Clare Smyth facts for kids
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| Born | 6 September 1978 County Antrim, Northern Ireland |
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| Cooking style | Modern British |
| Education | Dunluce School Bushmills |
| Spouse | Grant |
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Current restaurant(s)
Core by Clare Smyth
 Oncore |
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Previous restaurant(s)
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Television show(s)
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Award(s) won
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Clare Smyth MBE (born September 6, 1978) is a famous chef from Northern Ireland. She is known for her amazing cooking skills. Clare Smyth is the head chef and owner of a restaurant called Core by Clare Smyth. This restaurant has earned three Michelin stars, which is a very high award in the cooking world.
Before opening Core in 2017, she was the head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay from 2012 to 2016. She won the Chef of the Year award in 2013. In 2015, her cooking received a perfect score in the Good Food Guide. You might have also seen her on TV shows like Masterchef and Saturday Kitchen.
In 2017, Clare Smyth opened her first restaurant, Core, in London. It quickly became very popular. In 2021, Core was given three Michelin stars. This made Clare the first woman from Northern Ireland to have a restaurant with this top honor. She opened her second restaurant, Oncore, in Sydney, Australia, in 2021. Oncore also received a high award, making her the first female chef to achieve both three Michelin Stars and a "Three-Hatted Chef" honor. She even appeared as a guest judge on MasterChef Australia in its 15th season.
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Early Life and Inspiration
Clare Smyth grew up on a farm in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. She was the youngest of three children. Her father, William, was a farmer, and her mother, Doreen, worked as a waitress.
When she was fifteen, Clare had a holiday job at a local restaurant. This experience made her want to become a chef. She left school at sixteen to study cooking at Highbury College in Portsmouth, England.
Starting Her Culinary Journey
While studying at culinary college, Clare Smyth worked as an apprentice at Grayshott Hall in Surrey. After that, she worked full-time at Terence Conran's restaurant at Michelin House in London. She then spent six months working for a catering company in Australia.
When she returned to the UK, she worked at several famous restaurants. These included The Waterside Inn and Gidleigh Park. She also worked at the restaurant of the St Enodoc Hotel in Rock, Cornwall. There, she started as a sous chef (a chef who helps the head chef) and later became the head chef. During this time, she won an award called Young Cornish Fish Chef of the Year.
In 2002, the famous chef Gordon Ramsay offered Clare Smyth a job at his restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
Becoming a Head Chef
In 2007, Clare Smyth was announced as the new head chef of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. This was a big deal because she became the first female chef in the United Kingdom to run a restaurant with three Michelin stars. At that time, only seven of the 121 British Michelin-starred restaurants had female head chefs.
Before taking on this role, she spent a year and a half working at Alain Ducasse's Le Louis XV restaurant in Monaco. She then returned to the UK to lead the Chelsea-based restaurant. She took over from Simone Zanoni, who was moving to open a new Gordon Ramsay restaurant.
In 2013, the Good Food Guide named Smyth the 'National Chef of the Year'. She was also given the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours. This award recognized her great contributions to the restaurant industry.
In 2015, the Good Food Guide gave Clare Smyth a perfect score of ten. She also won the Chef Award at The Catey Awards in 2016. Her mentor, Gordon Ramsay, had won this same award in 2000.
Core and Oncore: Her Own Restaurants
Clare Smyth left Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in 2016 to open her very own restaurant, Core. Core opened in London's Notting Hill area in July 2017. In April 2018, Core was named Best Restaurant at the GQ Food and Drink Awards.
In 2018, Clare Smyth was named the World's Best Female Chef by the World's 50 Best Restaurants. She also appeared as a judge on the "UK" episode of The Final Table in 2018.
On October 1, 2018, Core was awarded two Michelin stars in the 2019 Michelin Guide. Then, in the 2021 Michelin Guide, Core received three Michelin stars. This made her the first British woman to have a restaurant awarded three Michelin stars.
In early 2021, it was announced that Smyth would open a restaurant in Sydney, Australia. This restaurant, named Oncore, opened in November 2021. It is located on the 26th floor of the Crown Sydney in Barangaroo. Alan Stuart is the head chef at Oncore.
A review in Bloomberg magazine called Oncore "Sydney's best restaurant." Clare Smyth could not be at the opening herself due to travel restrictions at the time.
Recent Activities
In May 2025, Clare Smyth worked with the champagne brand Dom Pérignon. This collaboration was part of a campaign called "Creation is an Eternal Journey."
Personal Life
Clare Smyth lives in Wandsworth, London, with her husband, Grant. Grant works in finance.
See also
In Spanish: Clare Smyth para niños
