Clare Smyth is fine dining royalty. Named world’s best female chef by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2018, she also became the first British woman to achieve three Michelin stars in 2021. Her Notting Hill restaurant, Core, still has a three-month waiting list. Why then, you might wonder, is her next big project a humble bistro?
“I do think there’s a market for everything,” she says, “and what often is missed with fine dining is that people want atmosphere when they go out.” When Corenucopia opened on the Pimlico side of Chelsea in December 2025, “it was very much … an alter ego concept, of wanting to do something more casual”.
This is a bistro in Chelsea by Clare Smyth, though, so humble it is not. The food, she says, is “more traditional, everyday – family favourites and classics that most people would enjoy, but elevated so it’s bountiful and luxurious enough to match the setting.”
For inspiration, Smyth looked to the plethora of fine furniture and art shops nearby, with luxury British brand Linley especially influential. A central vitrine acts as the decorative focal point, lending the room a sense of grandeur without excess. Guests use the same silverware and fine-boned china as at Core, surrounded by white walls, light-grey carpets, mustard velvet chairs and dark mahogany tables – a plush atmosphere sitting somewhere between neoclassical and contemporary. If guests want to cosplay as Tudor court royals – or simply toast something memorable – the private dining room leans unapologetically regal, with tufted leather walls, a long, sleek table and a crystal chandelier casting a soft, ceremonial glow.
An all-British, fast-paced playlist will seal the ambiance, Smyth hopes. “It’s busy and bustling … somewhere you can come back time and time again and there’s lots of things on the menu that you want to eat.”
Using the same produce as Core, the menu adapts to the seasons but is designed for those averse to fine-dining frippery. Corenucopia is about the market, where “simplicity rules”, but also about abundance, taking things “a little bit over the top … more is more”.
Classics are lavishly reworked. Fish’n’chips is spruced up (to put it lightly) with Dover sole and a lobster mousse filling; chicken Kyiv cordon bleu is finished with black truffle sauce; seafood vol-au-vent comes with a champagne velouté. Elsewhere, dishes are served more simply: a lobster bisque to start, or a Barnsley chop cut from saltmarsh lamb and served with mint sauce.
Potato enthusiasts will feel especially at home. A dedicated section of the menu runs to 10 preparations, from Anna to dauphinois, hasselback and mash – a homage to Smyth’s childhood spent on a potato farm in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Desserts are “all the great bangers”: custard tart, sherry trifle, lemon meringue pie profiteroles and soft-serve ice-cream for nostalgia chasers.
For wine, three sommeliers are on hand, while the cocktail list leans into the Negroni’s ongoing popularity with five variations, including fig leaf and seaweed infusions, and one made with mezcal in lieu of gin.
It’s early days, but the chef is clear about her ambitions. “I just want to see it full of regular guests all the time.” For Smyth, that comes down to feeling. “You want to feel connected, you want to feel nostalgia, you want to feel emotions, and you want to feel like you’ve had a good time.”
Corenucopia by Clare Smyth
18–22 Holbein Place, SW1W 8NL
Hours:
Wed & Thu 6pm–9.30pm
Fri & Sat midday–2.30pm, 6pm–9.30pm
Sun 12.30pm–3.30pm, 6pm–9pm
