Core by Clare Smyth

The new decorative look at Core has worked wonders. What was an underused bar space is now Whiskey & Seaweed (named for its signature cocktail), and the dining room has had quite the 'glow-up' too. The expansive space is bathed in bronze light, with candles performing their age-old office of making a restaurant table look inviting, and at the centre of it all is a striking column, loaded with uplit glassware. So far, so chic. An army of staff is on permanent manoeuvres, yet without making the place feel like a parade-ground. Efficiency and discretion are as finely judged as is consistent given the ambitious context, with just enough friendly chat to ensure civility. As for Clare Smyth's food, the first thing to say is that, for a venue operating in this bracket, it has an uncommonly solid following of regulars. Call them the core of Core. As soon as the nibbles appear, one can see why: a truffled pumpkin gougère; a lobster roll; a caviar sandwich, all sublime. Bread is made with Wessex flour and served with whipped buttermilk. Dishes from the full menu are capable of balancing sparkling freshness and delicate textures – just consider the Isle of Harris scallop tartare in sea-vegetable consommé, the shell sitting proud on a mound of flora. A more assertive fish pairing sees roasted cod honour-guarded with Morecambe Bay shrimps and Swiss chard in brown butter. Tour the home nations with a main course of Rhug Estate venison, which comes with a refined (ie offal-free) 'haggis' of the leg meat and bacon on pearl barley in an ambrosial sauce of 16-year-old Lagavulin single malt. If it's internal organs you're after, look to the crisp-fried veal sweetbread dressed in honey and mustard, with a serving of Norfolk kohlrabi. Desserts incorporate what might be considered the local option, Notting Hill Forest – a trompe-l'oeil pile of ‘fallen leaves’ made of ceps, chocolate, pine and woodruff on nutty crémeux, in which are embedded little shards of millefeuille pastry, to give the acoustic effect of crunching through autumn leaf-litter. And then one stumbles on a prune soaked in Earl Grey tea. Dinner ends with a little tableside tasting of Irish whiskey. A magnificent wine list covers pairing options, as well as an inspired glass selection (from £12), before graduating to the great and the very great of the vinous globe.

At Restaurant Gordon Ramsay Clare Smyth became the first British woman to hold three Michelin stars. With Core, the Notting Hill restaurant she opened in late 2017, Smyth has achieved the same accolade on her own with the restaurant being awarded three stars in the 2021 red book. Smyth hasn’t strayed from her haute cuisine background, creating a chic and modern dining space befitting her culinary pedigree. The one-time World’s Best Female Chef is passionate about fine dining and Core feels both reassuringly traditional as well as slick and forward thinking in its approach, a trick that’s often difficult to pull off with any success. The restaurant has two tasting menus – one focusing on its classic dishes and another that’s more based around the seasons – as well as an à la carte offer. Dishes are imaginative, with Smyth often eschewing the luxury ingredients found in restaurants of similar ambition. So, a potato dish that might be served with caviar comes instead with herring and trout roe; and hogget and mutton – once seen as inferior meats – also make an appearance. In some cases, vegetables become the stars of the show, such as in her classic ‘lamb carrot’ dish, in honour of the carrot she would pinch from the pot when cooking braised lamb. In 2023 Smyth opened standalone bar Whiskey & Seaweed which, as the name suggests, serves an extensive range of whiskies as well as a strong cocktail offer. All this amounts to a dining experience that is decadent but fresh, one that harks back to a time when fine dining restaurants ruled supreme, but which also feels contemporary and on the money.

5 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence