Gordon Ramsay goes hunting for streetfood on Monday afternoon. Picture by Rashbehari Das

The tall blond man seated on a bench in office para and tucking into alu dum and chappati with relish on Monday afternoon was not just another foreigner sampling the city’s street food. He was Gordon Ramsay.

The most famous cook in the world — famous enough for a certain Paris Hilton to think the Prime Minister of Britain was named Gordon Ramsay (and not Brown) — was in town to get a taste of the city for a BBC Channel 4 shoot.

In a sky blue muscle tee shirt, khaki cargo pants and black and orange sneakers (custom-made size 15), chunky blue leather strap watch on hand and aviators (shades) in hand, he was stared at but not stopped. No one in the central business district of Calcutta seemed to recognise the celebrity restaurateur, also voted “UK’s sexiest chef”.

Ramsay, 42, hit the crowded streetfood stretch outside Bankshall court — where makeshift stalls served up everything from biryani to ‘bread toast’ — with a mission. A mission called Gordon’s Great Escape, billed to be “his most exciting food adventure yet”.

Standing 6.2 feet tall, the Scottish-born chef out to discover a whole new culinary world — and probably get rid of a bad taste in the mouth left by some poor press back in London — seemed to follow his nose as he checked out what was cooking where on a bustling street of Calcutta.

He was soon joined by a local food guide — t2 columnist Nondon Bagchi. Both sauntered through the food trays and egg crates, starting from the south gate of Bankshall court.

Ramsay’s curiosity got the better of him as he took the lid off a few large steel bins to find out what was being stirred up and sold at what cost.

First stop, camera in tow, was a sugarcane juice vending machine, where Nondon explained the working of the crusher and the vendor swiftly squeezed out a khullar of freshly squeezed juice for the “special guest”.

The man with 16 Michelin Stars — the definitive guide to restaurants of outstanding quality — then stopped at the chaat stall, his eye catching a large can brimming with dahi.

Finally, lunchtime. Two giant umbrellas were fixed overhead to beat the blazing April sun as Ramsay attacked alu dum and chappati.

The verdict from The F-Word man after half-and-hour of chat and chomp?

“A bit spicy but delicious!”