Hazy smoke wafts out of the black curtained auditorium. Inside, purple lights light up a big white stage.

This is no ordinary stage. There isn’t a band setting up, instead a kitchen (that most of us can only dream about) takes centre stage.

Shiny, slick appliances reflect hot stage lights, as Gordon Ramsay, larger than life, enters to giddy applause.

Ramsay’s cooking demonstration is headlining The Good Food and Wine Show, and people have been queuing for hours to get inside.

The fever and excitement that’s felt in the room is tantamount to a rock show. And why shouldn’t it be? Gordon Ramsay is after all the rock star of the celebrity chef brigade.

The man himself is immediately likeable and at ease on stage – he’s wearing a Bafana Bafana soccer shirt and he looks lean and fit. At age 15, Ramsay was a professional footballer with the Glasgow Rangers. He played with them from 1982 to 1985, until a knee injury scuppered his chances.

It was in his final school year that he discovered cooking. He did a foundation course, where two to three days of the week would be devoted to cooking.

Ramsay is in full swing, chatting gamely to the audience while filleting haddock and sweating onions in a pan. He’s making haddock and potato soup with a poached oyster as garnish. While doing so, he regales the audience with a story of how he ran the Comrades Marathon.

“There I was, 4:30 in the morning rubbing on sunblock. I offered some to this little bloke next to me, and he said, ‘no thanks mate I’m done before the sun comes up’. Cheeky bugger. It was Bruce Fordyce.”

Strictly speaking, Gordon Ramsay is a chef, and a ‘bloody good one’ at that. So good, that he’s not only packed a room full of people, but sold the seats at rock concert prices too – all to watch him make soup, sticky chicken, and apple tarte tatin.

And was it worth it? You bet your soccer boots it was. At least I can say I was there.

By Malu Lambert

*Picture, Abigail and Malu with Gordon Ramsay at Cape Talk Radio.