A slightly late review but it still felt like I should post this. We somehow fluked a reservation at Core after someone else on this subreddit had noted how incredibly hard to book they found it to be. Out of curiosity, I looked on the reservation page to find an open Saturday lunch spot which I went ahead and booked not knowing if we would use it or pass it on to friends. We decided that with all the high praise lavished upon Clare Smith’s restaurant, we should try it for ourselves and see what all the fuss was about. It was all as you might be unsurprised to hear, utterly (at times mind-bendingly) delicious; with both the cooking and the service as flawless as expected. To be clear; nobody is reinventing any wheels, pushing any envelopes or coming up with new appropriate analogies to explain the technically incredible classical cookery on display at Core. Things here hark back to the before times, before all the gelling agents, before people made us listen to the sound of the fucking ocean while we ate, before the procession of serious Scandinavian men vying to redefine what modern fine dining is. Here there is proper silver cutlery, bone china tableware, green marble in the loo. I should note that this is in no way to its detriment. This kind of heavily French-accented modern British cooking is in short supply at this level in London. It is serious food – large amounts of butter are thrown at problems and deliberate laboriousness and flawless technique are both in no short supply and often put front and centre. Often the answer to why that already delicious element is presented in such a time-consuming and elaborate way seems to be: because they can. Long may it continue.
​
Menu as follows:
**Amuses**
Beetroot Tartelettes
Barbajuans
Pumpkin Gougeres
Roast Potato Tacos
All excellent seasonal treats – some of the best amuses I’ve ever had. Did you know you needed a Roast Potato Taco? No, neither did I. But I do now. Bread was a deep earthy bass note rye sourdough and the flakiest rolls made out of a kind of croissant dough served with butter that is churned until it separates and then has the whey whipped back into it to order. All very good stuff.
**Sharpham Park Spelt, Fenland Celery, Celtuce and Selim Pepper**
This was astounding – every green texture and flavour you might imagine but with such incredible depth provided by that broth. There was something creamy dotted in here which provided little moments of richness in every other mouthful. The spelt itself was nutty and cooked until perfectly tender.
A signature dish and it’s not hard to see why. Likely the savoury dish of the day. The potatoey-est potato, topped with potatoes that are potatoey in a whole other way, a little truffle and a whole mess of beurre blanc laced with the salty heady flavour of dulse seaweed. Spectacular.
**Scottish Cep and White Truffle Tartlet, Flufetts Farm Egg Yolk, Thyme and Toasted Yeast**
Edible Autumn – Crisp pastry and various textures of mushrooms, including a contentious mushroom jelly which divided onion between us. Also hiding in there was the most perfectly cooked egg yolk – not quite fully runny, not quite the texture of a perfect jammy ramen egg yolk. This made it taste (to my simple British school-dinners-warped mind) like a glorious savoury mushroom trifle. A banger for me, a bit weird for my dining companion.
**Confit Sand Carrot, Sheeps Milk Yoghurt**
A really good carrot dressed and cooked in ways that make carrots delicious. The sharp sheep’s milk yoghurt and salsa verde made from the carrot tops cut through the richness very nicely and it was presented with a small Parker house roll stuffed with a kind of carrot chutney. Excellent cooking but maybe if being hypercritical, a bit safe. I suspect the signature ‘lamb carrot’ dish from which this vegetarian version derives is probably lent some additional oomph from a decent lamb sauce.
**Celeriac, salt baked then roasted over wood, Black truffle, Hazelnuts**
By far the best iteration of ‘big-bit-of-celeriac-as-veggie-main-course’ I have ever had – and there have been a few! The cook and seasoning on the globe of celeriac itself was absolutely spot on and more well-judged use of truffle in the stuffing of it gave it a satisfying savoury core. I should make a note here on on just how good the seasoning and use of truffle in a lot of these dishes was – there wasn’t a single grain of salt missed across the whole meal and whenever truffle was used it was thoughtful and complemented rather than overpowered. We were also presented with a crumble made from the trim on the side which added yet more nutty hazelnut flavour, and creamy richness and paired well with the rest of the dish.
