The 'Best Meal' Gordon Ramsay Says He Ever Made Was For Princess Diana
Gordon Ramsay is a household name today, but in the 1990s, in the days before the shows "Hell's Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nightmares," and before he owned almost two dozen restaurants on three continents, Ramsay was working as the head chef of his Michelin-star restaurant Aubergine in the Chelsea district of London. During that time, he had the honor of cooking lunch for a very special customer who impressed him with her charm, leaving him with unforgettable memories of what he refers to as the best meal he had ever made.
On Gordon Ramsay's ITV television series "Gordon, Gino & Fred's Road Trip," the celebrity chef spilled the beans on what happened on that memorable day when one of the most beautiful and beloved women in the world walked through the door of Aubergine for lunch. He remembers what she ordered, but, more importantly, he remembers the impact she had on him.
A lunch fit for a princess
Sometime in the 1990s, Princess Diana had lunch at Aubergine, and while he may not remember the exact date, Gordon Ramsay remembers very well what happened that day. According to Express, Ramsay describes the princess as gracious and beautiful and compares her loveliness to the Greek Islands where his show, "Gordon, Gino & Fred," was being filmed.
According to the Express article, Ramsay says he served the People's Princess a vegetarian starter called pressed leek terrine — which most often combines leeks with goat cheese — and for her main meal, sea bass.
It's no surprise that the late Lady Diana ordered the meal she did. In the final years of her life, the Princess of Wales ate a mostly pescetarian diet, which focuses on fish and seafood that accompanies other plant-based foods. Still, she allowed for the occasional meal of chicken or lamb (per Hello!).
Her last meal
The food preferences of famous people have always fascinated the public, and Princess Diana is no exception. According to USA Today, Darren McGrady, the personal chef Princess Diana employed at Kensington Palace during the last part of her life, the princess enjoyed simple and healthy meals and only asked him to cook red meat if she was entertaining for dinner. Diana often asked McGrady to modify some of her favorites, like tomato mousse, to make them lighter or to prepare a healthier, more grown-up version of the foods her young sons enjoyed.
The fascination with celebrity meals can sometimes turn morbid such as when McGrady was asked what the last meal he made for the princess before her death in 1997 was. He declined to answer, but the Mirror reported that the last dinner she ate before her fateful crash was at L'Espadon at the Ritz Hotel. Her meal was similar to the one Ramsay made at Aubergine — a vegetarian starter of vegetable tempura, a mushroom and asparagus omelet, and Dover sole as an entrée.
Aubergine closed in 2010, but Gordon Ramsay will never forget it as the place where he cooked a meal fit for a princess.