Glasgow’s top chefs and their restaurants

Responsible for Glasgow’s first (and thus far the only) Michelin star, Lorna McNee has to top our list. She joined Cail Bruich as recently as August 2020, making her achievement even more impressive. And she’s the only female in Scotland to hold the accolade. The multiple award-winning chef’s career began with a stint at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s, before spending time in the kitchen of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at the Gleneagles Hotel. Lorna utilises the fine produce of her native Scotland to craft elegant five and seven-course tasting menus. West Coast crab with green tomato, Cail Bruich’s own garden herbs, elderflower and Exmoor caviar; Hen of the woods with black garlic, Wye Valley asparagus and Madeira summer truffle; and coconut, pineapple and exotic fruit compote with piña colada sorbet are just some of the remarkable dishes she has created. 

Chef Nico Simeone is native to Glasgow, but is now renowned throughout the UK as his unique empire has expanded. Each of his imaginative tasting menus tells a story and has a theme, which runs for six weeks before a new one is introduced. The trailblazing chef’s first-ever enterprise, 111 by Nico, opened in his home city back in 2011. Then, his unique ‘Six’ concept was designed, with the evolving Glaswegian food scene in mind. Accessibility is key to the restaurateur, who keeps prices affordable to ensure his artful food can reach a wider clientele. His early career included periods at Number One at Balmoral, Brian Maule’s Le Chardon d’Orand and Nico was awarded the Young Scottish Seafood Chef of the Year award. Eagle eyes will have noticed his latest venture, Chateau-X, which opened in Finnieston, offering customers the full chateaubriand experience.

Peter McKenna was actually on the verge of leaving Glasgow when the idea for The Gannet was born. He’d been a chef at ABode, but was seeking pastures new and found nothing to whet his appetite, so collaborated with fellow chef Ivan Stein to start a whole new concept. Named after the seafaring bird indigenous to the Outer Hebrides (an area to which the burgeoning team took a research trip), The Gannet offers a Scottish look, feel and taste. It has an unassuming, understated and sophisticated frontage on Finnieston’s busy foodie strip and serves fuss-free fine food that showcases local produce from land and sea. The flavours and presentation here take diners on a multi-sensory journey of discovery. This is, no doubt, why The Gannet has three AA Rosettes, a Bib Gourmand (2014 to 2018) and is currently featured with the Michelin Plate.

And now for something completely different. Moving away from fine dining, to the earthy joy of street food. The restaurant’s chef is also its namesake — one you may recognise if you’ve been an avid watcher of the TV series Masterchef. Julie Lin Mcleod was, at the time, an amateur chef. But she was inspired by the experience to take her skills into the world of professional cooking, as well as becoming a cookery teacher and broadcaster. Malaysian and South Asian dishes are the speciality at her bijou eatery, served in a simple and minimal environment; creamy, coconutty bowl-based dishes are her favourites. But Julie isn’t only in residence at her Kopitiam. She has been behind the menu at Gaga in Partick, cooking up exciting fusion cuisine for the brand.