CORE by Clare Smyth
This, the namesake restaurant of the former Restaurant Gordon Ramsay Head Chef, was the restaurant that I most wanted to visit in the UK - not without good reason. Frequently considered the best restaurant in London, and with accolades aplenty (The British Good Food Guide places it as the 2nd best restaurant in the UK behind Simon Rogan's L'Enclume, The 50 Best has it as 64th in the World, and it's one of only seven restaurants in the UK (five of which are in London) to hold Three Michelin Stars), CORE is one of if not the most revered restaurants in the country. With that prestige comes anticipation, made all the sweeter for it being incredibly difficult to book in; I managed to book a table for two close to my birthday only at 9.45pm - quite the late seating!
CORE isn't a restaurant where diners must stand to attention; there isn't the need for suits and ties, but it feels only fitting to match the effort that the restaurant staff extend. We enter through the stately, heavy wooden door that marks CORE's entrance and take a seat at the bar while we wait for our table, perusing the table and listening to the nasal whine of Liam Gallagher through the sound system. Shielded away from the kitchen and restaurant, it doesn't give an idea of what is to follow. When we are whirled away in short order to our table, it's with a sense of theatre. We pass down steps that open onto the glass-panelled kitchen, where the Maitre D' introduces us to the chefs, Clare Smyth standing front and centre at the pass. It's an impressive statement, that yes - you will be catered to by the woman herself tonight. Through into the kitchen, there is no music. Sparse wood-panelling on cream walls, bookcases lined with historic cookery texts (right next to us is one of the rarest cookery books in existence, Alain Ducasse's Grand Livre du Cuisine), low lighting and sparse seating - only twelve tables - impress upon us that this is a luxurious, intimate experience. The wait staff conduct a choreographed dance as they see to rearranging the table after each course and keeping our glasses filled, attentive but near-invisible. These are the touch marks of a Three Michelin Star restaurant. One star is for exemplary food. Two stars is for food that goes beyond, in terms of standards of excellence and creativity. Three is for the whole package. It's about taking pride in your wine cellar, the threads of the napkins, the accents of decor, the entire experience. So it is that a visit to CORE is a transportation to a place where the outside world no longer exists. There is rest, relaxation...and exceptional food.
We start with four appetisers, served on small plinths and items one might find in a rock garden: Pepper and Olive Tart (the smell of roasted pepper carrying through wonderfully, but not so exciting on the palette), Toasted Grain and Seaweed Tartlet (a delightful contrast of textures), Pumpkin Gougere (subtle cheese, smooth pumpkin - the clear winner), and Barbajuan (difficult to make, but I've never really enjoyed them and likely never will).
After this, we have our starter, one of CORE's classic dishes: The Charlotte Potato. Drawing from her home nation of Northern Ireland, Smyth employs various seaweeds to great effect, marrying crisp and rehydrated versions with the finest potato I've ever tasted and the finest beurre blanc I've ever tasted (the notes of caramel are incredible) to create a truly special first course. A thing of simple creativity carried out to perfection. I'll likely never eat a better potato dish.
The main course is a 4-hour wood-roasted celeriac over a puree of black truffle and hazelnut. Utilising every part of the celeriac plant to showcase a range of textures and - notably - flavours, the dish is a capable one that is pleasing to the eye and to the palette. That being said, it isn't the best celeriac dish I've tasted; that honour goes to The Clove Club.
After this comes an oddity: We are served the CORE 'apple', a sponge dessert with an apple filling glazed to resemble a ripening apple. We didn't order the CORE 'apple', but perhaps it's a hidden course. I'm glad it came, because it is beautiful and delicious, a refresher for the palette that showcases how apples can be utilised to create a stunning dessert course.
Next, we are offered a Lemon and Verbena dessert, and I now think I notice the mistake: This course and the CORE 'apple' are from the tasting menu. We are ordering from the A La Carte, as the CORE-teaser dessert is only offered on the latter menu. I note the mistake to the wait staff, and she assures us that they will hastily arrive with the CORE-teaser. We are offered the Lemon and Verbena dessert in the meantime, but we decline; it would feel wrong (and what's more, we are saving ourselves for the CORE-teaser). We may rue this decision in later days, but a clear conscience is worth its weight in dessert.
When the CORE-teaser arrives, it is with a real flourish. Seated atop a transparent plate filled with white feathers, the CORE-teaser is a dessertification of the popular snack the Malteaser. Consisting of chocolate feathers, a hardened malt candifloss that just melts in the mouth, hazelnut and an encased chocolate mousse, the CORE-teaser is as much a pleasure to eat as it is to look it. Sumptuous and genuinely exciting - and just like Malteasers - I could eat a whole box of them.
We finish the meal with Petit-fours (as well as a small white chocolate mousse cake for myself, given it's my birthday in a few days' time), consisting of Sauternes and Banyuls jellies (incredibly potent) and a Warm Chocolate and Clementine Tart. The tart especially was beautiful, and a wonderful close to our meal.
By this time, Clare had donned her down jacket and left the restaurant, the kitchen crew wiping down the industrial stove tops as the last of the pastry dishes filtered through the kitchen. With due haste for the last calls of the district line, we reluctantly bid adieu to CORE and the incredible staff.
Truly a meal for a special occasion, the food at CORE is suitably creative and accomplished. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the four other big hitters in London...we will get to those in due course.
Value for Money? £190 each including two bottles of still water, a soft drink, a cocktail, the A La Carte menu and service charge. In terms of food, you can get a comparable level of culinary preparation from some of the one-star restaurants in London for cheaper...but the experience as a whole will not be the same. This is luxury, and for that reason, it is value for money. When the bill comes, you won't care.
Would I return? If means allowed, absolutely. The menu has a lot to offer, and you could spend days making your way through everything.
