Last Updated on January 4, 2026
Comfort Food and Elevated Dinner Party Classics in this Luxury Bistro – Restaurant of the Month
4.5 out of 5.0 starsWith household budgets under pressure and global uncertainty dominating the news cycle, moments of indulgence are becoming increasingly rare and increasingly valuable. At times like this, our appetites turn to comfort eating, an understandable human instinct (which my waistline knows only too well). We crave those familiar dishes that remind us of kitchens we trusted as children and which take us back to a period when the world was a happier place. Corenucopia, the new luxury bistro from Clare Smyth MBE and our Restaurant of the Month for December, feels well placed in that respect. Rather than chasing trends, it offers familiarity. British classics cooked with care, confident flavours, and dishes where the pleasure comes from a quiet satisfaction. Corenucopia is not excess but ease, with a menu that promises to nourish and comfort at a moment when we are searching for reassurance.
Clare Smyth is one of the UK’s most celebrated chefs and the first British woman to achieve three Michelin stars at her flagship restaurant, Core by Clare Smyth. Corenucopia is a nod to her own childhood, growing up on a farm in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. There’s even a potato menu, an intriguing and tempting tribute to her Northern Irish farming heritage. Corenucopia is a casual dining restaurant with elevated old favourites. Fish and Chips is made with Dover sole and lobster mousse, and my mother’s favourite canapé, the seafood vol-au-vent, comes with a champagne velouté. Even the Core Fried Chicken comes with caviar.
It’s an intriguing menu in a restaurant just off Sloane Square, an area that is mixed residential and high-end retail, and it sounds like a winning formula to me. A brilliant white frontage has a quaint white awning, while the only signage is a large letter C on the door. Inside Corenucopia, the dining rooms are elegant yet comforting, with soft velvet banquettes upholstered in brilliant yellow, a dangerously pale cream carpet throughout, and prettily arranged glasses complementing the traditional paintings on the walls. It’s a home from home for the Sloane Square set.
We went a week or so after the restaurant opened to find it packed, even at 6.30 pm. It might not have been the best day for me to visit, I’d spent the afternoon at Heathrow for the relaunch of Plane Food from Gordon Ramsay, so I arrived less than ready to eat the kind of comfort food on offer at Corenucopia. Somehow by the end of the evening, though, I’d managed three courses. As Oscar Wilde said, “I can resist everything except temptation.”
With a glass of Charles Heidsieck champagne for me and a classic Negroni for my companion, we started the evening in style.
The menu at Corenucopia has a ‘snacks’ section – perfect for a greedy but replete diner like me, and we ordered two native cocktail oysters from Cornwall which came with a shallot mignonette and gin pickle and a single core fried chicken with caviar – a morsel of super tender chicken in a spicy batter, deep-fried and served with a very generous dollop of caviar on top.
My companion, who had something more of an appetite, chose the smoked salmon pâté with white wine and dill jelly, served with house-made buttered crumpets. It was hard not to be impressed by this dish, which came with light flakes of smoked salmon, topped with a delicate white wine jelly laced with dill.
By now, we’d moved on to a bottle of white wine picked for us by the sommelier at Corenucopia. We’d asked for his recommendation for a reasonably priced wine that would pair well with all the food we were ordering, and his recommendation of the 2024 Sauvignon Blanc Trinqu’Ames, La Grange Tiphaine, Touraine, at £65 was excellent. It had a light minerality with lovely gooseberry fruit tones and herbaceous hints, superb value at £65 for a truly delicious wine.
My main course of grilled Scottish trout with Morecambe Bay shrimps, squid and lemon was a dainty but flavour-packed plate. Perfectly cooked trout with a delicious buttery sauce, morsels of pink caviar, squid and shrimp, tarragon and cubes of pickled cucumber made the kind of dish I could eat every day of the week.
My companion’s Chicken Kiev cordon bleu was lovely but somehow less impressive. Chicken stuffed with aged cheddar and Serrano ham was served with a delicate black truffle sauce that seemed somewhat overwhelmed. The chicken itself was excellent quality, firm and well-flavoured, but for my companion, the dish didn’t quite gel.
Not so the Anna Potatoes – a cake of layered fine buttery fried potato slices topped with a generous helping of creme fraiche. If you decide to go to Corenucopia yourself, do make sure you order from the potato menu – it’s a thing of great joy!
I’d half planned to share dessert, but Corenucopia is full of temptation. While I should have picked the Madeleines or Fudge, I couldn’t resist the promise of the Irish coffee-misu, and I wasn’t in the least disappointed by this light, perfectly balanced serving of dark chocolate and mascarpone laced with Jameson’s.
Similarly, my companion’s gorgeous lemon meringue pie with toasted meringue and a rich, eggy lemon curd filling was a winner.
Rounding the meal off with coffee, we left happy to have visited what I am sure will become a popular and well-loved fixture. Corenucopia is the kind of restaurant where you could happily take a date for a treat. Or where you could meet your parents. Or, if you are feeling particularly indulgent (and I might just veer in that direction soon), where you could pop in for lunch and know that you’d leave well fed and well looked after. Service is immaculate – and we recommend making full use of the sommelier to help navigate the extensive wine list.
18-22 Holbein Place
Chelsea
London SW1W 8NL
Telephone 0208 016 5752
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