Alan Murchison is a former Michelin-starred Scottish chef and restaurateur, living in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Career

Murchison started his kitchen career as a

kitchen porter (, "kitchen brigade") is a system of hierarchy found in restaurants and hotels employing extensive staff, commonly referred to as "kitchen staff" in English-speaking countries. The concept was developed by Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935 ...

, aged 14. Like most chefs, he worked in a number of restaurants, learning and promoting along the way. He had stints in

Claridges Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. It has long-standing connections with royalty that have led to it sometimes being referred to as an "annexe to Buckingham Palace". Claridge's Hote ...

, Inverlochy Castle, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons,

L'Ortolan L'Ortolan is a gourmet restaurant in the village of Shinfield, south of the centre of Reading, Berkshire, England. It is located in the village's old vicarage building, which is a Grade-II listed building The restaurant has one star in the Mic ...

and

Nobu Nobu Hospitality, LLC is an American company founded by Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro, and Meir Teper in partnerships with Drew Nieporent as an Operator with Myriad Restaurant Group. Background In 1987, Nobu Matsuhisa moved to Los Angele ...

. In 1999, he became director of the cookery school of Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons. Murchison returned to L'Ortolan in 2001 this time as

head chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef ...

. In 2003, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star. Two years later he left to take up a position as executive head chef at ''Chewton Glen'' hotel in New Milton, Hampshire. He left three months later. After a few minor consultancy jobs, Murchison rejoined L'ortolan in September 2004, this time as director-executive head chef with an option to buy the restaurant. In 2007, Murchison jumped on the opportunity to buy the former

Hibiscus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...

restaurant in

Ludlow, Shropshire Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...

from Claude Bosi. He reopened the place as La Bécasse. Later, Murchison founded "Alan Murchison Restaurants Ltd.", later restyled as the 10 in 8 Fine Dining Group. The general idea behind it was: The group now includes four restaurants and a cookery school. Alan Murchison acquired Paris House in late 2009. The

Woburn, Bedfordshire Woburn (, meaning twisted or crooked stream) is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is situated about southeast of the centre of Milton Keynes, and about south of junction 13 of the M1 motorway. At the 2011 census, it had a po ...

-based restaurant was bought out of the legacy of Peter Chandler, who died earlier in 2009. Murchison also acted as mentor for the Nestlé Toque d'Or student catering competition 2010. In Murchison's opinion it is "to give something back, having benefited from strong mentorship early in his career." In 2010, Murchison added the ''New Angel'' restaurant to his "10 in 8 Fine Dining Group". He had the plan to reopen is with its original name ''Carved Angels'', but found out that was impossible due to trademark issues. At the end, the restaurant reopened as Angélique. Murchison appeared on a BBC series ''

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. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, whe ...

''. He lost to

Tom Kitchin Thomas William Kitchin is a Scottish chef and owner of The Kitchin, where he became Scotland's youngest winner of a Michelin star. Kitchin and his wife Michaela opened The Kitchin in 2006 on Leith’s waterfront. The restaurant was awarded a ...

in 2009 in the Scotland heats. He won the Scotland heats in 2010 and 2012 but did not win the finals. In 2011, Murchison reappeared on ''Great British Menu'' once as a judge for the Scottish heats. In November 2013, Alan Murchison Restaurants was

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistr ...

, leaving more than fifty creditors with unpaid amount of owed by the group. In 2014, Paris House and 10 in 8 also fell into liquidation. Later that same year, Murchison resigned as executive chef of L'Ortolan.

Book

* ''Food for Thought'', 2007 * ''The Cycling Chef'', 2019

Personal

Murchison is married to Fiona and has four children. He is a talented amateur cyclist and duathlete, becoming World and European sprint duathlon champion in his age group in 2013, 2014 and 2015 at championships held in Horst, the Netherlands; Ottawa, Canada; and Pontevedra, Spain.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murchison, Alan Living people Scottish chefs Scottish television chefs Scottish food writers British restaurateurs Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish businesspeople 1971 births Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants People from Inverness