Taste of success? Gordon Ramsay dines out at Jamie Oliver's new restaurant while his kitchen stays shut

He will not be able to eat in his own place for six months, but that did not stop Gordon Ramsay trying out the local competition offered by Jamie Oliver last night.

The F-Word chef dined for the first time at Barbecoa, the City meat restaurant opened by Oliver and his American partner Adam Perry Lang.

Barbecoa was launched in the £500 million One New Change shopping centre near St Paul's Cathedral in November, directly opposite a site taken by Ramsay.

It was the first time that the two biggest global stars of TV cooking have gone head to head with restaurants.

But while Barbecoa opened almost on schedule on Bonfire Night, plans for the Ramsay restaurant, to be called the Bread Street Kitchen, have hit a series of setbacks and have had to be delayed.

Originally scheduled to open at the start of the year, it was later put back to Spring but will now not launch until the Autumn.

Meanwhile Barbecoa is said to be trading well, taking around £140,000 a week.

Ramsay and an unidentified male companion, dined on pigs cheeks, chicken liver pate, beef tartare and rare fillet steak followed by cheesecake and vin santo cake.

A spokeswoman for Ramsay said: "It was no special occasion, he just went to dinner there. It was the first time he had been."