3 Michelin Star Chefs: Clare Smyth, chef-patron, Core

Clare Smyth is the chef-patron of Restaurant Core by Clare Smyth in Notting Hill, London.

• Recipes by Clare Smyth
• Features with Clare Smyth
• Other chefs with three Michelin stars

Clare Smyth is no stranger to Michelin-starred restaurants, having earned and retained three of them as chef-patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

Now, it is her own restaurant, Core by Clare Smyth, which bears a plaque with three stars on it. 

Biography

Clare grew up on a farm in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. After working at a local restaurant in her school holidays, she moved to England aged 16 to pursue a career as a chef. 

She subsequently trained and worked in some of the most renowned kitchens in the world. She did an apprenticeship at Grayshott Hall in Surrey, then secured a role at Michelin House in London.

Before joining Gordon Ramsay at his eponymous restaurant in 2002, she worked at the St Enodoc Hotel in Rock and staged at The French Laundry in California and Per Se in New York.

She was named head chef at the Royal Hospital Road restaurant in 2007, making her the first female chef in the United Kingdom to run a three Michelin star restaurant. 

After leaving Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Clare headed to work for Alain Ducasse at Le Louis XV restaurant in Monaco, before returning to the UK to open up her first solo restaurant. 

Core by Clare Smyth

Core by Clare Smyth is an informal fine dining restaurant with an emphasis on natural, sustainable food, sourced from the UK’s most dedicated farmers and food producers. 

Clare, Jonny and the Core team seek out the best of British produce, working with farmers to champion sustainable ingredients used throughout the menu.

Awards and other projects

Clare was named as the best female chef at the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards 2018. 

She was made an MBE in 2013 for her services to the hospitality industry, won the Chef of the Year award in 2013 and achieved a perfect score in the 2015 edition of the Good Food Guide.

Clare has appeared on a variety of TV shows including Saturday Kitchen, Final Table and Masterchef: The Professionals and cooked for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in 2018, adding to her worldwide notoriety.

In 2018, Core received five rosettes in the AA restaurant Guide 2019 and two stars in the Michelin Guide UK 2019.

Many predicted that it would soon receive a third star, and lo and behold, in the 2021 guide, it did. 

Clare credited her team for the achievement, explaining that a good proportion of them have been by her side since day 1.

"It's that longevity that really raises your standard," she said.

"You can't do it alone. It's every little element, every bit, the consistency, discipline, the drive everyday of the whole team to achieve that level. You can't just achieve it once, you have to achieve it for every single plate, every single day."

Clare is particularly passionate about education, and her team are all involved in the Core Academy,  a rigorous internal training programme which she believes instills them "with knowledge, tools and the confidence they need" to succeed in their roles and in their careers. 

The chef believes it is the role of high-profile chefs such as herself to attract more young people into the industry. 

With most of her interns having trained in France, Spain, Switzerland and beyond, she said:" I'd love to see some world-class hospitality schools in the UK." 

Videos of Clare Smyth: