Kitchen Nightmares Update: Purnima/Dillon's Restaurant: New York: S1E2
In this episode of Kitchen Nightmares, Chef Gordon Ramsay attempts to help a struggling restaurant with an identity crisis serving both Indian and Irish cuisine. The restaurant has three managers and Gordon finds the weakest link in Martin, the general manager. The kitchen is a disaster with no direction and no head chef. The basement food storage area should have been condemned when they find out where the flies in the dinning room are breeding. Can Gordon and his team help this restaurant keep their doors open or will they shut down soon after the episode airs?
Transcript
00:00Hi everyone, welcome back to another video. Today we are reviewing the second episode of season one
00:05in the series Kitchen Nightmares starring chef Gordon Ramsay. This particular episode also stars
00:10another celebrity, chef Vikas Khanna. The restaurant in this episode is called Pranima or Dylan's
00:16Restaurant. The first thing they show Gordon witnessing is a warming tray of chicken on the
00:25floor being mixed by one of the cooks. But this is nothing compared to what else is found in the
00:34area where food is supposed to be stored. We'll take a look at that in a moment. Pranima is located
00:40at 245 West 54th Street in New York. They have a split menu serving Indian and Irish dishes and is
00:47owned by Mohammed. He has three managers. Operations manager Andrew doubles as a cook as the other
00:53cooks in the kitchen aren't familiar with Irish dishes. Floor manager Khan is portrayed as having
00:58no direction until later asked to step up his game by Gordon. The manager portrayed the worst
01:03in the show was by far Martin. So much so that his restaurant career in New York was never the same
01:09again. Gordon Ramsay was really getting under my skin. He was alluding to my relationship with the
01:15waitresses. We'll see how there seemed to be some sort of situation with the waitresses. What that
01:19was exactly we can only speculate. Yeah you get off on it. Girl stroking your hair. Massaging your
01:24f***ing ego. You're such a fake. I'm not fake. Why are you saying I'm a fake? Martin's not full of s***.
01:31Okay would you mind keeping your nose out of my business? Mohammed has been waiting to say that
01:35for years. Gordon tries a couple things on the menu and it's not a great dining experience.
01:40There's two fritters. Those ones both are vegetable. It looks like a dehydrated turd. There's meat in
01:46there. Tastes like lamb. As we witnessed with the tray of chicken on the floor earlier, the hygienic
01:50standard of the restaurant was highly questionable. Would you mind getting me a clean plate? Okay.
01:59Always worries me when I stick tomato roses on top of food and the tomato is rotten. That is not a
02:03piece of beef. The kitchen seems to be confused on which meat it's serving. Leading one to believe
02:09that they don't have a basic labeling system for meat. When its operations manager and cook
02:15Andrew's turn to make a salmon and potato dish for Gordon, he finds that the items ordered were
02:20not fresh at all. But that doesn't stop the dish from making it to the table. Potatoes are sick
02:25Martin. They look like they were cooked at least a week ago. Oh my god. These were my f***ing potatoes
02:31for lunch. Oh that's good. And frozen salmon too. I had to make it. So this is from the American
02:36kitchen. It was like a doorman. Something else that seems unhygienic about the restaurant is the
02:41amount of flies buzzing around the dining room. We'll see where they're coming from soon enough.
02:45A fly. Is this normal? Yes it is. I don't like eating with flies swarming around me.
02:54There was a lot of flies here. Who made this? Um I did. Gordon doesn't seem to want to give the
02:59weak old potatoes and frozen salmon a try so he graciously invites the chef to eat his own meal.
