After battling blistering winds and flooded roads, it was touch and go whether Lorna McNee would make it to The Chester Hotel’s final Signature event in Aberdeen.

The Moray-raised chef is Scotland’s only female Michelin star chef at the moment, and the first in 20 years to hold such a title.

When she’s not in Aberdeen cooking up speciality menus in aid of The JEllie Foundation, spearheaded by Graham and Gillian Wood, owners of the Queen’s Road hotel, you’ll usually find her leading her team at one of Glasgow’s finest restaurants, Cail Bruich.

Lorna, who won the Great British Menu Champion of Champions in 2021 and has since returned to the BBC One show as a guest judge, has been working in hospitality for years, starting her career as a kitchen porter in a family-run restaurant in Forres.

Coming to Signature, The Chester Hotel’s fine dining food festival, for the first time saw the chef bring an exciting, intriguing menu.

Lorna McNee at Signature

Describing her menu as “Scottish food done well” I can’t help but agree with her. Managing to keep the flavour of the ingredients while putting a modern twist on them while carefully crafting each plate as it if were a work of art was mesmerising to watch.

And watch I did.

After finishing a glass of Champagne at the drinks reception at the event, my partner and I were shown to our seats in the corner of the room. While his back was to the open plan kitchen, I had full view of some of kitchen over his shoulder and could peek up like a meercat from time to time to see what was going on.

The kitchen looked busy at all times, which didn’t surprise me as we were running just a little behind schedule.

Nevertheless, the front of house team were quick to get malted bread to tables and the sea of knives hitting the butter bowls on the tables commenced.

The food

The first wine (white) for the night was then poured by a representative of WineWinters, one of the sponsors of the evening, paired with the brown crab, Orkney scallop dashi with ponzu and brown butter starter.

It came flying out of the kitchen just after 8pm.

The scallop was in fact paper thin and acted as a casing around the shredded crab inside. The ponzu, a citrus-based Japanese sauce, was poured around the dish and added a zesty refreshing taste. While sharp, it also had a buttery texture to it and a real umami finish which worked beautifully with the fresh fish.

The next wine, also a white one, hailed from Australia and had been picked specifically to combat the more earthy tones of the next dish: the mushroom tart.

It was cleverly presented, as, to me, it looked like a mushroom.

A thin layer of what I presume was a mushroom agar sat on top of the crisp, light thin tart beneath it which housed lots of roasted maitake mushroom. A truffle and madeira sauce was added on the side and the small cubed pieces of mushroom that were inside the tart were spongey and soft. My partner loved the crisp texture of the tart shell and it cracked elegantly as we cut into it.

The sauce was utterly divine. I could have licked my plate clean because of that creamy yet light sauce.

I adored the presentation and had noticed Lorna was armed with kitchen tweezers when placing the purple edible flowers and thin slices of mushroom on top. The finesse of her touch was easily admired on this dish.

The fish course was even better than the last and our favourite of the night. The roasted cod flaked away to reveal two Shetland mussels underneath when cut into, but it was the garlic/parsley crumb on top that I adored.

Everything was cooked beautifully and the beurre de escargot that came with it was buttery, garlicky and had plenty parsley in there too. This sauce is commonly used in France when serving snails.

The colours were brilliant and the bright green was bold against the white fish and plate.

Things started to slow down a bit, which meant another trip to nosy in the kitchen. I had checked with Lorna and the team if they were happy with the odd spectator, which they were.

For mains, the roast Highland venison married well with the red cabernet.

The meat had been cooked just right and the beetroot had been cut into shapes of stars, with a small beet halved on the plate, too. A bon bon of venison was also utterly delicious and the small amount of potato emulsion went a long way as it was very creamy.

There was enough jus to see the dish through to the end, although I’d have loved just a little more meat as it really was lovely.

All good things must come to an end, and dessert was hands down the showstopper of the night.

Served with a white dessert wine, the coconut mousse with pineapple and mango salsa and pina colada was decadently whimsical.

The same edible flowers used on the mushroom dish topped the thin, crisp wafer net that sat over the dish.

A sweet cream hid the zesty chopped pineapple and mango underneath and was undeniably one of the best desserts I have experienced this year. Lorna is a champion in the kitchen when it comes to her sweet dishes and this one did not disappoint.

I skipped tea and coffee as it was after 11.30pm by now, although Calum enjoyed a decaf cappuccino with the chocolate and caramel petit fours before we left.

The verdict

Lorna McNee’s Signature event was exceptional. While things may have got off to a slightly delayed start – no thanks to the horrendous weather we’ve been experiencing across Scotland recently – the food was certainly worth the wait.

I’d have loved to see her step out of the kitchen a little more like some of the other chefs do during Signature, but I also appreciated being able to watch her work her magic with the team at the hotel.

Read my review of Marcus Wareing’s event at Signature Food Festival 2022 here. 

Information

Address: The Chester Hotel, 59-63 Queen’s Road, Aberdeen AB15 4YP

T: 01224 327777

W: www.signaturefoodfestival.co.uk

Scores: 

• Food: 5/5
• Service: 5/5
• Surroundings: 5/5