Clare Smyth

Clare Smyth MBE (born 1978) is a Northern Irish chef. She is the Chef Patron of Core by Clare Smyth which opened in 2017 and received two Michelin stars as a new entry in the 2019 guide. She was Chef Patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay from 2012 to 2016. She became the first female British chef to hold and retain three Michelin stars. Smyth won the Chef of the Year award in 2013[1] and achieved a perfect score in the 2015 edition of the Good Food Guide.[2] Smyth has appeared on television shows such as Masterchef [3] and Saturday Kitchen.[4]

Clare Smyth
Born1978 (age 41–42)
County Antrim, Northern Ireland
EducationDunluce School Bushmills
Culinary career

In 2017, Smyth opened her first restaurant, Core, in London. It has been awarded two Michelin stars in the 2019 Michelin Guide.[5][6]

Early life

Smyth grew up on a farm in County Antrim. She is the youngest of three children, of her father William, a farmer, and mother Doreen, who worked as a waitress at a local restaurant. [7]

At the age of fifteen, Smyth held a job over a holiday period at a local restaurant, inspiring her to become a chef. She left school at sixteen to study catering at Highbury College in Portsmouth, Hampshire.[7][8]

Culinary career

While at culinary college,[7] Smyth served an apprenticeship at Grayshott Hall, Surrey.[9] She left that post to work full-time at Terrance Conran's restaurant at Michelin House, London. She followed this with a six-month period in Australia to work for a catering company,[7] and on her return to the UK she staged at a variety of restaurants including The Waterside Inn and Gidleigh Park.[8] She worked at the restaurant of the St Enodoc Hotel in Rock, Cornwall, first as sous chef and then as head chef.[7] While there, she won the title of Young Cornish Fish Chef of the Year.[10]

In 2002 Gordon Ramsay offered Smyth a post at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.[8] In 2007, she was announced as the new head chef of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay,[11] becoming the first female chef in the United Kingdom to run a restaurant with three Michelin stars.[10] Of the 121 British Michelin-starred restaurants at the time of her appointment, only seven had female head chefs.[9] She had left Ramsay's restaurant to work for a year and a half in Alain Ducasse's Le Louis XV restaurant in Monaco, before returning once more to the UK to run the Chelsea-based restaurant.[10] She took over from Zanoni, who was heading to Versailles to open a new Gordon Ramsay restaurant.[10]

In 2013, Smyth was named the Good Food Guide's 'National Chef of the Year'.[1]

Smyth was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the hospitality industry.[12][13]

Smyth was awarded a perfect ten score by the Good Food Guide of the UK's 2015.[2]

She won the Chef Award at the 2016 The Catey Awards,[14] previously won by her mentor Gordon Ramsay in 2000.[15]

Smyth left Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in 2016 to open her first own restaurant Core.[16] Her first solo venture, Core, opened in London's Notting Hill neighbourhood in July 2017.[17]

In April 2018, Core was named Best Restaurant at the GQ Food and Drink Awards.[18]

Clare Smyth was named the World's Best Female Chef 2018 by the World's 50 Best Restaurants.[19]

In 2018, Smyth appeared as a judge in the "UK" episode of The Final Table, season 1.

On 1 October 2018, Core was awarded two Michelin stars in the 2019 Michelin Guide.[20]

References
  1. "Good Food Guide's National Chef of the Year, 2013". The Good Food Guide. Waitrose. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  2. Gerrard, Neil (26 August 2014). "Clare Smyth scores 10/10 in Good Food Guide at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay". The Caterer. Travel Weekly Group. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  3. "Is Clare Smyth The Toughest Chef Ever?". 10 play. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  4. "Saturday Kitchen: 26/02/2011". BBC Food. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  5. "Core by Clare Smyth - London: a Michelin Guide restaurant". Via Michelin. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  6. "Why you will be hearing a lot about this new London Restaurant". Eater.com. Vox Media. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  7. Day, Elizabeth (16 December 2007). "She dresses food like Picasso". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  8. "Women chefs: Clare Smyth, Skye Gyngell, Thomasina Miers, Maria Elia, Emily Watkins". The Telegraph. 18 October 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  9. "Gordon Ramsay eats his own words". The Telegraph. 20 January 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  10. Gardham, Duncan; Peterkin, Tom (27 November 2007). "Revealed: First three Michelin star female chef". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  11. Aitkenhead, Decca (3 August 2018). "Clare Smyth, world's best female chef: 'I'm not going to stand and shout at someone. It's just not nice'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  12. "No. 60534". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2013. p. 23.
  13. "Top chef Smyth 'honoured' by MBE". Belfast Telegraph. 14 June 2013.
  14. "Cateys 2016 winners revealed". The Caterer. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  15. Group, Travel Weekly. "Catey Awards 2020 - Home Page". cateys.com. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  16. "Chef Clare Smyth is leaving Restaurant Gordon Ramsay to open her own place". Eater.com. Vox Media. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  17. "Core by Clare Smyth - London". OpenTable.com. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  18. "The winners of the GQ Food and Drink Awards 2018". British GQ. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  19. Aitkenhead, Decca (3 August 2018). "Clare Smyth, world's best female chef: 'I'm not going to stand and shout at someone. It's just not nice'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  20. "Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2019 Selection". Michelin Guide. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
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