TALK OF THE TOWN: Heat is OFF! Feuding chefs Marcus Wareing and Gordon Ramsay bury the hatchet
They were once the closest of friends, but celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing have spent more than 16 years with their knives out for each other in a very public, and ‘nasty’, feud.
But now the hot-tempered kitchen gurus have buried the hatchet, reuniting for an amicable make-up dinner on Thursday night, with both stars posting a photograph of them together in a mystery kitchen on social media.
Wareing, 54, said: ‘It’s been a long time coming’, while Ramsay, 58, wrote: ‘Dinner with friends.’
The rapprochement has stunned the restaurant world, given Wareing once said he hoped he would never have to speak to Ramsay ‘for the rest of my life’.
MasterChef critic William Sitwell commented: ‘Well, well, well. Next up: peace in the Middle East and a Russia Ukraine truce. Hoorah!!’. Others likened the cooling of hostilities to the Oasis reunion.
The chefs were once so close that Ramsay was best man at Wareing’s wedding in 2000 and is godfather to his eldest child.
The pair reunited for an amicable make-up dinner on Thursday night, with both stars posting a photograph of them together in a mystery kitchen on social media
In 1999, they opened a joint venture, Pétrus, with Wareing as head chef. It earned two Michelin stars but was to be the undoing of their friendship
The chefs were once so close that Ramsay was best man at Wareing’s wedding in 2000 and is godfather to his eldest child
They worked together for 15 years, with Wareing considered Ramsay’s protégé after working as sous chef at his Aubergine restaurant.
In 1999, they opened a joint venture, Pétrus, with Wareing as head chef. It earned two Michelin stars but was to be the undoing of their friendship.
In 2008, Wareing wanted to go solo and take over the lease at London’s Berkeley Hotel, sparking a legal fight. In the end, Ramsay kept the Pétrus name and Wareing opened his own place at The Berkeley.
Wareing once admitted: ‘It was me who started it. I picked a fight. I no longer wanted to be kept in a corner, so I spoke up. And, well, it got nasty.’ He retired from the restaurant game last year, but remains a judge on BBC’s MasterChef: The Professionals.
Sophie’s not in the driving seat!
He’s the heir to Cowdray Park in West Sussex and as aristocratic as they come – but could Peregrine Pearson be Sophie Turner’s chauffeur?
After a date at The Devonshire in Central London, Perry took the wheel of his Jeep, while his actor girlfriend sat pretty on the back seat.
As Perry whizzed through Soho, my spies spotted a personalised number plate including the word ‘GUN’.
Peregrine Pearson pictured with his actress Sophie Turner
Secret’s out about Earl’s baby Arlo
The Earl of Mornington, Arthur Wellesley and his wife are so private that the birth of their child slipped under the radar – until now.
I can reveal that Hayley Whitehead, 38 – the Canadian financier who previously worked at her 47-year-old husband’s investment firm, Oakley Capital – welcomed Arlo Wulf in 2023.
Given their discretion, it’s no surprise that details from their wedding went unreported, too.
My spies tell me it was an intimate ceremony in London, followed by a dinner at Apsley House, the Wellesleys’ Grade I listed neoclassical mansion, also known as Number One, London, that stands alone on Hyde Park Corner. Very low-key compared to certain other aristos…
The Earl of Mornington, Arthur Wellesley and his wife are so private that the birth of their child slipped under the radar
Mayfair’s Savile Club, one of London’s oldest gentlemen’s clubs, recently voted to preserve its ‘men-only’ status, to the delight of many members.
Among them is former Tory MP Jerry Hayes, 71, who explains to me: ‘That’s because if I pointed at a male friend and said, “Hello you old b****rd” he wouldn’t be offended but if I pointed at you and said “Hello you old b****rd’ you would be”.’
Too right, I would.
Anais slides by in a flash
Noel Gallagher’s daughter Anais tells me she has a rather rock ‘n’ roll way of gate crashing parties that she hasn’t RSVP’d to.
‘I’ll just turn up and go straight to the photographers,’ the 25-year-old model and influencer tells me at the Bafta’s EE Rising Star party at The Four Seasons on London’s Park Lane.
‘If you’re getting your picture taken then they just let you in.’
Did she learn that cheeky tip from you, Noel?
Noel Gallagher’s daughter Anais has a rock ‘n’ roll way of gate crashing parties
Ed Sheeran fans will be thrilled to learn that the singer is due to reopen his Notting Hill bar, Bertie Blossoms, at the end of the month after a major refurbishment. For weeks, builders have been gutting the interiors to make way for a new kitchen.
I hear the renovation aims ‘to make Bertie’s even more special’. I’m Drinking Out Loud…
Spotted
My spies saw an A-list Holy Trinity at Canteen this week: singer Dua Lipa and actors Stanley Tucci and Eddie Redmayne were all dining in the Notting Hill restaurant at the same time.
Over in East London, Hollywood actor Barry Keoghan, was playing football on Hackney Marshes, before sinking a ‘post-footy pint’ at The Lock Inn.
Meanwhile, on Derry Street in Kensington, Victoria Beckham was seen smiling -yes, really – outside the offices of the The Mail on Sunday. The plot thickens!
