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Gordon Ramsay pulls out of Dubai restaurant

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Celebrity chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsay is saying goodbye to Dubai.

The famously foul-mouthed Briton’s company said by email Monday that his consultancy deal with Verre restaurant in the Gulf city-state is coming to an end.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings says it scrapped the deal after a regular review of commercial operations. It didn’t elaborate, though a number of Ramsay’s eateries have taken substantial financial losses.

Verre opened in the Hilton Dubai Creek hotel in 2001. It was Ramsay’s first international restaurant.

Hilton confirmed the deal is ending this month but didn’t say what’s next for the highly rated restaurant. Verre’s top chefs say they are working on a new project that will be unveiled soon.

“If you go back in time, there was nothing quite like Gordon Ramsay here,” said Stefan Bregof of Tribe Restaurant Creators in Abu Dhabi. “He was the first, and after him came Locatelli, Rostang, Nobu, and Gary Rhodes. All these names followed him.”

Restaurants launched by Gordon Ramsay Holdings just before the onset of the global economic downturn as part of an ambitious international expansion plan quickly ran into trouble, resulting in a loss of £4.3 million (Dh24.9m) in the year to August 2008.

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