Two top chefs have been slated over hygiene in their British kitchens. Gordon Ramsay’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Chelsea, and Antony Worrall Thompson’s Notting Grill in West London, were visited health inspectors. Abusive Ramsay often questions the cleanliness of other chefs on his TV programme Kitchen Nightmares

After visiting the establishment bearing Ramsay’s name, where diners including Madonna and Robert De Niro pay about £117 a head for meals, inspectors reported: “Wash basins should only be used for washing hands.”

“Staff were observed rinsing cleaning cloths in one.”

That was in September last year. In 2005, an inspector at the same restaurant found broken tiles, where scraps can accumulate, split door seals and cleaning materials stored next to food.

Most crucially, Ramsay was ordered to “thoroughly clean” his freezer.

Worrall Thompson fared little better.

At the Notting Grill, where meals cost about £45 a head, an inspector noted in a report in December last year that food was “at risk of contamination” in the wash-up room because it was “stored next to and below chemicals”, or was “cooling near wash-up sinks and the dishwasher”.

A fan used to cool food was described as “not clean and disinfected”.

Worrall Thompson, 56, caused controversy in 2000 after claiming that the obsession with scrupulously cleaning surfaces was liable to give people a weakened resistance to bugs, although at the time he added: “That’s not to say my restaurants are not absolutely clean.”

Last night he insisted: “On the risk of contamination thing, it was a one-off.

“It was wrong that the food had been left there to cool but, really, you go into any restaurant on any day of the week and you will probably find something to pick at.

“But I am all in favour of anything that helps keep kitchens hygienic.”

A spokesman for Mr Ramsay refused to comment.