Interview: Clare Smyth – ‘I Am A Relentless Person And I Don’t Give Up’

In January of this year, Clare Smyth opened a bistro, Corenucopia, in Chelsea. Intended as the more casual counterpart to her three-starred fine-dining restaurant, Core, she was surprised when it quickly won a Michelin star. ‘I just didn’t expect it,’ she says. Though nobody who know the Northern Irish chef will have been surprised – Smyth herself will attest that she’s an almost ‘relentless’ worker. But it’s this discipline that landed her an MBE, and landed her a history-making role as the first woman running a three-starred kitchen in Britain. Surely with this string of accolades underbelt she might be due a rest? Not so – she’ll be opening Coreus later this year at the Waldorf Astoria Admiralty Arch, and has no interest in slowing down. C&TH meets one of the UK’s top chefs ahead of dinner service. 

Interview: Clare Smyth Is Not Ready To Slow Down

Are you calling me from just before service? 

Yes – I’m always running around – there’s a lot to do at the minute, which is a privilege. 

Talk me through that busy-ness. You’ve had two openings this year, right? 

Within one year, yes – a lot has been happening. It’s very difficult opening restaurants; I always say it takes years off your life. But it’s very rewarding when things start to come together. And I’m a perfectionist, so it’s very hard for me when I open something; it takes a little bit of time before the space, the team, everything starts to click. You just have to keep cracking on and keep tackling things, until you keep polishing it and you get to where you need to go. 

I was lucky enough to pop in to Cornucopia earlier this year. It’s such a good space. When was the seed of the idea planted? 

Years ago, actually. I’ve always had a thing about a bistro in my mind, it’s like… An alter ego. I love to cook fine dining, that’s definitely the creative side of me, but I also love bistro-style food. I get a great amount of pleasure from creating and eating those dishes. You wouldn’t eat fine dining every single day, so I wanted to create somewhere that people could go regularly. And something that’s suitable for everyone, with nostalgic British classics. 

The interiors at new restaurant Corenucopia

I feel like a lot of chefs want to open a pub – Story chef Tom Sellors is reportedly looking for a pub project right now; Tommy Banks’ Abbey Inn is his pub passion project. Is this bistro your version of the pub ‘Holy Grail’? 

I think so – it’s definitely from a place of nostalgia. I wanted to make something with a menu full of things people just want to eat. Some of it is a bit retro – we’re doing a chicken kiev, with a twist. But it’s the kind of menu you might have grown up with. It’s interesting because we obviously have so much data on everything we sell. It really is those dishes that go: it’s chips, chicken kiev, and then bistro classics like lobster bisque and rose scallops. 

It must be quite interesting to know on such a granular level how well recipes perform.

As restaurants and chefs, we have an awful amount of data to our hands. We have everything in our hands. As business people, you can see what works, what doesn’t work. I mean, you can see it with just your customers anyway because you’re so in touch with them every day in the restaurants. But you also have all this tremendous amount of feedback; these things are facts that don’t lie. You can say, ‘Oh, chef loves that recipe’. Maybe no one else does. But there are the facts and the data as a business person that you use to drive that, to give people what they want. 

Is there a dish you really liked that didn’t quite land – maybe you wish it had? 

Do you know, not really? At Corenucopia everything is pretty popular, but we’ve been monitoring the menu since opening. It indicates a really good menu balance. I was quite deliberate in creating the dishes for that space, though, because I want it to be quite commercial, suitable for everyone, and a place that people are comfortable eating at. I didn’t want to shock people with what we’re creating. We want people to feel comfortable and connected to the food. 

‘Simple’ dining – Smyth’s take on fish and chips at Corenucopia

Obviously then the star came very quickly. Did that scupper your kind of ‘this is our more chilled output’? 

I honestly didn’t expect it at all. Like I really didn’t. Of course, we’re super grateful for the recognition, and it’s really nice that Michelin had the faith in us, to see the standard of what we were doing and the quality. Again, I’m a perfectionist and still feel we’ve got a lot of work ahead. But I’m so happy with the product and consistency of what we’re doing: we have a really good menu, a fun concept. But yeah, it really wasn’t what I had in mind for Corenucopia at all. But then everyone around me kind of said, ‘Well, are you joking? Of course it was going to get a star.’ I just really hadn’t thought about it because that wasn’t the intention. 

