Recently in Angela Hartnett Category

Gordon Ramsay is to end his involvement in his restaurant in Dubai after more than a decade.

The celebrity chef opened Verre at the Hilton Dubai Creek hotel as his first overseas restaurant consultancy in 2001.

The restaurant, which was first headed up by Angela Hartnett and then Jason Atherton, has won numerous awards. It is currently being overseen by executive chef Scott Price who will stay at the restaurant after working with Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) since 2003.

It is unclear whether the restaurant will change its name.

A spokeswoman for GRH confirmed that the consultancy agreement between the company and Hilton was coming to an end.

"After a regular review of our commercial operations we have decided with Verre, Dubai, that the time is right to end our consultancy agreement with them.  We would like to thank the team at  Verre for the partnership, it's a superb restaurant and we wish them all the best for the future."

Stuart Gillies, managing director of GRH, added: "We have had a good look at the business and what's not working. We're now focusing on what will work pound for pound."

Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) is to continue to operate its restaurant at Claridge's but the hotel's owner, the Maybourne Hotel Group, has extended the contract by only 12 months.

The celebrity chef, who has run the former Michelin-starred restaurant at the five-star Mayfair hotel since 2001, was widely tipped not to have the 10-year lease renewed after Maybourne closed his previous restaurants at the Connaught and the Berkeley.

"While the GRH contract was due for renewal this year, it has been agreed to extend it into 2012," said a spokeswoman for Maybourne.

GRH's latest accounts revealed that Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's saw a 6.3% decline in footfall in the year to 31 August 2010. The restaurant, which was previously run by Mark Sargeant, lost its Michelin star in 2009 after seven years.

GRH previously operated four restaurants at Maybourne's London hotels including Angela Hartnett at Connaught; and Pétrus and Boxwood Café at the Berkeley. None of the restaurants' contracts were renewed upon expiry and are now occupied by Hélène Darroze; Marcus Wareing and Pierre Koffmann respectively.

AA Gill has a miserable evening at Japanese restaurant Sake No Hana in London where he finds no atmosphere and food made without poise or skill.

Scoring it just one out of five, the Sunday Times' food critic gives the Alan Yau-owned restaurant a hateful review describing its sushi as badly made "supermarket sushi, from a supermarket in some landlocked central European city".

"The sushi was badly made, clumsy, flabby and too warm. The tuna had the whiff of cat food, the proportion of fish to rice was all wrong, as was the rice itself," he complains.

Meanwhile The Observer's Jay Rayner craved nourishment in every sense after the emotional turmoil of losing his mother. And he found it thanks to Angela Hartnett's skilful comfort cooking at the York & Albany, which she will continue to run until the end of the year.

He says: "Hartnett's food here is very much an extension of her personality. Sure she can do big and solid, but she also has technique by the gallon, which allows her to do serious stuff to ingredients while still retaining their essence."

Writing in The Independent on Sunday Amol Rajan finds a trendy neighbourhood Italian in Trullo but adds that as far as the menu goes it promises much but delivers little.

The Times' food critic Giles Coren says Lumière in Cheltenham is a well-run restaurant with great staff, good produce and a talented chef who sadly lacks originality.

The Guardian's John Lanchester says Oxford's been crying out for a decent place to eat out for years and now has one in the form of Ben and Hugo Warner's Ashmolean Dining Room, while The Independent's Tracey MacLeod is impressed with Les Deux Salons, a new Parisian brasserie by Anthony Demetre and Will Smith.

Angela Hartnett was one of the big winners at last night's Cateys, picking up the sought after Chef award.

Angela, who is chef-patron of the Michelin-starred Murano as well as the York & Albany in London, became the first female chef in the Cateys' 26-year history to receive the prestigious accolade.

It's fantastic to see a woman recognised in the traditionally testosterone-fuelled world of professional cooking and Angela truly deserves her status as the first female chef to win the Chef Catey.

She beat off fellow Gordon Ramsay Holdings chef Jason Atherton of the Michelin-starred Maze and John Williams of the Ritz to win the coveted award.

The "F" word (female, not her boss, Gordon Ramsay's, trademark expletive), is an ongoing issue for Angela and she says there are still so few women in the hospitality industry.

"If being a woman is one of the assets that make you stand out because you're in a male environment, and as good a chef as, if not better than, a man, then use it. It's part of who you are," she told Caterer last year.

"I'm not saying parade yourself naked through the kitchen - but women have certain attributes that blokes don't have and vice versa. I don't see it as a problem."

See the full list of the 2009 Catey winners here.

UPDATE

Angela winning the Chef award has made headlines beyond the hospitality industry.

The Evening Standard says: "Hartnett beats the boys to be named top chef at food Oascars", while Bloomberg writes: "Hartnett becomes first woman to win UK chef award". The Daily Telegraph says: "Hartnett has become the first female chef to win a 'Catey', one of the highest accolades in the restaurant world."

Picture supplied by Jonathan Player/Rex Features.