Alan Murchison is a Michelin-starred Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 chef and restaurateur living and working in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

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Career

Alan has always been in the restaurant business taking up his first post in the kitchen as a porter at the age of 14. During the 1990s, Alan worked in a number of Michelin starred kitchens, the first being Inverlochy Castle with Graham Newbould, followed by stints at Claridges, Nobu, L’ortolan and Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons. Within two years of arriving at Le Manoir, Alan was promoted to Senior Sous Chef before taking up his post as the Director Ecole de Cuisine.

Alan first came to the L’ortolan Restaurant in Berkshire in December 1996 to work with John Burton Race and was soon promoted to Junior Sous Chef before leaving to take up his challenges at Le Manoir with Raymond Blanc. It was in September 2001 that Alan returned to the L’ortolan, this time as Executive Chef/Managing Director to re-establish its reputation as a destination dining experience par excellence, culminating in the revered one star award from the Michelin Red Guide early in 2003. Soon, Alan was looking for a new challenge and in early 2007, this presented itself when Chef Claude Bosi closed the renowned Hibiscus restaurant in Ludlow to move to London. Alan took this opportunity to establish himself in “”the foodie Capital of Great Britain” and re-opened the restaurant as La Bécasse in July 2007. Just six months after opening, La Bécasse was awarded 3 AA Rosettes and in January 2009 was awarded a prestigious Michelin Star, making Alan the only Chef to operate multiple Michelin Starred restaurants outside of London. In 2009 both L’ortolan and La Bécasse were ranked in the National Restaurant Awards top 100 Restaurants in the UK. Alan and the team hope to emulate the success story of La Becasse at Paris House. Says Alan, “Paris House is totally unique. It’s a truly stunning ‘destination venue’ and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to follow in Peter’s footsteps and bring the magic of the property alive. It’s a very different style of establishment to our other restaurants and that is part of our challenge. We’ve got some terrific concepts underway across the proposed menu development and I’m very much looking forward to sharing these with our guests”.

Alan released his first book “Food For Thought in December 2008 to much critical acclaim. “Among the hundreds of cookery books that have known in my time, there is absolutely no doubt that Alan Murchison’s ‘Food For Thought’ is the most beautiful I have ever seen. A veritable work of art, it is the epitome of artistic imagination and exquisite taste, truly a feast for your eyes, even surpassing the evident usefulness for the ambitious cook. Its penetrating and highly selective attention to detail is overwhelming in every way. It is amazing that it has been produced (and even published!) by Alan Murchison personally. –Egon Ronay – 16 January 2008”

Since 2008, Alan has been a featured chef on a number of TV programmes including: The Great British Menu (BBC), Hairy Bikers (BBC) and Market Kitchen (UKTV). In 2010 he in competed in the Great British Menu

Great British Menu

Great British Menu is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four course banquet. The first series banquet was for the Queen on her 80th birthday. The second series was to cook for the British Ambassador to France at the British Embassy...

and won the Scottish heat. In 2011 he returned in the next series as a weekly judge.

Personal life

Alan's hobbies and interests include, old white cars, marathon running and karate. He is happily married with four children.