Pericic had moved to London from New Zealand with plans to travel around Europe. She already had significant experience in the restaurant industry when she applied to work at Maze, a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. She worked one night as a receptionist and one night as a waitress. She chose to settle into the waitress position.
Pericic performed well in her role and was eventually promoted to assistant manager. She essentially acted as the intermediary between the floor and the kitchen. Even though she was working for Gordon Ramsay, she dealt more with the head chef of the restaurant, whom she described as “what you see on Kitchen Nightmares.”
The head chef had a violent temper, and according to Pericic would throw pots and pans around the kitchen and scream at her during the middle of dinner service. Though this is how chef Gordon Ramsay appears to act on Hell’s Kitchen, Pericic described her interactions with him as being more pleasant than you might imagine.
While former waitress Tash Pericic was working for Gordon Ramsay, he would make appearances at the restaurant. “He’d come in, say hi, come into the kitchen, check that everything’s okay,” Pericic said, “It was fun, and quite entertaining.” However, there was always a chance that he would act like the chef Gordon Ramsay people see on television.
Pericic recalled when she was overseeing a Christmas Eve dinner at Ramsay’s house. She overheard Ramsay yelling on the phone about chairs his assistant had ordered. “What the f*** do you call these chairs!? They’re so terrible I wouldn’t throw them on a f****** bonfire!” Pericic said that chef Gordon Ramsay then drove to one of his restaurants to get better chairs.
When he returned, he made everyone feel at ease, and even let the staff share in a champagne toast with him. Pericic eventually left the job as working at a chef Gordon Ramsay restaurant was too much pressure. Plus, she still wanted to travel across Europe and did not want her visa to expire. She rightly described working in the Michelin-starred restaurant as not a job but “a lifestyle.”
