Gordon Ramsay Under Fire Again For 'White Geisha' Drink At 'Authentic Asian' Restaurant

Gordon Ramsay is in hot water once again.

The restaurateur and celebrity chef, who has already faced accusations of cultural appropriation over his upcoming London restaurant Lucky Cat, came in for renewed criticism this week when the restaurant shared an image of the “White Geisha,” a cocktail it plans to offer.

The drink, which features a stylized image of a geisha drawn in foam, was swiftly dragged for playing on the supposed exoticism of Asian women.

Ramsay did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

Many on social media called on the chef who has not been receptive to critiques of his cultural insensitivities in the past to reflect on the backlash he’s received. Others marveled that apparently no one had thought to step in and veto the “White Geisha” concept.

In February, Ramsay ignited a firestorm when he announced he’d be opening an “authentic Asian Eating House” helmed by the chef Ben Orpwood, who is white. In its description, the restaurant already appeared to be exoticizing Asia, saying the late-night lounge would take cues from “the drinking dens of 1930s Tokyo and the Far East.”

Ramsay further stoked flames when he attacked the food critic Angela Hui, who’d slammed his restaurant in a review for Eater as “nothing if not a real life Ramsay kitchen nightmare.” 

Hui attended a preview of the restaurant, and noted that there “appeared to be some confusion over the particular source of inspiration for Lucky Cat.”

“Japanese? Chinese?” she wrote sarcastically on social media. “It’s all asian who cares.”

Ramsay hit back , calling Hui’s commentary “derogatory and offensive.” 

“It is fine to not like my food, but prejudice and insults are not welcome,” he wrote. He said that Hui referred to Orpwood’s spouse on social media as a “token Asian wife” (the post is no longer publicly available), which Ramsay called “hugely disrespectful.”

Still, many social media users called Ramsay out for his own resistance to criticism.