JOHN MOLLOY is Director of Food for Superlative Dining Collective & Merchant City Pub Company and the chef behind GŌST in Glasgow. His career spans some of Scotland’s most respected kitchens, including Brian Maule at Le Chardon d’Or, The Sisters, The Left Bank, Hanoi Bike Shop, and The Butchershop Bar & Grill. John’s cooking is rooted in classic technique, whole-animal thinking, and bold, confident flavours. He has a particular love for big cuts, slow, and fire-led cooking, focusing on dishes that reward patience and respect for the ingredient. Time spent helping to establish The Spanish Butcher shaped his approach to meat, sourcing, and simplicity, with the restaurant later earning recognition from CNN as one of the “Top 10 New Openings in the World” and GQ’s “Top 5 Restaurants of the Year”. While his background includes a strong understanding of food science, John avoids gimmicks in favour of cooking that delivers depth, generosity, and clarity of flavour. At Meatopia, his focus is on primal cuts, live fire, and classic roast-style accompaniments, cooked properly and served without unnecessary complication.

Raised just outside Glasgow, JOHN-ROSS “JR” PATRICK has spent over a decade sharpening his skills in some of the city’s best kitchens, with a formative year in New Zealand adding fire to his culinary skillset. After joining The Winged Ox in 2019, JR stepped up to Head Chef in late 2024, leading the team across a busy restaurant, weddings, and large-scale events. Since then, he’s completely reimagined the menu, introducing a hugely popular Southern-inspired comfort food offering. With three smokers and a custom BBQ trailer now in tow, JR has brought his love of wood-fired cooking straight to Glasgow’s East End. Known for bold flavours, big energy, and seriously hearty food, he and his team are constantly pushing boundaries and evolving their craft. This June, JR returns to Meatopia to showcase his signature fire-cooked flavours and bring the heat back to Glasgow once again.

LAP-FAI LEE, British Chinese cult favourite cook, mentor, and the creative force behind the viral instagram account @oishinboy. Known for his deeply personal cooking that folds together his Cantonese heritage with a modern British outlook, Lap-fai crafts dishes that are playful, unexpected, and rooted in soulful technique. Lap-fai has spent over a decade as a specialist BBQ teacher, crossing worlds from glossy Cantonese duck and char siu to deep, smoky American pork ribs and peppery beef. He’s as comfortable pleating delicate dim sum as he is breaking down whole pigs for the pit. His skill has seen him collaborate with Michelin-starred chefs, develop menus for restaurants all over the UK and Europe. Lap-fai is a Meatopia veteran with his outfit Fire + Rice and will be sure to bring the most deliciously smoky Asian bbq dishes and techniques to Meatopia Glasgow this year.

LLOYD MORSE is a chef and co-owner of The Palmerston. Originally from just outside Sydney, Lloyd spent more than 10 years cooking in top London restaurants including The River Cafe, Magdalen, Primeur and Spring, before moving to Edinburgh and the likes of Timberyard, Good Brothers and The Free Company. He opened The Palmerston with business partner James Snowdon in 2021. He's an ambassador for UK charity WildFish’s Off the table campaign, launched in 2022 to encourage UK restaurants to take farmed salmon off their menus. The Palmerston champions local and seasonal produce, working closely with farmers and producers - particularly within Scotland - to source the best ingredients available. Whole animals are prepared on-site in the restaurant’s butchery, bringing a low-waste approach to the menu and allowing the team to showcase cuts from the whole animal. The Palmerston menu changes daily, European-style, with dishes including the likes of Tamworth, rabbit and prune terrine, Roast Texel hogget chop, white beans, tomatoes, tropea onion and rosemary, alongside sharing dishes including Roast chicken, chips and béarnaise, cassoulet and signature pies.

NICK NAIRN is a self taught chef who developed his cooking in the modern French and Italian idiom, recently returned to his early love of Indian and Asian food discovered during his 7 years as a Navigating Officer in the merchant navy. This is reflected in classes at Nick’s Cook School and will be the subject of his next book.

NICK WATKINS is the founder of the Multi award winning burger joint El Perro Negro. Nick started his business as a pop up back in 2014, not coming from a cheffing background but having a drive to produce high quality burgers with high end ingredients. It quickly gained cult status in Glasgow with the first shop opening in 2014 and now operates in both Glasgow and in Edinburgh. El Perro has won best burger in the UK twice, as well as recently winning burger chef of the year among other accolades. Nick is no stranger to Meatopia being one of the first Scottish outfits to attend and has cooked at the event three times, serving up his award winning burgers to massive queues. This year he is cooking on home turf with something a little different. Watch this space.

After 20 years in the service industry, you’d be hard pressed to find somebody as versatile as ROB HALLAS. From humble beginnings in McDonalds, to running nightclubs and bars, Robs unorthodox path has led him to owning and operating Bastards Bistro. A concept that pushes culinary boundaries, Bastards is an idea that was born from grit, determination and a whole lot of stubbornness. From 5 course pairing nights, to festivals to reinventing the scotch egg in lockdown, Rob has managed to indent his versatility and passion for hospitality into something truly exceptional. His cooking style is unique, putting his own spin on classic dishes. Cooking what he loves to eat and serve to the masses.

ROBERTA HALL-MCCARRON opened her first restaurant, The Little Chartroom in 2018, followed by Eleanore in 2021 and Ardfern in 2024. Working in professional kitchens from 16, Roberta moved to Burj Al Arab, Dubai, before returning to work at Michelin-starred The Kitchin. Asked to be on the Castle Terrace opening team by Dominic Jack, she remained for six years (3 as head chef) meeting now husband and FoH at The Little Chartroom, Shaun McCarron. To date, she's won accolades including Best Newcomer at Edinburgh Restaurant Awards 2019; YBF Best Chef 2018; Eating & Drinking Award from The List Magazine; entries in Michelin Guides 2019 and 2020; UK’s Top 100 at Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards 2020; Breakthrough Chef of the Year at the Food and Travel Awards; Good Food Guide 2020; 100 Most Influential Women CODE, and shortlisted for GQ Best Chef 2022. In 2023 she became Squaremeal’s Female Chef of the Year. Representing Scotland, Roberta made the national finals in the BBC’s Great British Menu in 2020 and 2021, winning the fish course in '21 and cooking at the final banquet.

Chef RYAN SINGH inherited his love of cooking from his mum, building on traditional Punjabi recipes and elevating them with a subtle touch of Scottish fusion. His food is bold, honest and flavour-driven from bubbling hot curries to expertly charred meats and vibrant, fresh marinades. Since launching SABZI in July 2021, Ryan has created a restaurant known for its punchy flavours, warm hospitality and creative take on classic Indian street food. His cooking style celebrates heritage while embracing innovation, bringing together the depth of Punjabi cuisine with modern techniques and local influences. Under his leadership, SABZI has gained multiple awards and recognition, including features on the BBC. Ryan continues to push boundaries while staying true to the roots that inspired him delivering food that is soulful, exciting and unmistakably SABZI.