That’s really quite funny. You’re like, this is our popular restaurant, and then there’s the star. Amazing though. 

Yeah, it is. For me I think the most important thing for me will always be having a full restaurant full of happy people – and it’s the same at Core. 

So take me a bit through time. You grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland, what got you into cooking and what were the formative moments between then and now? 

I grew up cooking on the farm as part of my chores. Food was quite important to the family because everyone was very busy. Everything was freshly cooked every day. I didn’t grow up knowing anything different. And then I started working in a local restaurant in my school holidays and at weekends – and I just fell in love with it, with food, flavours. And I just became obsessed. I realised quite quickly that I wanted to move into fine dining, the more creative side of food. 

Had you had any other ambitions outside of being a chef? 

I think in another life I’d probably have been a professional showjumper. I used to ride horses a lot as a kid, and I loved that. 

Do you still ride horses? 

I just don’t have the time for it now. I’d love to do it again one day when I have more time. But it’s a lot of looking after, too. 

I feel like looking after horses requires a lot of discipline. And I remember seeing an interview where you talk about discipline, working extremely hard, wanting to be the absolute best at this. Where do you attribute your sense of discipline from? 

I think it was probably my upbringing on the farm and competing with horse riding at a young age. And my dad was quite strict with it. Also, farming is 365 days a year, all day, every day, no breaks. That brings work ethic and relentlessness. I also think some people are born with it, you either have a fire or you don’t. I was always quite rebellious – maybe it was being the youngest – but I’ve always had a fire to achieve and to compete. I am a relentless person and I don’t give up. In life, it doesn’t matter that you get knocked, of course you do, but you just keep going. And if you keep going, you normally get there.  

Can you point to any moment where you thought you might give up, or nearly did? 

I think not really. I never really considered that you could. When I was younger and working in really tough kitchens, I just kept going. I took a day at a time, a week at a time. I never really looked beyond that, and just focused on what I was doing and kept my head down. I never really thought about quitting. 

It’s funny because recently I have been doing Hyrox competitions, and my friend is really good. She was so quick, and I was so shattered. But it just kept going through my head that I couldn’t stop. Why would you stop?  If your body’s still moving, you just keep moving. Your body is keeping going, so you just keep going. Unless that stops, there’s no reason to stop. 

Do you do Hyrox regularly – is that your go-to stress release? 

No, but I do go to the gym probably five to six days a week. Mainly strength training, a little bit of cardio. I try to keep myself strong and healthy. 

It must be quite hard to be heathy in the food industry. I know it certainly is from a food media side; I don’t know a single person who’s not thinking actively about their health. Is it on your mind a lot? 

Yeah, all the time. I have a dietitian, and I really invest a lot into my health because I treat myself like an athlete, to be honest. I have to perform at a top level all the time and my job is incredibly stressful. And you know, I’m 47 years old, and I’m not ready to slow down. 

Do you think a lot about longevity – are you into the biohacking thing? 

All of it. I do everything. I have done DNA testing, I regularly check my gut microbiomes. I love what I do, and I want to get the best out of myself. And as you get older it can become more difficult, so I’m putting the investment in. 

Do you have a go-to gadget, like wearable healthtech? 

I have had all of them. Normally I just use an Apple watch in the gym. I don’t need as many because I know where I’m at with that testing. I think personal testing is probably the future of medicine. And it makes a huge amount of difference to take the right supplements, the ones that are right for your needs, too.

Has your cooking style changed – at home or the restaurant – since you had access to that data? 

Yes. Not at the restaurant necessarily – I think we’ve always cooked very naturally and with fresh ingredients – but I definitely know more about myself and cooking at home now. More about how my body can process food and energy. I think that day-to-day food is so important for health, and you need to be able to take pleasure out of cooking. That’s why it’s so important to invest in your home setup, and good kit. I tend to find that people who view cooking at home as a chore are working with a little warped plastic chopping board, a pan that’s seen better day. It’s so important for your health that it matters to invest in the gear that makes it a pleasure to cook at home. 

