What Really Happened to World-Renowned Chef Jason Atherton at a Bar in Cebu City?
Talk amongst food circles the past couple of days quickly turned from noche buena leftovers to an incident involving Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton at a bar in Cebu City. On Wednesday, Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia posted a lengthy statement on Facebook detailing the incident.
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“On the night of Dec 23, while in the F CAFE AND BAR with his WIFE and DAUGHTER, a group of guys BEAT him up,” Garcia wrote. “Worse, F BAR’S BOUNCERS held him down so JASON couldn’t fight back. The LADY MANAGER joined in the MELEE, even providing a bottle to beat him further, the whole time CONDEMNING him and ALL FOREIGNERS as TROUBLEMAKERS.”
According to Garcia, the group of guys were harassing Atherton’s daughter as she was waiting in line at the restroom, leading the chef to defend her and ask the group for an apology.
“Instead, they all ganged up on him, including F BAR’S PEOPLE. (See the BRUISES?),” Garcia wrote.
The governor apologized to Atherton, who reportedly told her that the incident “could have happened anywhere.”
“This gracious, gifted man certainly DID NOT DESERVE the SHAMEFUL TREATMENT he got, RIGHT HERE, in CEBU,” Garcia added. “SHAME ON THOSE WHO HARRASSED JASON’S DAUGHTER THEN BEAT HIM UP! SHAME ON THE BOUNCERS AND LADY MANAGER OF F CAFE AND BAR! SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!”
But is that what really happened?
Later on Wednesday, the management of F Café and Bar posted its own statement denying Atherton and the governor’s version of what happened.
“F Cafe caters to people from all walks of life,” the statement said. “Foreigners have been a major part of our clientele. The alleged incident occurred on Saturday 24th December at 1:30am.”
According to the statement, everything was fine and peaceful when security personnel noticed that a commotion suddenly broke out inside the bar involving customers.
“A melee ensued and the natural reaction of security was to go between the parties to ensure that nobody got hurt and to pacify them,” it added.
“CCTV footage showed that it was Chef Atherton who initiated the attack against other group (sic). Everything happened so fast but fortunately the people were eventually pacified. We were the informed that they went to the police and the barangay and settled everything among themselves. We were informed that the matter was closed.”
F Café said some of its employees and staff received have received “threats, hurtful words, malicious and libelous statements” and that government officials and offices have issued orders against the establishment (it did not specify though what those orders were), ostensibly based on the governor’s statement alone and without its own version of the events being sought.
“While we try to ensure that everybody feels good in our establishments, we have no control over the actions of others,” F Café said. “We deeply regret what happened to Chef Aterton (sic) and the other parties involved in the fracas. We would have preferred to remain silent about this matter as it is a private matter between parties that does not involve us, recent attacks against the establishment and its employees have constrained us to issue this statement. We pray for fairness and due process for everyone. As this matter is now under investigation, we shall hold further comment.”
Atherton is a British chef who has worked extensively with famed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. He received a prestigious Michelin star for his flagship restaurant Pollen Street Social in 2011. His wife Irha is from Cebu, and, along with business partners, he opened his first restaurant in the city called The Pig and Palm in 2016.
The chef has yet to issue a statement itself as of the writing of this story.
