Lorna McNee joins Cail Bruich as head chef

Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox

Deputy Editor

Gleneagles graduate and critically-acclaimed chef Lorna McNee is the new head chef at Cail Bruich in Glasgow, joining the restaurant as lockdown measures ease in Scotland.

The chef and Great British Menu champion retweeted the news via food journalist Cate Devine, with whom she recently interviewed, steering clear of confirming the rumours relating to her new role.

The position at Cail Bruich, one of Glasgow's most highly-coveted restaurants, will be Lorna's first head chef role, having climbed the ranks at Retaurant Andrew Fairlie to the position of sous-chef, working alongside industry veteran and great friend of Mr Fairlie, Stevie McLaughlin.

Early on in the lockdown, Lorna told The Staff Canteen that she was planning on going to Glasgow and would be taking on the position of head chef at one of the city's top restaurants.

At the time, she said: "My head chef agrees that it's the right time to move on and do something else. He thinks I have done everything I can do there because I've been there for so long and I've given a lot and they've given a lot to me -I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for them."

"They're in the same boat as me - they think it probably is my time to go and do something else."

The chef spent the lying-low time in lockdown designing menus and planning ahead, and said that guests can expect her food to be the continuation of her work at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie.

"A lot of it is always going to represent what I've always done, what I've taken from Andrew Fairlie - simple food done well, good ingredients, don't do too much to it."

"That'll always be where I stand with food, that's what I want to eat and that's what I want to cook."

And with this, the chef told Cate Devine: “I’m not going to say I’m aiming for a star, though it would be amazing for Glasgow to get one."

The chef said she wouldn't be poaching any chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants of which she knows the owners, and that instead, "Right now I’m looking to where I came from: straight from college, all shiny and new."

"I got to become an apprentice with Andrew Fairlie just after finishing college, and there’s no reason not to take someone fresh out of college. They can become great chefs under the right direction. I want to show them how happy this job can make you.

“I want to be a mentor, a leader – not a dictator. I want to do for young chefs what chef Andrew did for me, while supporting Glasgow’s and Scotland’s food culture at the same time.”

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