the limelight.

His daughter Matilda, 15, is a bona fide TV star too, with her cooking show "Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch" and a cookbook coming out next month.

His youngest child has been cooking since she was four.

The 50-year-old father told The New Paper during a group interview at his restaurant Bread Street Kitchen here: "She is a natural. She is accomplished, smart, fun and she is just very good at cooking."

Ramsay was in town on Friday to judge the inaugural Marina Bay Sands Culinary Olympics competition, which was won by Mr Foong Man Chung with his dish, yellowtail stuffed with otah

Not surprisingly, the rest of Ramsay's children - Megan, 19, and twins Holly and Jack, 17 - cook too.

"Today, that is an important life skill. It does not have to lead to a career, but it is important, when you go to university or start a family. It is more important than algebra," said Ramsay.

While Matilda has the makings of a great chef, cooking may not be a career for her.

Ramsay said: "Tilly is an amazing young chef. She has an incredible palate. But I do not want the pressure of her having to be Matilda Ramsay, because she has already said to me, 'Dad, no disrespect, but if I end up being a chef, one thing I am doing is changing my name.'"

Ramsay is notoriously tough with his chefs, and he is strict with Matilda.

"I am not tough, but honest with her, like I am with all my children," he said.

"As a parent, it is my responsibility to tell them (if) something is incorrect. Obviously I have got to be a bit delicate, but I have got to be honest."

Discipline is necessary.

"My children are not allowed to go to bed with their mobile phones. They have to leave them outside their bedrooms, because I know what will happen in there. They will be chatting with, Snapchatting and tweeting their friends," he said.

And it is the discipline in young Singaporean chefs that he admires.

"I never have to ask twice a young chef to work six days a week. The work ethic here is the culture of hard work," he said.

While the interview was peppered with swear words, Ramsay had recently announced he is giving up swearing, during a chat on Reddit.

He had to refrain from his signature use of profanities on his show The F Word, which airs on network television in America.

That proclamation seems to have been abandoned, though.

When reminded of it, Ramsay launched into a frantic frenzy of swear words, but all in jest.

"Don't you swear too?" he asked, laughing.

Some things never change. Thank fishing goodness.

weeteck@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Mar 06, 2017.
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