Okay, talk me through your actual kitchen setup. Is there a pan you always use, a particular knife? 

I like the Hexclad chicken fryer, it’s the perfect size for nearly everything. I’m a big fan of one pot things. It’s great for cooking frying, searing, sticking it in the oven, and braising things. It’s a superb piece of kit. It’s quality material, too, so easy to clean. Well, for my husband to clean. 

Smyth has been a Hexclad ambassador since 2024

That seems a fair exchange. I actually wondered – I remember the TopJaw video that went viral – were you quite prepared for how obsessed people were with your kitchen design? 

Yeah, that was interesting. I guess a kitchen is so important to any home chef. 

I loved the downward draft fans. 

Yeah, it’s really clean as a look – which I like aesthetically in a kitchen. A kitchen should be the heart of the home. When we host, people normally come into the kitchen and it’s good to have a point to gather around. 

Did you work with an interior designer? 

The kitchen was mainly me – I knew the layout and kit I wanted – but I worked with an interior designer friend of mine to bring it to life. 

Did that social media stuff feel quite natural to you? Or do you try to avoid social media?

I like using it as a tool for communicating menus, or filming dishes – it’s fun that people can understand the dishes. With music to it. It’s not a thing for me personally, though. 

And influencers – what’s your relationship to them? 

I guess we’ve not really worked with them at Core, it’s a very different business model, but we’ve had some come into Corenucopia. To be honest, they’ve all been really nice, they’re really positive, and they’re so supportive of hospitality. 

That’s a nice take. And on hospitality, in the wider industry sense is there anything else that makes you feel hopeful? It’s felt very volatile for the past few years.  

I’m always so focused on what we’re doing, to be honest, so I don’t know. My thing is that if I focus on every single customer that comes through the door, every person might tell maybe 20 people where they’ve been. There’s powerful word of mouth you can leverage, more powerful than social media and reviews. It can fill or empty restaurants quite quickly. I feel sometimes people are maybe looking at the wrong things; it’s important to actually look at the people sat there in your restaurant and look after them. It’s very immediate, that hospitality. 

I do feel something that’s not talked about right now is how much opportunity there is for young people within hospitality. It’s hard work but a great career. 

True. And it can’t be automated either, can it? 

I do quite a few catering events, and I’ve been asked to cook dinners for even a lot of AI companies – it’s really interesting, but it’s the one thing they can’t replace. People around a table, socialising, eating together. Human beings need contact with other human beings to be at our best and healthiest. I think [hospitality] be quite safe in that regard. 

Quick Fire

What was the first thing you learned to cook? 

A really simple vegetable soup. 

Favourite in-season ingredient? 

Strawberries and cherries. British strawberries are amazing. 

Quick throw-it together dinner? 

Roast chicken. 

What’s in your fridge right now? 

Greek yoghurt, fruit, a bottle of champagne. And maybe a head of broccoli. 

Do you have any cooking rituals? 

I’m very obsessive compulsive in the restaurant. I have three red pencils with gold writing on them and white rubbers, and they have to have the gold facing up. And then when I’m cooking at home, my ritual is popping music on and doing my mise en place with a drink. 

Go-to cocktail right now? 

Right now I’m in big love with a French 75. 

The restaurant everyone should try at least once in their lifetime (excluding your own)? 

Le Louis XV, Alain Ducasse’s Monaco restaurant. It’s glamorous, as is the location. You feel like a movie star when you’re dining there. It’s very special. 

And your most thumbed cookbooks? 

I tend not to use them these days but the one I have used the most across my career is the French Laundry cookbook. 

The French Laundry Cookbook was published in 1999 and is considered a seminal cookery text

Comfort snack?

Salt and vinegar crisps. It’s a guilty pleasure. I could eat loads. 

And what’s your favourite hack for leftovers?

Stir fries. You can use up any leftover veg, bits, pieces and meat just alongside a dressing with chilli, garlic, ginger, a little soy. Or turning it into a soup. I keep a base soup in my freezer at al times – like a chicken and veg broth – which I can bulk out with other things – like cooked packets of spelt rice or lentils, a tin of tomato, and fresh herbs. It’s such a good base.  

BOOK IT

Corenucopia by Clare Smyth can be booked via opentable.co.uk