**Core Apple, Toffee, Somerset Cider Brandy**
Ever had the ‘Anvil’ desert at L’Enclume? It’s that. Maybe not quite as good. It’s still really enjoyable, however; different textures and flavours of caramel lent the malic tang of green apple. The presentation doesn’t add much. It doesn’t look much like an apple and it isn’t pretty enough to be as sparsely presented as it is.
**Pear and Verbena, Poire Williams Sorbet**
Nowwwww we’re talking. This stunner of a finalé sailed into my top three deserts of all time after a couple of spoonfuls. With a certain amount of recency bias factored in I struggle to sit here and come up with a better one. The initial minty, lemony, slight medicinal note of the verbena creme is lasered in half by the Poire Williams sorbet to great effect. Possibly the pear-iest thing I have ever eaten, my mouth is filling with saliva at the thought of it. An absolute gem.
**Petit Fours**
Warm Chocolate Tarts
Banyuls and Sauternes Wine Gums
The warm chocolate tarts were a lovely end to the meal and provided a little point of richness that some fans of more indulgent deserts might have felt was lacking from the previous two relatively light and delicate offerings. The wine gums were fun and (having a great experience after consuming all four of them thanks to my jelly-suspicious partner) had a really intense depth of flavour to them. Always nice when things taste of what they purport to!
dshnaq on
Wow. I’m going 2x next month to have each of the (non-vegetarian) tasting menus. This makes me wonder whether I should pull the trigger on the vegetarian for one of them. Probably won’t, but wow. This looks so impressive.
scyphs on
I’m going this Saturday and I’m really excited!
Denofthievesdining on
Looks like an awesome meal! Thanks for sharing
Squidman97 on
Absolutely stunning
Firm_Interaction_816 on
A fine review, glad to see they offer such an excellent offering for vegetarians as well. I fully agree with your thoughts, Core plays with textures and presentation enough to keep things interesting without doing anything too mad and it never compromises on making dishes absolutely delicious.
6 Comments
**Core, London (***) Vegetarian 28/10/23**
A slightly late review but it still felt like I should post this. We somehow fluked a reservation at Core after someone else on this subreddit had noted how incredibly hard to book they found it to be. Out of curiosity, I looked on the reservation page to find an open Saturday lunch spot which I went ahead and booked not knowing if we would use it or pass it on to friends. We decided that with all the high praise lavished upon Clare Smith’s restaurant, we should try it for ourselves and see what all the fuss was about. It was all as you might be unsurprised to hear, utterly (at times mind-bendingly) delicious; with both the cooking and the service as flawless as expected. To be clear; nobody is reinventing any wheels, pushing any envelopes or coming up with new appropriate analogies to explain the technically incredible classical cookery on display at Core. Things here hark back to the before times, before all the gelling agents, before people made us listen to the sound of the fucking ocean while we ate, before the procession of serious Scandinavian men vying to redefine what modern fine dining is. Here there is proper silver cutlery, bone china tableware, green marble in the loo. I should note that this is in no way to its detriment. This kind of heavily French-accented modern British cooking is in short supply at this level in London. It is serious food – large amounts of butter are thrown at problems and deliberate laboriousness and flawless technique are both in no short supply and often put front and centre. Often the answer to why that already delicious element is presented in such a time-consuming and elaborate way seems to be: because they can. Long may it continue.
​
Menu as follows:
**Amuses**
Beetroot Tartelettes
Barbajuans
Pumpkin Gougeres
Roast Potato Tacos
All excellent seasonal treats – some of the best amuses I’ve ever had. Did you know you needed a Roast Potato Taco? No, neither did I. But I do now. Bread was a deep earthy bass note rye sourdough and the flakiest rolls made out of a kind of croissant dough served with butter that is churned until it separates and then has the whey whipped back into it to order. All very good stuff.
**Sharpham Park Spelt, Fenland Celery, Celtuce and Selim Pepper**
This was astounding – every green texture and flavour you might imagine but with such incredible depth provided by that broth. There was something creamy dotted in here which provided little moments of richness in every other mouthful. The spelt itself was nutty and cooked until perfectly tender.
