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Gordon Ramsay Also in Name Only at the Trianon Palace

Where: 1, Boulevard de la Reine, Versailles, France, 78000

On the heels of the news that the Gordon Ramsay restaurant inside the London West Hollywood hotel will exist in name only, comes this report that Ramsay's restaurant inside the Waldorf-Astoria Collection hotel in Versailles, The Trianon Palace, has also been sold. But while the restaurant under his bleeping eye will have closed (just under a year of operation), his name will live to see another day.

As before, the establishment will retain his name and the hard-nosed chef will continue as a consultant. Ramsay's empire of over 30 restaurants in a dozen countries has been under increasing financial stress since last fall.

While the private company refuses to discuss its financial health, it is clear the chef is shedding properties quickly.

Ramsay has several restaurants in hotels, most notably his Maize restaurant at the Marriott Grosvenor Square and a new outpost at the One & Only Cape Town. We're guessing the recent selling off of his restaurants probably doesn't mean very good news for his own hotel which is to have only 10 rooms, but two eateries.

Waldorf-Astoria Collection / Paris Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags

Trianon Palace Versailles Joins the Waldorf Family

Where: 1 Boulevard De La Reine, Versailles, Paris, France, 78000

We're just now getting around to telling you what Blair from Gossip Girl has been telling you all along: everyone who's anyone is a Waldorf.

Okay, not really the same Waldorf, but: Hilton has just announced that the Trianon Palace Versailles, the elegant mansion where the Treaty of Versailles was drawn up in 1919, will become part of the Waldorf=Astoria Collection.

The hotel, which is 17 miles outside of Paris and recently underwent a pretty serious renovation, will be the second European hotel to join the Waldorf=Astoria Collection (the Rome Cavalieri was the first).

Also of note: the Trianon Palace serves up Gordon Ramsay food all around: go fancy at Gordon Ramsay au Trianon — his first fine dining concept in France — or a bit more casual at La Veranda, a "relaxed brasserie overlooking the outdoor terrace." Retreat to your room and he'll get you there, too: he's also responsible for room service and provision of all catering services.

The Trianon Palace Versailles will formally become a Waldorf=Astoria Collection in early 2009, Ramsay and all.

Hotel Restaurants / Gordon Ramsay / Versailles / Paris / Luxury Hotels / Monica Guy / → All Tags

Guillotine for Gordon Ramsay at Trianon Palace

Where: 1, Boulevard de la Reine, Versailles, Paris, France, 78000

Gordon Ramsay's opening a restaurant this Wednesday (26 March) at Trianon Palace, a grand old mansion hotel in Versailles just outside Paris.

Can you think of a more incongruous mix? The foul-mouthed Scottish chef in the tea-and-china tinkling mansion where the Treaty of Versailles was drawn up in 1919. At the entrance to the three-acre manicured park which contains the deceased French royal family's 17th-century Chateau de Versailles - think ladies-in-waiting, extravagant masked balls and feathery blancmange-shaped dresses.

The hotel's staffed by an army of stiff concierges and doormen - judging from the look of some of them, they've kept quite a few of the original staff. It's frequented by the snootier members of the French upper classes - think Marie Antoinette & co but slightly better-smelling.

But in another way, Gordon Ramsay at Trianon is not incongruous but an entirely appropriate choice: the Chateau de Versailles is a symbol of Louis XIV's absolute, brutal monarchy in the same way that Ramsay lords it over his kingdom-sized kitchens.

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