Lorna McNee set to leave Gleneagles and take on head chef position at Glasgow restaurant

despite being on lockdown, award-winning chef and GBM 2019 Champion of Champions, Lorna McNee, has something to look forward to when the coronavirus crisis finally comes to an end. 

The sous-chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie is ready to spread her wings and show the world what she's got to offer, and - if the situation does improve in the coming months and restaurants are allowed to open again - will be taking on the position of head chef at an independent restaurant in Glasgow. 

"I'm a little bit on the edge of what I'm actually doing at the minute; but as far as we know, everything is still on for it." 

The chef hopes the opportunity will give her the chance, "to become a better, stronger chef and a better manager." 

Not to say that she has nothing left to learn as a chef, she said: "it's not so much about learning my craft anymore, I've got to learn everything now. Learning to be that manager, to be a role model for people, be a leader for my team, make sure that people can see what it is that I want to give to the industry, from my perspective." 

"I can cook, but I need to learn everything else about the business as well now, which is exciting and scary and nerve-racking but it leads back to competitions like Great British Menu - I like that pressure, I like that push and that drive to do something that's out of your comfort zone."

What she's always sought to get out of her next opportunity, she explained, is to "be able to go in and do my own thing, create my own food, my own menu, have my own team. That's what I'm looking forward to do, creating what it is that's me - rather than helping create something for someone else." 

"That's really exciting for me, I'm really looking forward to that." 

Lorna joined two Michelin-starred Restaurant Andrew Fairlie as an apprentice, rising up the ranks and becoming a sous-chef. Having worked on every section and learned everything she could learn there, she said, she is ready to go her own way.

The team at Gleneagles, she said, have given her their full support.  

"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." 

Occupying her time designing menus and planning ahead, she 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."