Clare Smyth

Presenter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne, and this is the Desert Island Discs Podcast. Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book, and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:44

My castaway this week is the chef and restaurateur Clare Smith. She's cooked her way around the world in some of the most famous and most famously demanding kitchens on the planet, earning her place at the cutting edge of British gastronomy. Only four British-born chefs currently hold three Michelin stars, and she's the first and only British woman to win this accolade. She left home at 16 to learn the trade she's turned into an art form, working everywhere from London to Monte Carlo. She catered a royal wedding reception along the way, although the cuisine that kindled her passion for food in the first place is altogether earthier. She grew up on the family farm in County Antrim and still enjoys the honest fare she learned to love in childhood. She says, I love humble ingredients. I love the challenge of someone saying, well, that's just an onion, and then making something spectacular from that onion, extracting the maximum amount of flavour. You don't have to work hard to get a lobster to taste amazing. Claire Smith, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you. Good to be here. So, Claire, as we've heard, you are famous among foodies for transforming humble ingredients into something truly extraordinary, elevating, simple fare, as we heard. Potatoes, carrots, they almost become these works of art in your hands. One of your signature dishes is potato and roe. Where did the inspiration for that particular recipe come from?

Clare Smyth2:08

I grew up on a farm eating potatoes every day in Ireland and my family, my aunt and uncle, were potato farmers. And I remember digging potatoes in a field and it was by the ocean and the soil was thick and black and the smell of the ocean and that really sort of penetrated the soil was the minerality of the seaweed.

Clare Smyth2:29

And that reminds me now of home, that dish of the humbleness of eating potatoes every day. It's cooked in butter and and we would grow up just eating literally every meal, potatoes, butter, salt and pepper. So the addition of the seaweed and then the roe on the top, we chose herring and trout roe because it it's got more texture than caviar. People would know that you know there's a famous dish of jack of potatoes and caviar Jacko and Assas used to love, but this is a slightly more humble version of it using trout and herring roe and and that texture of the trout roe gives a pop and the waxy

Presenter3:01

It makes sense that that the flavours that take you back to your childhood, those kind of comfort foods, should inspire you. But where else do you find inspiration? You know, you've been guided by many of the greats along the way and it must be difficult to come up with something truly new. The more you know about foods, the more you know how much has been done. I think you've got, what, a thousand cookbooks in your collection?

Clare Smyth3:20

Action

Presenter3:21

And at home?

Clare Smyth3:21

I love to take inspiration from the simplest things and the humblest things. I think of a life of cooking luxury ingredients in Three Michelin starred restaurants. That to me was kind of second nature, and I really wanted to challenge myself. I loved that challenge. I love to take the most humble, simple thing that's easily grown, that's sustainable, and turn it into something that is, you know, worthy of a Three Michelin-starred restaurant to serve. Do you have music playing in the kitchen while you work? Not in the kitchen. The kitchen is for me calm and quiet. And I like complete silence in the kitchen. Not even anyone like banging a spoon or putting a pan down. Everything must be done very quietly because it's a focus, calm, and I think that it can become very stressful if it's loud. So I think most people don't expect that from kitchens, but it's actually a very, very quiet place. I read a quote from.

Presenter4:15

From you, that really made me laugh. All that banging and shouting that you hear about is quite brassery.

Presenter4:20

What about people saying kind of yes, chef? Do you do any of that?

Clare Smyth4:23

Yes, they do. Communication is key, but it is literally limited to the only words they need to speak. What about the music on the restaurant floor? Who chooses that? Me. I remember working on the music at restaurant Gordon Ramsey and we were like, was it 1940s jazz that no one really recognised? We're thinking we'll play this in the background and it didn't mean anything. And so I thought, if I can serve potatoes in a fine dining restaurant, why not play the music that I love too, challenge that convention and just be myself? So I worked on the playlist. It was another thing that kind of shocked people a little bit in the beginning. You know, there are some people that love it, some people that hate it. Most people love it.

Presenter5:01

Speaking of music, let's hear your first disc today. What's it gonna be?

Clare Smyth5:04

Sweet Child of Mine with Guns N' Roses. So this song is very much from the restaurant. This is probably the one that sticks out the most. I remember when we opened it and it would come on, the guests were like, Really? Is this a mistake? Is someone playing the wrong thing? And it's no, absolutely not. But

Clare Smyth5:22

It's the kind of tune that when it comes on, you've got to start tapping your foot. I'm going to do air guitar along to this, but my foot might.

Presenter5:29

My top as well. Let's go.

Speaker 15:35

We waited that special place. And if I stay up too long, I'd probably break down and cry.

Presenter6:03

Guns and Roses and Sweet Child of Mine. So, Claire Smith, you grew up on a farm in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. When you think back to the tastes of your childhood, what do you remember?

