Andrew Fairlie protégé Lorna McNee takes the reins at Cail Bruich

Chef Lorna McNee, former sous chef at Andrew Fairlie’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant and Great British Menu’s ‘Champion of Champions’ 2019 has taken up her first head chef role at Glasgow’s Cail Bruich restaurant.

McNee’s appointment at the three-AA-rosette restaurant sees co-owner Chris Charalambous stepping away from the kitchen for the first time since it opened in 2008 to focus on the wider business, which now includes three food and drink businesses in the city.

The 28-cover restaurant’s front of house is headed up by general manager and ex-Martin Wishart restaurant manager, Chris Donnachie.

McNee joined Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at the Gleneagles Resort in Auchterarder, Perthshire, in 2008 as an apprentice, working her way up to sous chef, latterly under head chef Stevie McLaughlin. McNee was also the winner of the 2017 Scottish Chef of the Year competition.

Dishes on her inaugural menus include west coast crab, raw Orkney scallop, citrus; hand-rolled pasta, broad beans, girolles, truffle; scrabster turbot, kohlrabi, pork sauce; and Lake District Herdwick lamb, graffiti aubergine, miso, olive, Earl Grey.

McNee said: “The time was right for me to forge my own path and step up to a head chef role and I am delighted that Paul and Chris have given me the opportunity to run the kitchen at their fantastic restaurant. I have long been a fan of Cail Bruich so for me this is very exciting. Leaving Stevie and the team at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie was hard but I am looking forward to bringing together my own team and for what the future brings in Glasgow.”

Paul Charalambous, co-owner of Cail Bruich, added: “This is an exciting new phase for Cail Bruich and for Glasgow’s restaurant scene. We’ve followed Lorna’s career and are thrilled that she has chosen to work with us on the next stage of her journey. We are really looking forward to seeing what comes out of her kitchen and to be able to introduce it to customers old and new.”