World-renowned chef Clare Smyth has announced plans to open a restaurant in Sydney – her first outside the UK. The news comes off the back of the chef receiving three Michelin stars in the 2021 Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland for her London restaurant, Core. She is the first woman to have received this accolade.
Oncore by Clare Smyth will open on level 26 of Crown Sydney in July 2021. The restaurant will build off the success of Core while heavily showcasing Sydney ingredients.
“I named my first restaurant ‘Core’ as it is from the heart, a seed of something new, and has strong ties to nature. As the new restaurant will build upon the success of Core, it seems fitting to call it ‘Oncore’ — a play on the word ‘encore’ meaning a follow-on performance demanded by the audience,” says Smyth.
Smyth has revealed that Oncore will offer the same gastronomical experience as her famed London restaurant, but with an Australian twist that retains its emphasis on sustainability. A selection of the chef’s classic dishes will make their way to Sydney, including the centrepiece of Core, the ‘Potato and Roe’, featuring slow-cooked Charlotte potato topped with smoked trout and herring roe, served with buerre blanc. At Oncore, the dish will feature potatos sourced from fourth-generation family farmers in the Southern Highlands.
Other dishes will have a more unique Sydney flavour. For instance, ‘Beef and Oyster’, which draws inspiration from Sydney Harbour while paying homage to the classic English Victorian-era beef, oyster and Irish stout pie. Smyth’s version will feature oysters from the Wapengo and Wagonga estuaries from the South Coast of New South Wales; and Shiro Kin Fullblood Wagyu beef sourced from the New England, Riverina and Hunter Valley regions of New South Wales, and the Darling Downs of South
East Queensland.
Wine will also be heavily featured at Oncore, with approximately 800 references and 3,000 bottles stored in the cellar. The wine list will celebrate both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, featuring the best of Australia and the rest of the world.
Leading the kitchen at Oncore is New Zealand-born head chef Alan Stuart, who worked alongside Smyth in 2012 at the three Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Since then, he has gone on to work at renowned restaurants such as Eleven Madison Park in New York, Frantzen in Stockholm and Smyth’s own Core in London.
Serving as restaurant manager is Michael Stoddart, who most recently oversaw Bennelong.
“Having Clare’s first restaurant outside of London, is a testament to the reputation Australia and Australian produce now has around the world,” says Mark Holmes, executive general manager at Crown Sydney.
“We are thrilled that in Clare Smyth we have yet another talented and respected chef joining the Crown Sydney family, really cementing it as a leading food destination for Sydney.”
Core by Clare Smyth will open at Crown mid-July. It will join a high-calibre lineup of restaurants opening at the new Crown, including Nobu, a’Mare by Alessandro Pavoni and Woodcut from Sydney duo Ross and Sunny Lusted.
Kirsty Sier
