HE'S cooked for celebrities, sworn on TV and run London's most prestigious restaurants - but all Gordon Ramsay wanted for his birthday was fish and chips in Lytham!

The superstar chef took a break from shooting his latest television series to visit Whelan's of Lytham, one of the north west's most revered chip shops, on Monday night.

And the notoriously hard to please star of TV's Hell's Kitchen and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was delighted with the food on offer.

Whelan's owner, Dave McCreedy, said: "It's amazing - he could have picked anywhere for his 38th birthday meal, but he came to us.

"He spoke to the staff and told us he had had a lovely meal, and left us a note thanking us all. What we don't know is how he came to choose Whelan's!"

When the Citizen caught up with him in Blackpool town centre in Wednesday, Mr Ramsay described his fish and chip supper as: "Absolutely excellent."

He was in Blackpool this week filming the second series of the Kitchen Nightmares reality show in which he helps struggling restaurants improve their fortunes.

He has been working at Clubway 41 of Market Street and welcomed guests for a relaunch event on Wednesday.

Whelan's is no stranger to celebrity visitors - it was recommended in Rick Stein's 2001 Seafood Lovers Guide.

Whelan's sister chippy, The Cottage at Marton, is also well known as a favourite celebrity haunt having attracted the likes of John Major and Jeremy Clarkson over the years. Last month Whelan's was voted one of Lancashire's top fish and chip shops in the Seafish Quality Awards.

Mr Ramsay started his career as a Glasgow Rangers footballer before turning to gastronomy after a serious knee injury.

He worked with the legendary Marco Pierre White and Albert Roux before setting up his own restaurants and finding infamy in the 1998 documentary series, Boiling Point.

His tough reputation was confirmed in this year's ITV hit, Hell's Kitchen, in which he attempted to turn a team of celebrities into top kitchen staff.

The show was criticised by TV watchdog, OFCOM, because of Ramsay's language, but was a ratings hit.