Core by Clare Smyth.

Core by Clare Smyth

Before every service Clare Smyth eats a potato, plain with a little salt and pepper.

Why go

Clare Smyth's family farm potatoes in Northern Ireland, and as a child she gathered dulse, a seaweed, along the coast there (Foodism, November 2017). She became head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, where, in the MICHELIN Guide's words, she maintained the establishment's incredibly high standards and retained Three Stars year after year (MICHELIN Guide, 2025). In August 2017 she opened Core in a Notting Hill townhouse and paid for it herself: I put my own money into this restaurant. It's not backed by an oligarch or Richard Caring. Everything's on the line. I employ 35 people. (Foodism, November 2017). Her own kitchen took three stars in 2021 (Andy Hayler).

Dinner opens with a run of snacks the house calls The Beginning. Sinéad Cranna ate a buttery lobster roll, mini caviar sandwiches, black truffle gougères and a chicken-skin taco when she reviewed the room for the Infatuation in September 2024 (The Infatuation). Then comes the potato she is known for, a Charlotte baked in a dulse beurre blanc under herring and trout roe. Smyth put it at the center of a menu at this price on purpose: I don't think you need to use posh ingredients for the sake of it. I think it's about perspective. A single potato or carrot is just as valuable as a scallop. (Foodism, November 2017). Cranna ate it and wrote: Keep your turkey dinosaur dinners, this is the only plate of beige we're interested in. The velvety, salty pops of herring and trout roe season the fluffy-on-the-inside potato. And we could've eaten the buttery, dulse beurre blanc sauce like soup. (The Infatuation, September 2024).

Smyth wanted the room to carry the same idea: I want Core to be proudly British, but it's about having fun as well. It's fine dining but without any of the pretentiousness. (Foodism, November 2017). Cranna found the kind of Notting Hill townhouse that your imaginary rich aunt would own, the wisteria curling around the windows, with a big open kitchen and grey velvet armchairs inside (The Infatuation, September 2024). Harden's survey reporters say Smyth and her head chef Jonny Bone are in the kitchen each time they eat and come out to say hello. One of them writes in the 2026 edition: What's remarkable is the absence of pretension. (Harden's).

In the Harden's 2026 edition, written up from a year of its diners' reports, Core lives up to its 'stratospheric pricing' (Harden's). Andy Hayler, who pays for his own meals and prints the bill, disagrees after a dinner in December 2023: Core is a very capable restaurant and the only real issue for me is the value-for-money factor. (Andy Hayler). His objection is the produce rather than the cooking: The ingredient quality here is good though in some cases not at the very pinnacle of what can be found, which is a pity as this would really take the food to a higher level. (Andy Hayler). His sweetbreads were Dutch and his turbot came off a 4kg fish. The Harden's survey, from many more meals than his one, records little in the way of criticism made of the very many meals its diners reported that year (Harden's).

Order this / avoid

• Order: 'Potato and Roe'. MICHELIN's inspectors name it a signature on the Core Classics menu (MICHELIN Guide). The Harden's 2026 edition puts it at the top of its menu tips: the famous potato dish is awesome (Harden's).
• Order: 'Lamb Carrot', the other dish the inspectors call a signature. Sinéad Cranna, The Infatuation, September 2024: Soft, fall-apart meat hides beneath a carrot that's topped with thin, circular slices of alternating orange and yellow carrot. Its sweetness is balanced by a tangy sheep's yoghurt. Our favourite part, though, is the bread roll that you tear open and discover more lamb inside. (The Infatuation).
• Order: the Portland crab three ways, if the kitchen is sending it. Andy Hayler rated it above everything else he ate in December 2023: the star was the sabayon, which had a lovely flavour and silky texture (Andy Hayler).
• Avoid: the carrot-cake pre-dessert, if the kitchen is still sending it. Andy Hayler, December 2023: for me this dish did not work well at all, lacking in sweetness and the carrot itself lacking much flavour. (Andy Hayler).
• Drink: start in the Whiskey & Seaweed bar, where MICHELIN's inspectors tell you to begin (MICHELIN Guide). Gareth Ferreira, a Master Sommelier, keeps the list. Andy Hayler counted 752 labels on it in December 2023, from £50 to £7,500, at an average markup to the retail price of 2.9 times, which is not at all bad for a fine dining restaurant in London (Andy Hayler).

What locals & experts say

• The MICHELIN Guide, Three Stars, on what the kitchen does with produce: the eye-catching dishes take outstanding ingredients and fashion them into beautifully balanced, skilfully composed dishes with supreme depth of flavour.1
• Hélène Darroze, chef-patron at the Connaught, March 2025, asked where she goes for a celebration: CORE by Clare Smyth. Clare relies on using the finest British ingredients, sourced from all regions of the UK. It's a beautiful cuisine full of emotion. She runs a three-star kitchen of her own.8
• Sinéad Cranna, The Infatuation, September 2024, who scored the meal 9.1 out of 10: A lot of fine dining places leave you feeling like the foam you've just been served - very fancy, but rapidly deflating, and, eventually, completely flat. But not Core.2
• Andy Hayler, December 2023, who scores each dish out of 20 and prints what he paid: With two moderate-level wines, a drink at the start and a glass of dessert wine, the bill was a hefty £551 per person. He scored the Portland crab highest that night at 18 out of 20, the carrot-cake pre-dessert lowest at 14.3
• A Harden's survey reporter, 2026 edition, giving the one reservation on the page: Cooking is standout, ambience surprisingly chill and the service is approachable but not as orchestrated as the best.4
• Harden's, 2026 edition, on what the signature says about the cook: it says something that one of this Northern Irish farmer's daughter's key signature dishes is made out of potato!4

Good to know

• Where: 92 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill W11 2PN.
• Booking: book through OpenTable from the restaurant's own site, months ahead, and call the restaurant if it shows you nothing. Andy Hayler counted sixty seats in the room in December 2023 (Andy Hayler). Sinéad Cranna hit the consequence in September 2024: For dinner, we've only ever seen the 9:45pm sitting available. Which means when your helpful waiter tells you about the fish that came off the boat that morning, it's nearly the next morning. (The Infatuation). Her workaround is OpenTable's show next available button instead of picking a date.
• What it costs: £195 a head for the à la carte and £255 for the seven courses of Core Classics, in the Harden's 2026 edition. The same tasting menu was £225 in September 2024. In December 2023 a white-truffle supplement added £90.
• If you cannot get in: Corenucopia is Smyth's sibling room. Cranna says it is easier to book (The Infatuation).
• Dress: there is no dress code.

Verdict

should-visit — Core is worth a three-star dinner and worth planning like a trip. Smyth kept somebody else's stars for years before she spent her own money on this room, and what she put at the heart of it is the crop her family grows. Reckon on £255 a head for the seven courses in 2026 and on taking whatever evening the booking page offers you.