Clare Smyth6:13

I grew up eating quite rustic food, often stews along with potatoes, obviously, Irish stew, um things that were braised overnight and soups with pearl barley and things like that in them that

Speaker 16:19

Baken Irish

Clare Smyth6:26

slow cooked dishes that my mum would put on and leave it cooking overnight so you'd wake up in the morning and this wonderful smell in the house. And it was hearty and filling and delicious food and baking s you know, soda bread and wheat and bread. It all sounds very nurturing. Is that what food

Presenter6:42

Represented to you.

Clare Smyth6:43

Yeah, and you know, growing up on a farm we would cook everything, so all the parts of the animals, and people needed to eat well because it was hard work, you know, so the people working on the farm would need good, healthy, hearty meals. And we never had anything that was we bought in a can or that was everything was cooked fresh. You are the youngest of three.

Presenter7:03

Tell me about your place.

Clare Smyth7:03

Top.

Presenter7:03

Uh

Clare Smyth7:04

Uh

Presenter7:04

The sibling dynamics.

Clare Smyth7:05

I was three, four years younger than the others, so my brother and sister were like ten days short of a year apart. And they were off out at school, and I'd wait for them to come home. So it was also quite lonely missing them. I grew up with that competitive spirit, I guess, against them, particularly with my brother. We both used to horse ride, and we would compete against each other. And because he was sort of four and a half years older than me, it made me quite good. And I think maybe that's where a lot of my competitive spirit comes from. And your father, William, he was a horse trainer, right? As well as farming, we had show jumping horses. And it was a big part of my growing up. And it was something that I probably would have gone into professionally if I hadn't found cooking as a passion.

Presenter7:28

Yeah.

Clare Smyth7:46

But we used to have competition horses and I would have two at a time growing up, two horses that that were actually competing and it was quite

Presenter7:54

A lot of work. So this would have been the 90s, obviously, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. How aware were you about the backdrop politically in the country as you were a little girl and going into your teens?

Clare Smyth8:04

I didn't know any different. It was just normal for me. So police stations being covered in barbed wire looking like prisons, you know, seeing soldiers sometimes on the streets with guns.

Clare Smyth8:15

Police officers being armed. I didn't know any different and it wasn't really until I moved to England that I realized that that probably wasn't normal. I do remember a few things happening, but I was lucky that I was in the countryside. You didn't feel directly connected to it? I didn't feel uh connected to it at all. It was just something that happened in the background of my life.

Clare Smyth8:36

I would see sometimes, you know, things would happen. There would be a bomb that would blow up our local town centre. One of my teachers was a policeman, he had one arm because it had been blown up in a bomb. But again, I never knew any different. You just didn't question that? Didn't question it. And it wasn't until I got a little bit older

Presenter8:48

So you just didn't

Clare Smyth8:54

Till I became a li bit more politically aware and understood a bit more what it was about.

Presenter8:59

So listeners who didn't know you were from Northern Ireland might not have been able to place your accent. Did you grow up with a strong Northern Irish accent? And if so, when did that start to shift? Because you've been living in England for a long time now.

Clare Smyth9:11

I moved when I was 16. I went to college and I think I literally lost my accent within two to three weeks. I remember my mum picking up the phone and saying, You've just lost your accent. I think part of it was on purpose as well because I wanted to fit in. And that strong Northern Irish accent, I was only 16 years old. There weren't that many women in kitchens anyway. You know, I was already stood out. And I just wanted to desperately fit in and just work.

Speaker 19:26

Yeah.

Speaker 19:34

Studel or

Clare Smyth9:38

And I think, you know, it was part deliberate that I lost that accent quite quickly. All right, let's have some more music then, Claire. This is your second choice today. What have you gone for and why? So it's Zombie by the Cranberries. I think this is, you know, me growing up in Northern Ireland, you know, getting into my teens and starting to be a little bit more politically aware and aware of the situation around me. This was a massive hit, obviously, globally. And it was really when I started to get into music for the first time and my own music. You know, that was back when, you know, 94, 95.

Speaker 110:18

What's in your head? Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, eh? What's in your head?

Presenter10:43

The Cranberries and Zombie. So Claire Smith, let's talk about your time at school. What kind of student were you? Terrible. Terrible student.

Clare Smyth10:53

Yeah.

Presenter10:53

You're known as being inc incredibly disciplined, meticulous, driven as a chef, so those qualities not evident in you.

Clare Smyth11:00

As a schoolgirl? No. Do you know? I just would rather do anything than go to school. The sports side of it and the art side of it loved it, but I would have just rather done anything than sat through a French lesson. For some reason I just didn't like the authority in school. But funny that I worked for some pretty in high discipline kitchens, but it just didn't appeal to me at all. I did okay in the end, but it came out with good grades and I could have.

Speaker 111:22

In highly disciplined.

Clare Smyth11:31

gone into, you know, management course at college and stuff like that, but I didn't want to. I just wanted to cook. I just wanted to be a chef. I wanted to do the most basic qualifications so I could get it done as quickly as possible and I could get into the kitchen. So you knew at an incredibly young age what you wanted to do?

