‘I only have one magazine – that’s Time Out. They don’t ask me the usual s***; So why did you stop playing football? Why do you hate vegetarians?’ To many, Gordon Ramsay needs no introduction. The media alternately love and loathe the man, but find it hard to overlook his mercurial personality in a celebrity chef world populated by earnest Olivers and matronly Smiths, pouting Lawsons and insipid Worrall-Thompsons. Only Ramsay and his hair-trigger temper could have fronted Hell’s Kitchen, the ratings-breaking reality TV show that made his name in the States, regularly pulling in audiences of over 20 million. Only Ramsay could have brought UK political battleaxe Edwina Currie to the brink of tears with lewd jibes about John Major and harsh words about her risotto. And only Ramsay, it must be said, could have provided the profanity-laced compliment about Time Out that opened this article when we interviewed him as part of our 40th anniversary celebrations just two years ago.

But while a willingness to insult ageing MPs and the like may have helped boost Ramsay’s TV profile, his culinary career was built on superhuman ambition and an inhuman workload. At the age of 43, he can make a convincing claim to be the most successful chef on the planet, despite recent reports in the press that his company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings, has been experiencing financial difficulties in the wake of the economic crisis. Yet his name still features in some of the world’s most prestigious restaurants, including outlets at London’s Claridge’s, the Connaught, Dubai’s Verre, and now a branch of Maze in Doha. His cookbooks have all straddled the bestseller lists for months at a time, and he has been awarded a total of 12 Michelin Stars – in 2001 he became one of only three UK chefs to hold three Michelin Stars at one time.

So why is Doha the next step? ‘I think that the dining scene is on the up,’ says Ramsay, talking exclusively to Time Out Doha. ‘There are some great restaurants out there, but I firmly believe that number will double in the next couple of years. Doha is an incredible city, really amazing. Economically it’s doing very well, commercially it’s growing quickly. It’s a stunning place and you can’t ask for more from the weather.’

The first Maze restaurant outside of a hotel anywhere in the world opened in the city last month as part of the Pearl project, and it has proven hard to get a table there ever since. ‘It’s a really unique concept,’ he says, describing the restaurant to us. ‘We serve a flexible menu with tasting size dishes, meaning guests can work it around their appetite and of course their time. It has a real Mediterranean feel, but with Asian influences and is fresh and exciting.’

In fact, the restaurant has proven so popular since opening, it’s almost as if Ramsay needs another venue to satisfy demand – and in the summer of 2011 that’s what we’ll be getting. ‘The two restaurants are very different,’ he says, comparing his latest venture with the next one that will open at the upcoming St Regis Hotel. ‘Maze offers a more relaxed style of dining, whilst our next restaurant will be based on our flagship in Chelsea.’ No doubt, the next eatery will, like Maze, feature local seafood and shellfish on its menu, as Ramsay seems to have taken a particular liking to the quality here. ‘The fish here is fantastic,’ he confirms enthusiastically. ‘We’re trying to import as little as possible but, being in the middle of a desert of course, we can’t source everything locally. We’re very lucky in that our partners, the Alfardan family, own a beautiful farm and we can use some of the produce grown there.’

Ramsay’s arrival, by some coincidence, comes at a time when other top chefs – with more Michelin Stars among them – seem to be taking an interest in the Peninsula. ‘Doha is a growing, vibrant city,’ says Ramsay. ‘In a couple of years time we’ll see all the top chefs here – Nobu is opening, Ducasse is looking. It’s brilliant to be the first here.’

Of course, with more celebrity chefs comes the inevitable rivalry, but Ramsay is never one to be intimidated. Proof of this was apparent from a Time Out interview some years ago that brought up rival GR, Gary Rhodes. ‘No disrespect to him, but we’re an ocean liner – poor Gary’s still rowing his canoe. If he wants to go around saying, “Gordon says this, Gary says that” – I don’t give a fig. I’m too busy for that s*** now. And unlike Gary, I don’t flit around the world consulting restaurants – we own them. I put my money where my mouth is.’

And for the moment, it seems his money and his mouth are in Doha. But between bouts of television, entrepreneurship and cook book-writing, is there any danger of Ramsay spreading himself too thinly? Apparently not. ‘When you go to a Ramsay restaurant, it won’t be me cooking,’ he says, ‘but it’s always my quality. I’ve got great people working with me, there’s an incredibly sound foundation, and they have my full confidence. When you buy an Armani suit, you don’t expect Giorgio himself to have stitched it, do you?’ Brand Ramsay, it would seem, is in very good hands.
Maze by Gordon Ramsay is now open on the Pearl Qatar.