The award-winning Co Down chef Chris McClurg is returning to home territory this month, with plans to open a new food venture in Belfast.
The Great British Menu finalist and chef patron at Paul Ainsworth’s Michelin star No6 restaurant in Padstow, is bidding farewell to Cornwall after 13 years.
Speaking to The Irish News, the 36-year-old Hillsborough native confirmed he is currently scouting locations in the city with his partner Alice Stewart for a new pop-up venue, with longer-term ambitions to open his own ‘farm-to-fork’ venture in the north.
“My 13 years here have been incredible. It’s a massive chapter of my life personally and professionally,” he said.
“I’ve been chatting to Paul for over a year now about moving back and my desires to go and have a crack at it for myself.”
Starting his career in Belfast’s Shu restaurant, Chris quickly earned plaudits for skills that eventually brought him into the sphere of Great British Menu winner Paul Ainsworth in 2012.
Just over a year after joining his team in Cornwall, No6 was awarded a Michelin star in 2013.
He rose through the ranks at No6, becoming its chef patron and earning the title of Observer Food Monthly’s Young Chef of the Year in 2018.
The Co Down chef earned further recognition in 2022 after he made it to the prestigious Great British Menu banquet with his Derry-Girls inspired dessert.
He is now ready to realise his dreams and take charge of his very own restaurant back on Irish soil with the help of his partner Alice, who originally joined No6 as a pastry chef and departs as restaurant director.
“My short-term goal is to find a temporary pop-up style residency in Belfast,” he said.
“That will give us an opportunity to test the market. We won’t need a massive staff, but it will allow me to get a feel for Belfast again.
“I’m not naively coming back and wanting to replicate exactly what I do right now.
“But I want to take everything I know, from a skills perspective, and make it really accessible, really casual. Cracking ingredients, cook simply, small team, very cocktail and wine by the glass-focused.
“I definitely want a chef’s counter in there with a city centre vibe.”
The eventual plan is to establish his own venue outside the city and make full use of his butchery skills.
The Co Down comes with a high pedigree meat carving background, spending three years with renowned Irish butcher Jack O’Shea in London and Brussels.
“My longer-term ambition to acquire a freehold with a bit more of a rural setting and I really want to do a ‘farm-to-fork’ operation,” he said.
The chef was recently back on home ground, hosting a culinary salon dinner at Ulster University’s Academy restaurant in Belfast before Christmas.
He said he was blown away by both the facilities and humbled by the support and welcome he has received from hospitality circles in Belfast.
He hopes to launch the new pop-up restaurant by the autumn.
“I want to come back with a fresh approach, but a sensitive approach,” he said.
“I’m dying to do some pop-ups with people I really know and respect, and just be active and cook at home and enjoy it.”