After a Chelsea chef who came out of nowhere named Michael Riemenschneider is revealed to be a “conman” in the ‘Mail on Sunday’, readers tell of his past form
As can only be expected of a paper that loves a bit of sensationalism this week’s Mail on Sunday’s ‘YOU’ got rather carried away in an interview with a “wealthy widow” named Flora Mascolo – a woman who claims to be a victim of, mind the magazine’s gushingly cringeworthy description, a “delicious romance soon turned sour” with a Michelin starred chef named Michael Riemenschneider.
Bizarrely, that Riemenschneider – a man whose first London restaurant, we noted in February 2014, was literally covered with images of his face and captions referencing his name – is lauded as a “handsome celebrity chef” in the feature by Margarette Driscoll is somewhat ambitious given several locals we contacted remember him as “podgy” and a “little bit greasy.” A well-known Chelsea restaurateur – where the Swiss born chef opened a replacement restaurant that few ever even got to hear of just months after opening and nigh on immediately closing his original Marylebone premises in summer 2014 – recalls an individual whose “ability to talk about himself and his achievements made me immediately question the truth of his claims.”
That Driscoll lauds this individual as “talented and dynamic” is perhaps fair given his “experimental cuisine” most definitely had many merits, but that she describes a man Mascolo herself calls a “coward of a man” and “somebody who was a lie, from the beginning” as “destined for similar success” to Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay is nothing but far fetched. Here was someone who opened in bizarre off-piste locations, insisted diners fitted into limited time spots and ridiculously thought he could limit customers to a set menu priced at £275 per head or a ‘cheaper’ one at £95 per head.
Riemenschneider, a man whose exploits are reported to have cost the widow of the co-founder of the Toni & Guy hairdressing empire some £2.27 million, is now supposedly bankrupt and living in Austria. Cars bought by him including a Mercedes-Benz GTS have reportedly been seized and of him Mascolo comments: “If you wrong me, you will remember my name. He didn’t know who he was messing with.”
A wealthy female reader of The Steeple Times contacted us to share her thoughts on the interview. She did not wish to be named but stated: “This strange, anything but handsome individual, pestered me on social media. He messaged me one day out of the blue in 2013 and he told me that we had friends in common. I am glad I did not fall for his attempts to lure me. Plainly, Mrs Mascolo did and I am sorry for her.”
She continued:
“This man wasn’t a ‘celebrity chef’ but, in fact, a Facebook stalker of ladies he thought had a bit of cash. In his messages to me, I quickly realised he was an individual who’d come out of nowhere and brought with him an ego the size of Harrods.”
“The journalist [Margarette Driscoll] gets rather carried away about his restaurant. It was in a sub-basement off Sloane Square and it didn’t even have a website. Nobody went there because nobody even knew about it. Where there’s money, there’s muck.”
Michael Riemenschneider will no doubt reemerge someday. He was certainly a good cook, but sadly he turned out to be an even better conman.
His staff never even bothered to answer the phone! It was impossible to get a table and now I’m glad it was such. Looks like I was saved from a very depressing subbasement.
The place had utterly no atmosphere. I realised something didn’t add up the moment I arrived. He looked sweaty and was quite aggressive. Knew it would never work.
You’re article is also ambitious.
“He was certainly a good cook”
No he wasn’t. In fact, he never cooked the food that was served in canvas.
When he did try to cook, it was a complete disaster. The guy was a conman both in and out of the kitchen.
Well, I cannot prove he cooked for me personally but he claimed he’d cooked the food on the only occasion I actually ate in his restaurant. I cannot prove or disprove that but the food – in the main – whilst a little OTT was pretty good.
I am not sure how you can prove your claim now as, with Mr Reimenschneider allegedly in Austria and perhaps out of the business, it’s nigh on impossible to imaginably put this matter to the test.
Easy. I worked at canvas in Chelsea, I know exactly what went on. Someone I worked with years before was at the marleybone canvas, he cooked there, I cooked at Chelsea.
Riemenschneider can’t cook for toffee, fact.
The woman has had a lucky escape!!!!!!!!!!! She looks like a hot birdy and I could teach her a thing or two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Send her down under and tell her to bring me a Lambo!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could have sworn i saw him a few years ago cooking burgers in a McDonalds in Newyork.
Currently he is in Istanbul. Opening another restaurant! 😀
He’s now closed 3 places in Istanbul and is on the run again, You couldn’t make it up!
Now closed one in Gaucin, Spain Dec 2022.
Now he’s in De Panne, Belgium. Textures by MR. This will be closed within a couple of months and he will be onto the next country.
I don’t understand how this man keeps getting investment to keep opening and closing Restaurants within 6 months and running off. It’s absolutely bizarre.
Yea opening a restaurant with his wife’s family money. Update, he’s taken his con skills to expert levels. He’s now married with twin boys. Let’s see how long it lasts
He’s on the run from Turkey now 🏃♂️
Previous to all of this, he conned someone in my family into bankruptcy and broke up a marriage.
Was this the owner of the old coast guards hotel in Cornwall?
i’m his coke zeros
bildiği tek şey kendisinin bir michelin yıldızının olduğunu söylemesi. karşısından geçen komilere bile patronun kim olduğunu soracak kadar egoist. mutfağa girdiğinde ise tam bir felaket. yemek yemeye gelen insanlar yemek değil ego ve kibirden başka hiç bir şey bulamaz.
He’s now on the run from Turkey. An extract from his own website;
“Due to the nature of COVID-19 affecting the gastronomic industry and the political landscape of Turkey, the couple have ended their stay in Turkey since May 2021 and are now on to their next adventure. Stay tuned!“
How convenient.
He’s left another 3 restaurants opened and closed and he onto the next country and his next victims.
I sincerely hope they see what he’s done and he is stopped.
He´s in Spain now!
lol…i know who u are!
And the fake chef is off again ! Lasted almost 5 months…..( restaurant open for about 2.5 months )
avoid this man, a sociopathic con man, who has run away from Gaucin and his latest restaurant leaving debts and dismay. He is a 24 carat ahole.
avoid this excuse of a man….sociopathic conman who left gaucin with tail between legs and a trail of debt and dismay. 24 carat a hole
He’s in Belgium now. The restaursnt closed in July but apparently re opened in October 2023. No new reviews on Google in 5 months.
He’s probably on his way to the next country again.
How is this guy not in prison yet?