The chef behind Core has a British bistro off Sloane Square, run by a team promoted from Notting Hill, with Dover sole fish and chips and a menu given over to potatoes.
Clare Smyth grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland, and at her new bistro the potato has a menu of its own. It runs to nine dishes, from hasselback potatoes roasted in beef fat to mash finished with caviar. Corenucopia has opened at 18-22 Holbein Place, a few steps south of Sloane Square.
A team from Core
Smyth opened Core in Notting Hill in August 2017, and it won its third Michelin star in January 2021. She calls Corenucopia the next chapter, and a chance to bring on the next generation of her kitchen and dining room.
The senior team comes from Core. Gary Mundi, the head chef, is from Canada, and Lynn van Logtestijn, the restaurant manager, is from Denmark; both joined Core in 2019. Van Logtestijn started there as an intern and qualified as a sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers along the way.
The Michelin inspectors, who have already added Corenucopia to the Guide, describe thick cream carpets, neo-classical mouldings, mahogany tables and velvet upholstery.
British classics and a potato menu
“Fish and chips” is Dover sole or brill with a lobster mousse, mushy peas and triple-cooked chips. The chicken Kiev is made cordon bleu with Serrano ham and aged Cheddar. The toad in the hole carries Cumberland sausage, black pudding and smoked bacon.
Among the starters is a seafood vol-au-vent of scallops, prawns and mussels in a Champagne velouté. From the grill there is a Barnsley chop of salt-marsh lamb, and a côte de boeuf of Lake District Black Angus for two.
The potato menu puts Anna potatoes with smoked crème fraîche beside boulangère, dauphinoise and dauphine with smoked bacon. Puddings run to a floating island with Drambuie custard, an Irish coffee tiramisu and a profiterole of Tahitian vanilla, chocolate and salted caramel.
Wine by Valentin Picon
Valentin Picon, the head sommelier, comes from Bordeaux by way of Mauro Colagreco at Raffles London at The OWO, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. He builds the list with Gareth Ferreira, Core’s master sommelier.
Two wines by the glass are bottled for Core in South Africa under the name POUR by CORE. One is an old-vine Chenin Blanc from Swartland made by David and Nadia Sadie; the other a Walker Bay Pinot Noir made by Storm Wines, Newton Johnson and Restless River together. The 2008 Dom Pérignon P2 is poured by the glass too.
Downstairs, the Cellar Room sits beside the wine cellar, with soft leather walls and its own Bowers & Wilkins sound system. It seats eight.
Lunch Friday to Sunday from 12:00 to 14:30; dinner Wednesday to Sunday from 17:30 to 21:30. Starters £22 to £32; main courses £29.50 to £54; côte de boeuf for two £120; potatoes from £7.95. A discretionary 12.5 per cent service charge is added.
Corenucopia by Clare Smyth, 18-22 Holbein Place, London SW1W 8NL.
Discover more at corenucopia.com