**Charlotte Potato, Dulse Beurre Blanc, Fermented Potato Chips**
A signature dish and it’s not hard to see why. Likely the savoury dish of the day. The potatoey-est potato, topped with potatoes that are potatoey in a whole other way, a little truffle and a whole mess of beurre blanc laced with the salty heady flavour of dulse seaweed. Spectacular.
**Scottish Cep and White Truffle Tartlet, Flufetts Farm Egg Yolk, Thyme and Toasted Yeast**
Edible Autumn – Crisp pastry and various textures of mushrooms, including a contentious mushroom jelly which divided onion between us. Also hiding in there was the most perfectly cooked egg yolk – not quite fully runny, not quite the texture of a perfect jammy ramen egg yolk. This made it taste (to my simple British school-dinners-warped mind) like a glorious savoury mushroom trifle. A banger for me, a bit weird for my dining companion.
**Confit Sand Carrot, Sheeps Milk Yoghurt**
A really good carrot dressed and cooked in ways that make carrots delicious. The sharp sheep’s milk yoghurt and salsa verde made from the carrot tops cut through the richness very nicely and it was presented with a small Parker house roll stuffed with a kind of carrot chutney. Excellent cooking but maybe if being hypercritical, a bit safe. I suspect the signature ‘lamb carrot’ dish from which this vegetarian version derives is probably lent some additional oomph from a decent lamb sauce.
**Celeriac, salt baked then roasted over wood, Black truffle, Hazelnuts**
By far the best iteration of ‘big-bit-of-celeriac-as-veggie-main-course’ I have ever had – and there have been a few! The cook and seasoning on the globe of celeriac itself was absolutely spot on and more well-judged use of truffle in the stuffing of it gave it a satisfying savoury core. I should make a note here on on just how good the seasoning and use of truffle in a lot of these dishes was – there wasn’t a single grain of salt missed across the whole meal and whenever truffle was used it was thoughtful and complemented rather than overpowered. We were also presented with a crumble made from the trim on the side which added yet more nutty hazelnut flavour, and creamy richness and paired well with the rest of the dish.
**Core Apple, Toffee, Somerset Cider Brandy**
Ever had the ‘Anvil’ desert at L’Enclume? It’s that. Maybe not quite as good. It’s still really enjoyable, however; different textures and flavours of caramel lent the malic tang of green apple. The presentation doesn’t add much. It doesn’t look much like an apple and it isn’t pretty enough to be as sparsely presented as it is.
**Pear and Verbena, Poire Williams Sorbet**
Nowwwww we’re talking. This stunner of a finalé sailed into my top three deserts of all time after a couple of spoonfuls. With a certain amount of recency bias factored in I struggle to sit here and come up with a better one. The initial minty, lemony, slight medicinal note of the verbena creme is lasered in half by the Poire Williams sorbet to great effect. Possibly the pear-iest thing I have ever eaten, my mouth is filling with saliva at the thought of it. An absolute gem.
**Petit Fours**
Warm Chocolate Tarts
Banyuls and Sauternes Wine Gums
The warm chocolate tarts were a lovely end to the meal and provided a little point of richness that some fans of more indulgent deserts might have felt was lacking from the previous two relatively light and delicate offerings. The wine gums were fun and (having a great experience after consuming all four of them thanks to my jelly-suspicious partner) had a really intense depth of flavour to them. Always nice when things taste of what they purport to!
Wow. I’m going 2x next month to have each of the (non-vegetarian) tasting menus. This makes me wonder whether I should pull the trigger on the vegetarian for one of them. Probably won’t, but wow. This looks so impressive.
I’m going this Saturday and I’m really excited!
Looks like an awesome meal! Thanks for sharing
Absolutely stunning
A fine review, glad to see they offer such an excellent offering for vegetarians as well. I fully agree with your thoughts, Core plays with textures and presentation enough to keep things interesting without doing anything too mad and it never compromises on making dishes absolutely delicious.