Gordon Ramsay keeps showing up at Toronto restaurants but no one knows if he's real
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has been popping up at restaurants and businesses across Toronto a lot lately, but some residents aren't entirely convinced it's actually him.
Is the head chef of Hell's Kitchen making an idiot sandwich of us all? Or has he really been running through the Six for the past few weeks?
On Friday, March 13, Chef David Schwartz posted a coy mirror selfie smiling next to Ramsey at his award-winning Ossington steakhouse, Linny's.
"Had some legends come through over the past week," Schwartz captioned the post.
This sighting, at the very least, cannot be contested. The chef joined forces with the team at Linny's to put on a promotional dinner in support of Canadian cookware brand, HexClad.
On the other hand, there are no reports of him making any of the kitchen staff at Linny's cry, so maybe it was an imposter after all. Or, maybe the team at Linny's is just that up to snuff.
Things get a little hairier when it comes to Ramsay's organic appearances at businesses around the city.
On Feb. 1, West Queen West cafe The Roasted Nut shared a selfie with Ramsay — or someone who bears a striking resemblance to him — after he stopped by for a coffee.
When Dished Toronto took to Instagram to report the celebrity sighting, followers were quick to point out their skepticism as to whether the man in the photo really was the beef Wellington king, after all.
"That looks like an AI version of Gordon Ramsay…" Parkdale's Three Dollar Bill Bar commented.
"Missing a few wrinkles," Lazy Daisy's Cafe wrote.
"Lol that's Gordon Ramsay from Wish," one follower commented.
While the Gordon in the picture seemed too smooth-faced and casually dressed to be the real Ramsay to the scores of followers commenting on Dished's post, for The Roasted Nut's part, they maintain it was really the celebrity chef.
"We were in shock and disbelief, but once he started talking and you could hear that it was him, he was very friendly and he took pictures with other customers in store while he was waiting," a representative from the cafe tells blogTO.
According to them, the chef walked away with a flat white and two almond butter oatmeal cookies.
But The Roasted Nut isn't the only local business to get a surprise drive-by from Gordon Ramsay... or whoever.
On Wednesday, March 18, Little Italy's Simpl Cafe shared a selfie of founder Mahyar Afshar smiling next to the celebrity chef after yet another surprise visit.
"Our carrot cake and coffee is Gordon Ramsay approved," Afshar writes in the caption of the post.
"They say never meet your heroes—but he was everything I had imagined and more: inspiring, composed, gracious, and genuinely kind."
While one comment expresses some disbelief, asking, "Wait, is this real?" The general consensus in the comment section of the post is that it really is Ramsay in the photo.
And, sporting the same grey-and-purple Adidas cap as he was in the Roasted Nut selfie, we can officially consider this case closed. Gordon Ramsay is in Toronto.
Now, the real question is where he'll pop up next.
@simplcafesociety/Instagram
