I chose Core by Clare Smyth in London for my Ment’or Grant location. I have never been outside the United States and have always been fascinated by British culture and history as well so this was the perfect stage opportunity for me. Core is one of the best restaurants in the world, with its 3 Michelin stars and has a reputation for pure excellence. Most of my career has been in pastry, so I decided to stay in the pastry section during my time at Core.
At Core, I would arrive in the morning with kitchen prep in full swing. We would all stop and clean the floor and sanitize every surface throughout the kitchen making sure to pick up any excess water or debris from the floor. Then it was back to prepping for service. Dinner service was Tuesday through Saturday and lunch was only Thursday through Saturday with the restaurant closed Sunday and Monday. Since there was no lunch service Tuesday and Wednesday, at 1pm, we would do “team jobs”. We would all be split into groups and assigned a task for our group. These included taking everything out of either the fridge, freezer or dry storage, wiping down the containers, cleaning all the shelving and reorganizing and relabeling everything so it was neat and tidy.
Prep would continue after these tasks were completed. Some tasks included setting and unmolding the wine jellies for the petit fours, shaving down gougères so they were perfect spheres, slicing pears and cutting them into disks for the pear verbena dessert, dressing carrots, shaving meringue domes and cutting chocolate feathers to name a few. There are two completely different tasting menus and two more à la carte dessert options as well. There is the Core Classics menu which includes the “Core apple” pre-dessert with a pear and verbena dessert. There is also the Core seasons menu that has “The other carrot” pre-dessert and “Core-teaser” dessert. The a la carte options included the lemonade parfait and the Irish coffee with both tasting menu desserts as options for the a la carte menu as well. In addition, at the end of the meal every guest would receive a warm chocolate tart and two wine jellies, one made with sauternes and one with banyuls. While I was there, they added a clementine puree underneath the chocolate filling as well. The tarts would be baked to order and served warm in a terrarium on a bed of cocoa nibs while the wine jellies were served on a decorative log with moss and leaves added to make the jellies look like stones.
The attention to detail and care for each guest was astounding. The care they put into every dish having an adjustment to make it either gluten free, vegetarian, vegan or dairy free was incredible. For example, we made a gluten free and vegan lemon verbena pastry cream that could be used for multiple dietary needs while still matching the high standards for texture and flavor of the original.
Details are very important in every aspect of Core. Every day, the pastry section would make a tester plate with every gel, jelly, cake, a small piece of each pre molded dessert and even a slice of pear for Chef Jonny to taste and check to make sure everything is in order. Throughout the day, anything that was made needed to be checked by either Chef Jonny or a sous chef. Pastry was also responsible for various breads for service and a piece of each had to be tested by a chef before they could be packed away for service. These included small lobster rolls that would be cut so they were ready to be filled as a canapé, a fig roll topped with demerara sugar and fig leaf powder for the cheese course and lamb buns that were stuffed with shredded lamb neck and brushed with lamb fat and topped with sea salt and dehydrated lamb fat for the carrot course on the classic menu. Pastry also made gougères that were topped with a parmesan craquelin, shaved down to a perfect sphere, and filled with black truffle mornay and topped with more thinly sliced truffle for another canapé.
The attention to detail extended through to service as well with service being unlike any other restaurant I have worked at in my career. This is because it was primarily tasting menus with a few à la carte tables mixed in. That being said, we would get the orders for pastry as soon as the guests decided on which tasting menu to order. It was helpful to have the orders in advance so we could plan on how many pre-desserts we needed to have dressed and how many core teasers to have thawed. All the tickets were hand written. Once a table was ready for their pre-dessert, a server would find that table’s ticket and move it up on the board and say “check on”. Then the pastry lead would call the ticket to us so we knew if we needed to start dressing a pear or get ready for a core teaser. Once the pre desserts went out, we knew we had a few more minutes before the dessert would be away. During this time, tarts would be piped and baked for the petit fours coming up so they would be warm.
The station was divided into a few sections to make sure service ran smoothly. The pastry lead was in charge of plating and putting any final touches on the pre-desserts and desserts. They would also put the rochers of ice cream on any desserts that the ice cream could be seen. The other people would be in charge of dressing the pear and verbena dessert and assembling the “Core-teaser” while also doing any other down time tasks in the beginning of service while guests were still on their savory courses. Once plates started going out, every plate was checked, by either Chef Clare, Chef Jonny, or a senior sous chef, to ensure the product was perfect. This level of care and attention to detail for every plate, no matter the section it came from, was unlike anything I had seen before.
There is a glass wall dividing the dining room and kitchen with a chef's table front and center. There is a glass door for food to go in and out as well. When every guest arrives, they are ushered past the door being greeted by everyone in the kitchen with a “Hello, welcome”. In addition, the first course after canapés was always introduced and described by a member of the kitchen from any station. I loved to see this level of hospitality and care to integrate the kitchen for a well rounded experience for the guest. I had the privilege of dining at Core once my stage was complete and I have never felt more at home in a dining room with the warm welcome and unmatched hospitality from everyone in the restaurant.
This stage experience was one of a kind. I learned so much at Core. Being aware of every aspect of not just service but having counts and eyes on all of the mise en place and making sure everything was checked by a chef to ensure each product was up to standard. I thought I had pretty high standards going into this stage, but nothing could have prepared me to see how much higher the standard is here. Even if there was a small chip in one of the chocolate feathers, it was unusable.
I will take with me the knowledge of what it means to be hospitable at Core. Greeting and thanking guests as they come in and out like it’s second nature from the kitchen, describing each course with such ease and knowledge of the entire menu and going into not just the details about what is in the dish but where the main ingredients come from. There is a map downstairs by the fridge that is of the British Isles. There are black dots scattered across the map. Each represents a different local ingredient. Whether it is a protein, produce or even the ceramics and silverware, they know where everything comes from. This allows the cooks and servers to dive even deeper into describing each dish and where everything originates.
Through this experience I have a better understanding of what it means to be a chef. The passion and drive of everyone in the Core kitchen is unique. The long hours and grueling pace sharpens and hones your skills to create the best of the best. Each and every person in this restaurant from the head waiter to the porters are valued and cared for. When I was arriving and leaving everyday, I would go around and say good morning or good night to everyone and they would do the same to me. This sign of respect from everyone on this team was very valuable and it made me feel a part of the team even though I was only here temporarily. No matter where you are in the restaurant, your role is just as important as the next person’s. I came into this experience thinking I would sharpen my cooking skills and learn some new techniques, which I did, but I learned so much more about what it is to be a true team in the kitchen. I made some incredible connections with the team and I am grateful for every lesson I learned during my time at Core. I will take this entire experience with me wherever I go.