03:05Eat that. That was pleasure. Oh my god. Getting into the kitchen. I am not looking forward to
03:10this part. Gordon starts in the kitchen and the old potatoes they tried to feed him aren't the
03:15only food that should have been thrown out weeks ago. Thank god I sat my little f***er down to eat
03:20them. That is the worst hamburger I've ever seen in my entire life. This is probably one of the
03:24worst storage areas in the whole series. That is all the way to place. When Gordon starts moving
03:29equipment around the room he finds droppings everywhere. This freezer might be empty of food
03:34but there's definitely things in there. Oh f*** it. Oh my god. Oh no. Look at that. Speaking of
03:41food why is this even here? I'm worried about the flies in the dining room. I know where they're
03:45f***ing breeding now. I've eaten here. Come on. Everything in there was putrid. When Gordon
03:51confronts the managers about the chaotic food storage Martin wonders what the chefs have been
03:55doing. There's a head chef responsible for this. Look at it. Gordon has another bit of information
04:00for the managers. Let me tell you something. I've eaten here. As chef Ramsay inspects the kitchen
04:05food service continues until he finds out they're serving rotten food. That's been sliced. Where's
04:10that tomato gone? Will they let the customer know in time or will they eat the rotten tomato? Gordon
04:16asks the waitress if the tomato was served and they reply no. So where is it? Things are looking
04:24pretty glum. It's time to shut it down. Gordon asks the waitress to let the three tables in the
04:29dining room know that this is the luckiest day of their f***ing life. Gordon lets the staff know
04:34that the restaurant is closed until the place is clean. No one is getting served from this f***ing
04:39restaurant tonight. Later that evening Gordon returns in a hazmat suit ready to tackle the
04:44insects and critters that have taken over the restaurant. They hire professionals to do the
04:48deep cleaning but the staff aren't off the hook. And you guys are doing it with them yeah? Oh god.
04:53Gordon's new menu consists of contemporary Indian cuisine. Pan-seared scallops, a walnut chutney,
05:00wonderful crispy salmon with a tomato coconut curry broth. The chef is overwhelmed with emotion
05:05seeing the new menu. Look at me. Oh jesus. Give me a cuddle. Okay very very good.
05:11Can I go now? You can let f***ing go now. Okay good. The other dishes on the menu are presented
05:16by Vikas, a chef Gordon hires as a consultant for the restaurant. Here are a few of the items
05:21he chose. Kerala fisherman's curry, garai shrimp here, chicken korma, saffron cauliflower. The
05:27dining room needed a makeover so the design team gets to work trying to make the restaurant more
05:32inviting. He just turned this restaurant from zero to hundred. Before the relaunch Gordon sits down
05:42with owner Mohammed to discuss cutting one of the managers. Out of the three managers one has to go.
05:48Martin has an amazing way of manipulating you. He's not worth his weight in terms of what he
05:55brings to the table. I've never met a general manager so s*** as you. Martin is standing by
06:01and hears the conversation turning in his direction and he can't help but intervene.
06:05Hearing Gordon Ramsay say that to Mohammed that makes me upset and angry. The frustration just
06:12boiled over. Mohammed I've never used you. I've respected you. I'm proud of what we've done.
06:16I've never cheated you. You're asking for management. Mohammed has the biggest smile
06:23on his face during all of this. You are in. Enough. I've had enough. So let him go. Go on.
06:36Gordon's thinking this is the money shot. Martin being the angry manager he even pokes
06:41him a little to see if he can rage some more. Why are you pointing like that? Because I'm angry.
06:46Martin isn't happy about Gordon accusing him of mismanaging Mohammed's funds. You're taking
06:50advantage of a weak rich man. Well that is disgusting. You have no right. You don't know
06:54that. Martin felt that he wasn't the guilty party but rather was the one who helped the
06:58business by contacting the show. I have nothing to be guilty of. You what? Nothing. This wasn't
07:06always like this. It spiraled out of control and I asked you to come on board. I'm glad you're
07:13not guilty. Martin makes a decision before the relaunch starts. I'm not going to take this put
07:18down anymore. Listen. This is my last night. And you said it was your last night. I'm confused.
07:22Yes. This is my last tonight. I'm out of here. I quit. I didn't expect it's gonna go that bad.
07:29Before reopening Gordon gives a pep talk to the staff and focuses on Martin's behavior.
07:34If you could try to make some improvement this evening please. That is a great morale booster
07:41before the opening of this amazing new restaurant. Gordon has it out for Martin. Everything's just
07:46going perfectly well but Martin's still here. Service isn't off to a great start.
