I’m so proud to have bittersweet Andrew
Anna Burnside
On Monday, Lorna McNee became Scotland’s newest Michelin-starred chef. By Thursday, the 33-year-old was back in her kitchen at Glasgow’s Cail Bruich, “standing cutting rhubarb for five hours”.
That’s the side of chef life the Michelin inspectors would never see.
For Lorna, the joy and excitement is, however, streaked with sadness that her mentor, Andrew Fairlie, is not here to see her triumph.
Lorna started at Fairlie’s restaurant, the only one in Scotland with two Michelin stars, when she was just 19. She worked there until earlier this year, when she started at Cail Bruich. Fairlie died of a brain tumour in 2019.
She said: “He’s the one person I wish was here to see it. If chef Andrew hadn’t put all the time and effort into me, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in.
“A Michelin star was the goal I wanted to achieve. Once I started working, I thought, ‘One day I’m going to have my own star and I’m going to have it in Scotland.’”
Fairlie’s widow Kate and his right- hand man Stephen McLaughlin both phoned to congratulate Lorna on her huge achievement.
The chef added: “Kate said how happy he’d be for me. Stevie said chef Andrew would be very, very pleased for me.
“That means a lot, that people who are close to him thought chef Andrew would be really proud. He would have sent me a big bottle of Krug – and probably a big bar of chocolate.”
Winning in the midst of a global pandemic is also not what Lorna could have imagined – she can’t open the doors of her restaurant. But she’s doing another first, offering high- end takeaway dinners in a box.
Lorna and her team had a Zoom celebration after the announcement, then it was back to work getting 350 Burns suppers ready for collection at the end of the week.
Like many restaurants, Cail Bruich is offering an “at home” service during lockdown, which is