Top Scottish chef on 'imposter syndrome’, role as TV judge and aiming for two Michelin Stars

Speaking on the Murphy Wealth Human First podcast, Ms McNee – Scotland’s only female chef in charge of a Michelin Star restaurant – described the ‘surreal’ moment she realised Cail Bruich was being awarded the highly sought-after accolade as one of the best moments of her life.

She said: “It was such a surreal feeling, and it was one of the happiest moments of my life and my career... we won a first star in Glasgow for 18 years, I believe. So, Gordon Ramsay, only female Scottish Michelin chef, and all the rest of it. It was massive and the restaurant was fully booked for a year and a half – you couldn't get a table.

“The revenue it brought in meant I could buy the stove I wanted and refurb the restaurant. What’s so great about having such fantastic business owners is that the money came in and it went straight back into the restaurant. We said: ‘let's develop and make things better so we can reach the next level’. It was great for business, and it was great for the team, great for morale. And from then, we went from strength to strength.”

Ms McNee, who comes from the village of Dallas in Morayshire, took up her first head chef role at Cail Bruich in August 2020. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star for the first time in January 2021 – less than six months after she joined.

Prior to Cail Bruich, chef Lorna was part of the team at the two Michelin-starred Restaurant Andrew Fairlie in Gleneagles for 13 years and was awarded Great British Menu’s ‘Champion of Champions’ in 2019. She also won Game Chef of the Year in 2016 and National Scottish Chef of the Year in 2017.

Earlier this year, she returned to the Great British Menu, this time as a judge for the show’s 20th series.

Of the experience, and being her own worst critic, she said: “I judge everything I do, and it's never perfect. To be asked to come back as a judge was one of those things. That moment of, ‘I can't believe I'm being asked to do this’. It's that whole imposter syndrome… and then going and sitting in a room with Tom Kerridge, obviously a two Michelin-star chef, and Ed Gamble, who's been doing it for so long and is a very successful comedian.

“I was really, really intimidated. And I've obviously done the show. I've won the competition. I'm a chef. I've won a star. I know what I'm talking about. You're still sitting there like, why am I in this room?” The production team and everyone there, they're so fantastic. And it's just it's completely different [to the day to day].

“I walk in my jogging bottoms and I come out looking so glamorous – that's really fun. And then tasting other people's food is really interesting, because it's different styles and techniques. You learn new things and taste mostly good stuff. So absolutely, it's really great to be involved in something like that, and it's very different to me.”

Speaking to The Scotsman in February, Ms McNee talked of Cail Bruich’s aim for two stars, something former colleague Mark Donald was awarded for the Glenturret Lalique restaurant in 2024. After John Williams, executive chef at the newly awarded Two Michelin Star restaurant in The Ritz in London had lunch at Cail Bruich, he commented that the restaurant should have two stars, to which replied: “I mean we'd love to get two, we'd love to.

"We try and get better every year and I hope that eventually we do get two stars. It's very exciting. It's amazing to know that John Williams thinks we should have two, that's great. It was amazing to serve him lunch but, who knows? I'd love to get two and we're always pushing to be better, so hopefully it's in the pipeline.”

Asked about this again by Murphy Wealth CEO Adrian Murphy Ms McNee said: “I would love to say we're going to get two stars – that's the goal, that's the dream… All I can say is that I'm continuously trying to get better. I look at food all the time. I look at new produce, I look at new projects to try and make ourselves better. And for me, mainly, it's about trying to be better as a leader, about being better for my team, and trying to let them know we're pushing for two stars.”

Lorna McNee has been a guest on our podcast Scran, where she talked about her career to date. We also spoke to her after this year’s Michelin ceremony in Glasgow where she said: “It’s fantastic to see so many new stars. It's amazing (to have retained our star), we try really hard every year and the consistency is always great and we always try to push ourselves to be better, so retaining the star is just a massive achievement.”