Core by Clare Smyth

Clare Smyth opened Core on Kensington Park Road in August 2017, and it holds three MICHELIN stars in the current Guide. The room is quieter than its reputation suggests: cream panelling traced with a fine copper line, burr-wood shelving, velvet chairs in sage and oatmeal, and a central servery stacked with glassware under a tiered column. Flowers are changed constantly. Nothing about it announces itself, which is rather the point.

The cooking is modern British and produce-led, built around two tasting menus and an a la carte, with the signature Potato and Roe and Lamb Carrot on the Core Classics list. Guests arrive through Whiskey & Seaweed, a dark green bar behind the dining room with gilded discs on the walls, an arched back bar and a deep whisky list. The Chef's Table seats eight to ten at a live-edge timber counter, separated from the kitchen by a sheet of glass, and everyone at it eats the same menu.

Core does not publish a hire brochure, and it is not sold through the venue marketplaces. Private events are arranged directly with the restaurant. For a small, serious dinner in west London it is close to unmatched, though the scale is intimate throughout and the room is a dining room first: any music or entertainment plan is a conversation to have with the team, not an assumption to make.