07:53Oh my god. How'd that happen? I need another rice please. The customers are waiting so long for food
07:58to come out that it's arriving cold. It's unbelievable. It's cold. They forgot our order.
08:03It's a nightmare. They continue to blame Martin for the dysfunctional service and start to look
08:08elsewhere for guidance. I don't think that Martin understands what a general manager really should
08:13be doing. Can you manage this place? Yes I can. Give him back. Thank you. Excellent. Service ends on a high
08:19note and when Gordon says his goodbyes the chef is overwhelmed with more emotions. Excellent.
08:26Before the show aired Martin sued both Gordon Ramsay and Kitchen Nightmares for 500,000 pounds
08:32equivalent to $620,128 claiming the show ruined his career in the restaurant business. The restaurant
08:40had a cabaret which Martin was in charge of booking acts. This part of the business was not included
08:44in the show. Martin says that's why he was on the phone so much, something Gordon gave him a hard
08:49time about doing. He claimed the show hired actors to make the restaurant look packed with happy
08:54customers on relaunch night. In the episode it seemed that Martin was the issue for the food
08:58arriving cold at the beginning of service until Gordon asked for the floor manager to step up his
09:03game. He claimed he was told by producers to lie down and rest so that they could make him look
09:08lazy on the camera. Why would he agree to that? Maybe he thought the scene was to show the restaurant
09:12was very quiet since the waitresses were also sitting with headphones on. He also claimed
09:17production planted rotten meat in the refrigerator and they edited out the part where he said he was
09:22not responsible for the kitchen but rather the cabaret. He says the reason he was singled out was
09:26because he wouldn't play along with the production team's ideas for him to be the mean boss who blames
09:32the staff for the failures. He tried to have the show court ordered from being released. Obviously
09:37that didn't work out in his favor but he did say that there was a scene they left out of him
09:41crawling outside looking for his cell phone that Gordon threw in the street. His lawyer said the
09:45case was dismissed when they voluntarily withdrew the lawsuit. A year after the show aired, Gordon
09:51returned to see what changes were implemented and if the restaurant was still on the right track.
09:55Smells nice in here. In terms of business, um, are we up? Yes. That's great news. Vikas is still here? Yes.
10:01That's great news, yes. The greatest thing that happened from Gordon coming here was him bringing
10:06Vikas. Andrew and Vikas worked so well together that they went on to collab on other business
10:11ventures in the future. I promised you, Gordon. I've kept my promise to stand by Purnima as a part of
10:17my respect for what Chef Ramsay has done to this restaurant. The kitchen looks much better with
10:23fresh food being prepared daily but how does the food storage in the basement look? There are no
10:27more bugs here. Everybody was sent out for a week from Purnima. I made them do a food protection
10:33course. Oh my god. Gordon is surprised and relieved to see the cleanliness of the basement. That's
10:39incredible. Well done. I mean well done. They even offer tours of the basement for customers who saw
10:44the disaster it once was. When customers come to the restaurant, Vikas loves to invite them to look
10:48around in the kitchen, downstairs. This is the main basement. To show them the changes we've made are
10:54real. Obviously Martin didn't come back. No. Wow. I mean absolutely incredible. From the biggest
11:00disaster to the biggest transformation. It's on track, it's clean, it's delicious and now they
11:05have a proper vision. Thank god for that. The restaurant closed in 2009, a year after Gordon
11:11returned. Not long after, another restaurant opened called Nirvana 54 after being displaced from its
11:17previous location. According to the reviews, it was not as good after the move and didn't stay open
11:22long. Vikas and Andrew worked so well in the kitchen together that they opened another restaurant after
11:27Purnima closed and collaborated on a cookbook together. Both have built great careers with Vikas
11:32earning a Michelin star in his restaurant and Andrew being nominated for a James Beard award.
11:38It wasn't until 2023 that the grizzly paired Midtown Comedy Club opened its doors where Purnima
11:44once was, serving up appetizers, doughnuts and laughs after 4 p.m. So although the original
11:51establishment is closed, the restaurant is once again open for business. I hope you enjoyed this
11:56video and if you did, make sure to subscribe for more videos like this and other fun content.