Interview with Hannah Rose representing Scotland on Great British Menu 2025 – Women In the Food Industry

Great British Menu (GBM) returned to our screens in January for season 20. The BBC2 show puts the nation’s most talented chefs to the test. At Women in the Food Industry we are continuing our series of interviews with the strong female line-up of chefs from across Britain competing to serve their dish at the final banquet. Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, interviewed yacht chef Hannah Rose. She is the youngest female Head Chef on superyachts.

Originally from St Andrews, Hannah is representing Scotland.

How did you start working in the food world and where did you train to be a chef?

It was when I left high school. Cooking was the only thing that I loved when I was younger. Everything came naturally to me from the age of 15 or 16 and at that point I dropped out of school. I do remember a lot of my teachers being against it at the time. Saying, you’re making the wrong decision, you’re not going to university. My first job was in The Adamson at St Andrews. I worked there on the weekends whilst I was still in high school.

I even got like a little moped when I was 16, just so I could get to and from work. It was the most amazing restaurant ever to work in.  I then went to the Isle of Skye & worked at the Three Chimneys for a few years. This led to working at the Black Swan for Tommy Banks and then went to work at Ynyshir with Gareth Ward.

This is your first time on Great British Menu, how did you get onto the show and what appealed so much?

It started through Instagram. I got a message  saying something about Great British Menu. I actually wondered if it was real. At first I thought no part of me was going to do it. Which sounds so rogue now that I have done the competition. I’m not really that competitive. But this is probably the only show where I don’t feel like it’s just a competition.

Everybody’s so individual and I really like that. I came across a lot of difficulties being a female in cheffing but I’ve got of strong women in my life, people like Justine Murphy  (she also started as a superyachts chef) who is close friends with Sally Abe, who’s done Great British Menu for a few years. They’re all very much like striving to change. But I personally think equality has come so far in the past four years, but Great British Menu for me has always been about every type of chef. It wouldn’t matter if I was a chef on a yacht.

I achieved youngest ever female head chef on a superyacht, which is life changing for me. It’s so different from being a land chef but working in Michelin starred restaurants has taught me consistency when I have a very varied life on superyachts. Having to source ingredients from every single part of the world. It’s last minute trips. It’s 100 guests one night down to a couple the next day. I have to cook every cuisine. Jamaican to French to Italian to Caribbean. I love it.

What was it like working under the cameras and with the crew at Great British Menu?

I don’t mind the cameras. I’m an Academy house chef on mymuybueno. and mentioned before that I am friends with its founder Justine Murphy. So I am used to being on camera while cooking.

The crew at Great British Menu were really fun to work with. My cameraman’s called Chris. My dad’s called Chris. So I just kept calling him Dad the whole time! It was a healthy and happy environment and I really liked that.

Which was the hardest course to prepare and research for?

Well desserts and patisserie are my thing.  And my desserts were, in my opinion, second to none. However I had much less time to research and practice the starter as I had just accepted a promotion as Head Chef, with lots of new responsibilities.  I do love cooking vegan food. And you will see I get valuable feedback on that on the show from the veteran judge.

GBM is very much known for its props, did you embrace the props on the show?

Massively, yeah. James in the production team said  I’ve never had so much information sent to me by anyone in the history.  I was up till 3 o’clock in the morning working on the brief and props as I was a charter for six weeks. I had Magic Johnson, Samuel L Jackson on board the yacht.  I would finish work and then I’d work on research for GBM for three hours.

I would be so knackered but was enjoying it. I work with props a lot on superyachts whenever we have themed nights.

Which chef that you have worked with has given you the most inspiration?

Definitely Gareth Ward. He’s just incredible. The discipline he shows is what I am. He is everything that I run by now, in terms of the organization to the meticulous thinking, flavors and certain techniques.

Being at his restaurant Ynyshir is an experience from the second you arrive. It’s life changing. You’re not just eating a plate of chicken you are immersed in an unreal experience.  And that’s what the end banquet at Great British Menu feels like to me.

Gareth showed me you can take anything and make it incredible.

If you were marooned on a desert island, what was the one type of dish you could happily live on?

Cheese toasties. I am a toastie addict. Even though I cook some of the most gourmet food for the richest people in the world, I love toasties more than anything. And in my BBC audition interview I was asked what’s your favourite meal? And I was said cheese toasties. Like a proper good one. So I’d have to say cheese toastie.

Finally, what do you know now that you wish you could have told your younger self when you were starting out?

I would be know how far you’re  going to  get and how proud you should be of yourself.  I never really realised  how far I’d come because I was  constantly striving for the next thing.

Also to get to where you are, you don’t have to know everything. I love learning. And so I think I would probably be to tell my younger self that you’re going to continuously grow. You’re never going to get to a point where you don’t. So just enjoy the process of learning more and more.

Hannah will be appearing on Great British Menu from Tuesday 11th February 2025 representing Scotland.  Look out for more in our series of interviews with the great women chefs on Great British Menu 2025 – this page will be regularly updated.