Restaurant in London, United Kingdom
Three Michelin stars. Book lunch to get in.
Clare Smyth's three-Michelin-star Notting Hill restaurant is one of London's most credentialled tables, holding La Liste 98pts, World's 50 Best #97, and a 4.7 Google rating across 1,460 reviews. The à la carte runs £195 per head; the Core Classic tasting menu is £255. Book Thursday or Friday lunch for the best chance of a table — dinner is near-impossible without 6–8 weeks' lead time.
CORE by Clare Smyth is one of the hardest reservations in London, and dinner slots go fast. The practical workaround: Thursday and Friday lunch. You get the full tasting menu experience — the seven-course Core Classic at £255 per person, or à la carte from £195 , in a room that books out less ferociously than Saturday evening. If a celebration is on the horizon, this is the window to target.
Since opening in August 2017 at 92 Kensington Park Rd, Notting Hill, CORE has accumulated a credential set that puts it among Britain's most decorated restaurants: three Michelin stars, a World's 50 Best ranking of #97 (2024), La Liste 98pts (2026), and a Star Wine List #1 ranking held consistently from 2021 through 2025. The OAD Leading Restaurants in Europe places it at #46 for 2025. These are not honorary citations , they reflect a restaurant operating at genuine three-star consistency across a now seven-year run.
A 2023 redecoration transformed what had been an underused bar into Whiskey & Seaweed (named for its signature cocktail), and softened the dining room with bronze light and candlelit tables. The room is warmer and more inviting than it was at opening, which matters for a special-occasion booking: you are not walking into a cold temple of gastronomy but into a space that reads as celebratory without being theatrical.
The kitchen's orientation is Modern British, with British produce given serious treatment. Verified dishes in circulation include Isle of Harris scallop tartare in sea-vegetable consommé, roasted cod with Morecambe Bay shrimps and Swiss chard in brown butter, and Rhug Estate venison with a 'haggis' of leg meat and bacon on pearl barley finished with 16-year-old Lagavulin. The famous Potato and Roe dish , a Core Classic signature , is consistently cited by diners as a reference point for what fine dining in Britain can be: a vegetable as the protagonist, technique as the vehicle. Desserts run to the Notting Hill Forest, a trompe-l'oeil of ceps, chocolate, pine and woodruff on nutty crémeux with millefeuille pastry, and the Core-teser. Dinner closes with a tableside tasting of Irish whiskey.
The wine list holds a World of Fine Wine 2-Star Accreditation and, as noted, has topped the Star Wine List rankings four consecutive years. Wine by the glass starts from £12. For a celebration dinner where wine pairing matters as much as food, this is a more serious list than you will find at most London competitors at this price point.
This is where the booking strategy becomes a genuine decision. The à la carte menu at £195 per person and the Core Classic tasting menu at £255 are available at both lunch and dinner. The room, the kitchen, and the service are the same. What differs is availability: lunch on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday is the realistic entry point for anyone booking less than several weeks out. If you are planning a milestone celebration and can move the date to a weekday lunch, you get identical value with a marginally more achievable reservation. Dinner on a Friday or Saturday is near-impossible at short notice , budget 6–8 weeks minimum, and check for cancellations.
Against comparably priced London tasting menus, CORE's lunch offering is competitive. At £195–£255 per head, it sits in the same bracket as Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and [The Ledbury](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/the-ledbury), but CORE's credential density and the quality of the wine program give it an edge for diners for whom the full package , food, list, room , matters.
CORE is open Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday. Lunch runs Thursday to Saturday (12–2:30 pm); dinner runs Tuesday to Saturday (6:30–10 pm). The booking difficulty is rated Near Impossible for prime evening slots. For any special occasion, book as far in advance as the reservation system allows. Cancellation releases do appear , worth monitoring if your dates are flexible. The address is 92 Kensington Park Rd, W11 2PN, a short walk from Notting Hill Gate station.
| Venue | Price per head | Booking difficulty | Michelin stars | Lunch available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CORE by Clare Smyth | £195–£255 | Near Impossible | 3 | Thu–Sat |
| The Ledbury | ££££ | Very Hard | 2 | Limited |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | ££££ | Hard | 3 | Yes |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | £££ | Moderate | 2 | Yes |
At £255 for the Core Classic tasting menu, CORE sits at the upper end of London fine dining. The pricing is not aspirational , it is backed by three Michelin stars, a top-50 global restaurant ranking, and a wine list with independent accreditation. The Google rating of 4.7 across 1,460 reviews is unusually high for a restaurant at this price and formality level, which points to execution that holds across a large sample of diners, not just critics. If the format , a full tasting menu, formal service, a landmark occasion , fits what you are planning, CORE delivers at its price point. If you want Modern British cooking in London at lower commitment, The Harwood Arms and Cornus are worth considering. For a broader look at what London's dining scene offers across price points, see our full London restaurants guide. If you are pairing a CORE dinner with a London stay, our London hotels guide covers the neighbourhood options.
