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At the heart of Bruce Clyne-Watson’s cooking is something even more fundamental than technique or presentation - it’s connection. Raised in the Scottish Highlands, his earliest experiences of food were shaped not just in restaurant kitchens, but outdoors: cooking over open flames on camping trips, sailing expeditions, and hillside adventures. After honing his craft in Michelin-starred kitchens and travelling extensively across the world, from Patagonia to the Himalayas, Clyne-Watson began to rethink not just how food is prepared, but why. His venture, Alba, reflects this shift: a move away from rigid fine dining conventions toward something more instinctive, communal, and rooted in nature. In this interview, he reflects on the influence of the wild on his cooking, the lessons learned from global food cultures, and why, no matter how far he travels, the Highlands remain at the centre of everything he does.
My dad was a scout leader, so we would camp a lot and cook weird and wild things in the outdoors, on boats, and up hills. At school we also did lots of expeditions and sailing so I feel the outdoors was always the gateway to my connection to food and the wild. It’s given my food an honest and real edge.
Alba origins are vast and varied. My career began in fine dining restaurants mostly across Europe and later to global roles and private chef jobs for UHNW individuals and world leaders. Having travelled extensively for pleasure, one such adventure led me to Argentinian Patagonia working on an Andean horse ranch. There I discovered and learnt to farm, cook our own food and cook over fire, this sowing a seed of an idea to incorporate a love for the outdoors, adventure and cooking, thus providing a much more outside the box career path than the stiff rigours of a typical restaurant.
As a cook I feel the coming together of people to eat is only partly to do with the food, its facilitating joy, togetherness and happiness: food should be a celebration of this. When we help people with their events we want to help them enjoy themselves. Nurturing them is a huge passion of mine.
This is a continuation of the origin of Alba at its inception, but what travel allowed me to view are the ways in which other cultures value food. It’s something often deeply rooted in religion or history or relevant to the wealth or availability of ingredients within different aspects of a continent’s or countries’ social economical systems. Truly what it took me away from is a chef’s perspective of food and allowed me the viewpoint of Joe Bloggs. Freeing certain ideas about how a meal should be formed or presented.
I guess it’s more from the idea of your bearded guy with his tongs burning a steak in his garden for the family or friends. What I saw, particularly in South America, was the experience of sitting out all day with friends, eating different cuts of meat as they were ready. We cook with fire, sometimes slow, sometimes quick. There are no set rules to fire cooking whereas BBQ in the European sense of the word can be formulaic.
There are aspects I have been unable to unlearn. A deep rooted approach to the perfectionism of food and the over value of how the food is presented on the plate, alongside trying to add and over complicate cooking is a constant battle I fight. I have to shut down the inner voice and try and channel my over the shoulder wee ratatouille style voice “less is more”.
This is a challenge at times, waste is a big issue within the food sector, especially in large scale events. Finding a balance of keeping a good moral judgement and being considerate of the world and strong ethics, alongside being practical about what is possible. We use and source great food, wood and charcoal, treating staff well and paying them a high wage that reflects how much we value them. Often our customers share our views which makes this process a lot easier.
I have to say that I love my business and we have had great customers. However, nothing will ever compare to the times I have shared in the true outdoors. My fondest memories are as a child with my father cooking at a campsite, with my little opinel knife in my hand, I shed a tear as I write this. Those moments will sadly never be topped at work.
Typically if we are trying to feel more Scottish we lean towards the classics such as langoustine, diver caught scallops, venison and wild mushrooms such as chanterelles. We cook with whisky staves at times, I’m always trying to make my food sound, feel and taste more Scottish.
Scotland is home. It’s my happy place and certainly the place I hope to take my last breath. Nowhere will ever truly feel like home outside of the Highlands. That being said, we are surrounded by green, we live in a very safe and cultured part of the UK, and it’s also the longest I have lived in one place as an adult, almost 7 years. We will return home one day, hopefully not too far in the future. Home is very important to me, as a Scot who has now lived away from Scotland longer than I have lived there, it carries even greater importance, the accent fades but the missing only grows. My heart truly is in the Highlands…
Easy, I would cook a dinner in the Himalayas. Hands down the most impressive place I've been on earth. Second choice, somewhere I'm yet to visit, would be in the Arctic Circle.
I spend as much time as possible hiking, camping, adventuring, fly fishing and breathing in the outdoors.
Glenferness, paradise in Nairnshire, just on the edge of the Dava Moor. But I'll take anywhere remote in Scotland.
Alba has big dreams as do I. The dream is to have a beautiful hidden bothy for retreats and wild cooking, and we also want a beautiful event space. I dream of working with people with disabilities and young people, allowing them to be liberated by the outdoors and the experiences I've been fortunate to have in my life.
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