'It was the right time for me to make the step, because when I did I achieved things that I wanted, that I didn't know would come'

When award-winning chef, Great British Menu Champion Lorna McNee left her role as sous-chef of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, many watched keenly as she announced that she would be taking the helm at independent Glasgow outpost, Cail Bruich. 

And then, the pandemic struck. 

Only six months later was Lorna able to stand at the pass for the first time, and this under the most tedious of circumstances - first with heavy restrictions, then through curfews and an alcohol sales ban, another lockdown, and still wearing PPE to date.

But the chef and her brigade have not only made the best of a bad situation (earning a Michelin star, no less), they have felt relatively sheltered from the woes many restaurants have faced - not through (as Lorna seems to believe) sheer luck, but because her reputation preceded her, and has meant that whenever they have been open, they have been full - of guests and staff. 

"We've been doing very well," she said. Other than still having to wear PPE, "I don't feel any restrictions at all anymore - we still serve 28 covers at lunch and dinner and that's what we do."

"It just feels like a normal restaurant again - that's just life now."

"We're fortunate, I know that there's lots of staffing issues going on currently in the industry but we've actually got a full team," with some people leaving end of the year but new crew lined up to replace them.

"We have a very hard working loyal team and everyone is really good and really into it - which is good for me because everyone knows you can't do it without your team."

"You have to have everyone behind you and I have - I've got a great sous-chef," Maltese chef Jack Bajada, and "great chefs underneath him as well" - not to mention a "friendly, chatty, knowledgeable front of house team." 

"I'm very very lucky."

Wondering what her secret is, she puts it on the account of working a four-day week, and never letting her chefs work over their hours, "because that's the way of the world now, it's not all about the chef and 'I do 100 hours a week,' that's not going to impress anyone."

The four-day week for her teams means more time for development as well, which is another benefit. 

"It does work very well for us," she said, and operating like that from the getgo rather than having to adapt the business model as many others have, has doubtless been a plus.

A star after three months

The Michelin Guide, as most everyone else, had their gaze firmly set on Lorna and her team when they opened in August 2020, and were thus at the ready to visit and deliver their accolade within months of her taking charge.

"Within those three months between August and December we'd been inspected a few times and we had won a star - which was amazing." 

Unable to celebrate in person, the crew took to Zoom, but the achievement was no less valuable. 

"It was really nice to see how happy the team were, they had a massive part to play in that so everyone was very, very happy. It's a feeling like no other."

Not one to gloat or bask in her successes, however, Lorna is set on bettering the offering at Cail Bruich well into the future.

"I put tonnes of levels of stress on myself anyway, so whether it's good or not, it's never perfect, there's always things that we need to improve on and make better and we can be better.

"We're good, we're running a great business, but in my mind it's never perfect. We can always do better, we can always push harder, create better dishes. There's never a time where we stop - although with what we're doing, we always have to reflect back and be able to say, 'actually what we are doing is very good.'"

The right time to step it up 

While one might have seen the timing of Lorna's move from Gleneagles as unfortuitous, she doesn't regret it for one second. 

On a personal level - the chef married her life partner and made changes in her life she had been looking forward to for a long time - and on a professional level, the move to Glasgow came at a good time.

"I'd been umming and ahing for a while," she said.

"I'd been wanting to do something and it was the right time for me to make the step, because when I did I achieved things that I wanted, that I didn't know would come."

From her team, made up of people she had previously worked with and were making moves of their own, to the opportunity at Cail Bruich, she said, "everything fell into place.

"And although it was bumpy because of the lockdown, when I should have been jam-packed and busy, I had time to develop menus and work at that slowly. I got all of that under my feet and had time to learn how to be a head chef.

"I've still got tonnes to learn," she added, "this isn't by far the finished article. But I think I left at the right time."

Keep watching

Some are eyeing Cail Bruich up for a second star in next year's guide, but the chef is focused on the concrete.

Set to start writing a weekly recipe column for The Herald, she is likely to see her name projected further into the limelight - not that that's what she sees it as.

"It's very nice to know that your name will be out there for people who are watching and listening and hopefully coming from far and wide to come and taste your food," she said.

"But genuinely, what makes me happy is cooking food and people in the restaurant telling me how much they've enjoyed it. That for me is like no other feeling. Having your name out there is great, but it's really good because I want people to come and experience what it is that I can actually give to them on a plate in our restaurant."

"It is about the food and what we can do - and about showcasing what the Scottish larder has to offer."