Beyond London, Clare Smyth's influence on Modern British cooking is visible across the country. For comparison points in the same tradition: L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, and The Fat Duck in Bray operate in adjacent territory for multi-night itineraries. For destination dining day trips from London, Gidleigh Park in Chagford and Hand and Flowers in Marlow are the logical next stops. Closer to home, Dorian and Ormer Mayfair offer strong Modern British alternatives at lower price points. For special-occasion dining in a more formal register, The Ritz Restaurant is worth the comparison. Regional Modern British worth knowing: Artichoke in Amersham, 33 The Homend in Ledbury, and hide and fox in Saltwood.
Yes, for the right occasion. At £195–£255 per head, CORE is priced at the ceiling of London dining, but the credential set backs it up: three Michelin stars, La Liste 98pts, World's 50 Best #97 in 2024, and a 4.7 Google rating across over 1,400 reviews. The value case is strongest if you are booking a milestone celebration and want a full tasting menu with a serious wine program. For Modern British at a lower price point, The Harwood Arms is the benchmark alternative.
For three-Michelin-star Modern British, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is the direct peer and is generally easier to book. The Ledbury in Notting Hill , often compared directly to CORE , runs two stars and is rated highly by OAD. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal offers two-star Modern British at a lower price point with easier availability. For something in a more creative register, Ikoyi holds two stars and offers a very different style. See our full London restaurants guide for the broader picture.
The data available does not confirm a private dining room or confirmed group capacity. For a large celebration, contact the restaurant directly before booking , at this price point (£255 per head for the tasting menu), confirming group logistics in advance is essential. Smaller groups of 2–4 are the format most naturally suited to the tasting menu structure.
Possible, but not the natural fit here. At £195–£255 per head with a full tasting menu format, solo dining at CORE is a serious investment. If the bar area (now Whiskey & Seaweed) takes walk-ins or individual bookings, that would be the more comfortable solo entry point , but this has not been confirmed in available data. For solo fine dining in London at a lower commitment level, Cornus and Dorian are worth considering.
The bar , now named Whiskey & Seaweed following the 2023 redecoration , is described as a destination in its own right, with its signature cocktail giving the space its name. Whether it operates as a standalone bar booking or solely for pre-dinner drinks is not confirmed in the available data. Contact the restaurant directly if a bar-only visit is what you are after.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Modern British | ££££ | Near Impossible |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Contemporary European, French | ££££ | Unknown |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Modern French | ££££ | Unknown |
| The Ledbury | Modern European, Modern Cuisine | ££££ | Unknown |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Modern British, Traditional British | ££££ | Unknown |
| Ikoyi | Global Cuisine, Creative | ££££ | Unknown |
A quick look at how CORE by Clare Smyth measures up.
CORE can accommodate groups, but the format shapes the experience. The tasting menu structure at £195–£255 per person means a table of six or more represents a significant commitment, and availability at that size is limited. check the venue's official channels at 92 Kensington Park Rd to discuss options — Thursday or Friday lunch is your best shot at a larger table, as dinner slots are the hardest to secure. The Ledbury nearby is another three-star option worth checking if CORE cannot fit your group on your preferred date.
Yes, and the bar is the practical answer for solo diners. The Whiskey and Seaweed bar area was redesigned post-2023 and is described as a welcoming spot in its own right. Service is noted for being warm without being formal, so the room does not penalise a single cover. At £195 for the à la carte, solo dining here is a considered spend rather than a casual one, but the format works.
Yes. The bar at CORE, now named Whiskey and Seaweed after its signature cocktail, was refurbished in 2023 and is described as a genuinely appealing space rather than a waiting area. It offers a way into the restaurant without committing to a full tasting menu sitting, which makes it worth considering if a table reservation proves difficult to land.
The Ledbury in Notting Hill is the most direct comparison: three Michelin stars, similar price bracket, and geographically close. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea is the other three-star option in London if you want a longer-established flagship. Ikoyi operates at a lower price point with a more experimental approach to West African-influenced cooking and is considerably easier to book. Sketch's Lecture Room and Library offers two-star cooking with a more theatrical room if the setting is part of the decision.
At £255 for the Core Classic tasting menu, CORE is priced at the ceiling of London fine dining — and the credential set justifies it: three Michelin stars held in 2024 and 2025, a World's 50 Best ranking, and a La Liste score of 98 points in 2026. Clare Smyth was the first female chef in Britain to hold three Michelin stars. The consistent guest feedback points to service that does not carry the stiffness typical at this price level, which matters when you are spending north of £500 for two. If the format fits — tasting menu, occasion dining, no shortcuts — this is one of the clearest yes-book decisions in London fine dining.
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