Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton has labelled fellow chef and television personality Nigella Lawson as “full of sh*t” in a new interview with The Times.
The long-time restaurateur, who counts City Social and Pollen Street Social among his operations, made the comments after journalist Harry Wallop questioned him about the way he prepares sprouts at Christmas. Wallop pointed out that he believed Lawson had once said that scoring the base of sprouts before cooking them, a practice favoured by Atherton, was sacrilege.
The chef responded by saying: “Nigella is full of sh*t! I was watching her on Saturday on the TV and she does my head in. Some of the stuff that comes out of her mouth — you’ve just read that on the internet. What are you on about?”
The chef went on to reveal that his anger at Lawson stems from her commenting on a negative review of his new Mayfair restaurant The Betterment. The Times critic Marina O’Loughlin wrote a less than favourable review of the restaurant, describing the interiors as a “one-percenter orgy of dripping crystal light fittings, marble surfaces and soft-porn flower arrangements.” Lawson commented underneath O’Loughlin’s Instagram post about the review, writing “Excellent, as ever”.
The offending Instagram post
In his The Times interview, Atherton explained why her comment got him riled up: “Hang on a minute! You eat at Scott’s every day for lunch, you were married to one of the wealthiest men in the country, you didn’t f***ing mind wanky Mayfair then.” He continues: “You’re a f***ing public-school girl. You’re only saying that to try and look cool to stay relevant.”
Since the article was published, Atherton has released a statement to Bloomberg journalist Richard Vines, apologising for his actions. The statement reads: “Jason Atherton deeply regrets the comments he said about Nigella Lawson in The Times today. Jason holds Nigella in the highest esteem and has written to her privately to sincerely apologise to her.”
In other chef news, Marco Pierre White has revealed that Russell Crowe will play him in a biopic about his life.