Jamie Oliver launches Gatwick trattoria to rival Ramsay's Heathrow diner

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Oliver is launching a restaurant at Gatwick airport which will inevitably be compared with Ramsay's Plane Food at Heathrow's Terminal 5.

The 5,800sq ft restaurant, called Jamie Oliver at Gatwick, will be in the North Terminal and is part of a £1.2 billion upgrade of the airport.

It will include a "grab-and-graze bakery", an antipasti bar, hanging charcuterie and a fresh pasta-making area. There will also be a Union Jacks Bar, based on the chef's West End restaurant brand, serving British beers and wines.

A "spectacular view of the airfield" is promised from the restaurant, which is due to open in time for the Olympics.

The former Naked Chef and Ramsay previously went head to head with their Barbecoa and Bread Street Kitchen restaurants in the City's £500 million One New Change development.

Prior to his arrival at Heathrow four years ago, Ramsay branded British airport food a "f***ing national embarrassment".

While The F-Word star said the vision behind his Heathrow dining was "keeping it all very lean, lean, lean - no heavy sauces", Oliver's venture will serve the same food as his Italian restaurants.

Evening Standard food writer Charles Campion said convenience and price were key to an airport restaurant's success.

"People don't go to the airport to have dinner," he said. "Airport eating is a distress purchase, like finding a toilet or a petrol station, you have to get on with it."

Oliver said: "I've worked with my team to take the very best bits from Jamie's Italian and Union Jacks and build them into something beautiful and exciting just for Gatwick.

"We've also got the first Union Jacks bar, where we'll do small plates of British favourites such as Yorkshire puddings with smoked trout."

Builders turning a former Manchester bank into Oliver's latest restaurant found jewellery, gold and Joy Division and New Order master tapes worth £1.1 million in safe-deposit boxes, some dating back to 1935. The owners could not be traced so the items went to the Treasury.