As a teenager growing up in the northerly Scottish town of Forres, food couldn’t have been further from the mind of Lorna McNee. Cold as it undoubtedly is, Forres is striking and atmospheric – a mixture of windswept heaths, frozen beaches and ancient stone monuments from bygone civilisations. The area has been inspiring people for generations – Forres was even immortalised in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as the location of King Duncan’s castle. Perhaps encouraged by the landscapes around her, Lorna had dreams of being a photographer and washed pots in a local Italian restaurant as a way of making a bit of pocket money. ‘The chef at the restaurant was determined to get me cooking, but I wasn’t interested,’ she says.
The course of true love never does run smooth, though. After failing to get into photography school, Lorna gave into her persistent head chef and took a job in the kitchen, whilst studying at nearby Moray College in Elgin. It was a lightbulb moment for the young chef – she instantly fell in love with the buzz of service and camaraderie of the brigade, and discovered a considerable talent she didn’t know she had. ‘I absolutely loved it,’ she grins. ‘My college tutor really pushed me to go and work somewhere decent, so I went down to London and spent two weeks at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s.’
Two weeks may not seem like a long stint in the kitchen, but it can feel like a lifetime working the long, intense shifts required at a restaurant like Claridge’s. It was more than enough for Lorna to realise that she wanted to continue her career in her home country, but she returned knowing that she could cook at the very highest level. A short time later, Lorna found herself having dinner at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, unaware that the visit was about to change her life forever. Another lightbulb pinged. ‘It was the best meal I’d ever eaten in my life,’ she laughs. ‘I didn’t know food could taste that good!’
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Lorna McNee: a new star in Scotland