Gordon Ramsay at Little Chef. It's not hard to picture, as these days, unless you have your head buried in the sand, it's impossible to ignore Ramsay's vigorous attempts at world domination.

Now open is Gordon Ramsay at The London in NYC (although don't expect to get a table until next year as, despite mixed hype, New Yorkers are falling over themselves to find out if the foul-mouthed tyrant is worth his salt), and to follow, a chain of UK gastropubs, the first in Maida Vale.

And Ramsay is just one in the race to take over the planet. Since opening L'Atelier in London (and, almost simultaneously, at the Four Seasons in NY), Joel Robuchon has heightened his status as one of the world's culinary masters, and restaurateur Alan Yau is doing 'a Ramsay' and extending his empire to the Big Apple, opening Park Chinois at Schrager's scorchio Gramercy Park Hotel early next year.

Even the original rockstar chef Marco Pierre White, who has recently regained his mojo, will be taking Manhattan next year when his biography is released Stateside - the flames of which will be fanned further if, as is rumoured, he takes over the helm on Hell's Kitchen. Perhaps a Luciano NY will follow.