Presenter11:47

Okay.

Clare Smyth11:47

I was very lucky and um very headstrong and single-minded and

Clare Smyth11:52

something that I was quite lucky to find when I was younger, something that I really, really wanted to do. And I didn't have anything in my head saying, Oh, what about this? What about that? You don't have doubts. You just go for it'cause you you have nothing holding

Presenter12:05

And what about your drive? Because that is famous among the the teams that you've worked with and in the industry. You're known for your laser sharp focus, your ability to work very long hours. I think your average workday is still nine a.m. to midnight. Did you pick that up from your mum and dad, from William and Dorian?

Clare Smyth12:22

I think working on a farm definitely gave me a good work ethic. It's 365 days a year. It's quite often all night as well when there's lambing sheep waking up every hour to check on sheep lambing, things like that. So it was non-stop. You just did whatever needed to be done. But I've always been surrounded by good people that were always very driven as well. And it's a competitive world. Let's have some more music for now, Claire. Disc number three, what have you got?

Clare Smyth12:49

This is Oasis Don't Look Back in Anger, the sound of my youth at school, Oasis. But I've been very lucky in my life and um one particular event that I cooked for was a dinner, a a quite a small dinner for about forty people.

Clare Smyth13:06

and Noel Gallagher was playing at it, and he was just playing a few tunes at this and I was cooking and I remember turning up and he was there playing this, and I was thinking, My God, he's turned up before me To just hear him singing in the voice in the room was just incredible. It was such a pleasure.

Speaker 113:29

And so Sally can wait. She knows it's too late as we're walking on by.

Speaker 113:41

A soul sign the way.

Speaker 113:47

But don't look lacking anger

Speaker 113:49

I heard you say

Presenter13:57

Oasis and don't look back in anger. So let's go back to your first steps into becoming a chef. You left home at just 16 and went to Catering College at Highbury in Portsmouth. So very young age to leave home and a big move to make. How did your parents feel about it?

Clare Smyth14:16

They weren't that keen on it, to say the least, but I had already actually had figured it all out. I had got an apprenticeship and I was working four days a week and going to college one day a week. My whole goal was to be in the kitchen as much as I could and and to get that college finished as quickly as possible. And working where I was working, I was learning so much more in the real life environment than being at college

Presenter14:42

College. So, did you present it to your parents as a fait-a-compli? Like, I'm going next week and this is what I'm going to be doing? Yeah, pretty much.

Clare Smyth14:49

Yeah. How did they react? They would obviously try to convince me to come back home or whatever, but I had already made that choice and that was what I was doing. So you're extremely driven. Who had inspired that? Who were your culinary heroes growing up? I knew that I needed to move to England to give myself a real chance of working with the best people. And I bought a cookbook when I was 15 and it was it really caught my eye because of the front cover of the book and it was Anton Mozaman's Cuisine a la carte and it had a black cover with a white hexagonal bowl with a red soup in it.

Clare Smyth15:22

That just blew my mind, and I started to read. He was the executive chef at the Dorchester Hotel, and it was incredibly glamorous. I was just smitten then. That was it. What was the appeal? What captured your imagination? The way things looked, the crisp whites, the tall white hat. I began to read everything I could get my hands on. I just knew that that was it for me. And I knew there was nothing like that in Northern Ireland. Did you know what it would taste like, what you were looking at? Or was it just the magic of the way it looked? It was really the magic of the way it looked, and this profession and career that I saw and the history of it. I would read everything, and I was obsessed by it. And it was like people being obsessed by rock bands. I knew everything about everything that I could read, or that was that sort of single-mindedness that took me to college. And my goal was actually to get that finished, get the qualification, and move to London as soon as possible. You were just a

Presenter16:15

teenager and really fending for yourself, how did you cope with all of the life admin that comes with that? You know, finding money for bed and board, making sure you had something to eat.

Clare Smyth16:23

Eat in the cupboards. When I moved to London to start with, I was still only 17, hadn't turned 18, I'd finished college, and it was incredibly tough. You know, living in a bed set. You know, I could open my fridge from my bed, and that's when I would start to work more sort of 16, 17 hour days. But luckily enough, we got fed at work and things like that. But it was incredibly tough. And those were the days that probably didn't have much time to think about it, but we were all in the same boat, and it's just what you did. Let's have your next disc, Claire. What's it going to be?

Speaker 116:30

Yeah.

Clare Smyth16:52

Common people buy pulp, and this does remind me of my time when I'd left home.

Clare Smyth16:57

And I'm living in a bedset and it was tough times. There wasn't a lot of money. You say the cockroaches climbing the wall. But it was that sort of very British spirit, that sort of teenage angst and wanting to just get on with things.

Speaker 117:14

To school, is do you never get it right? It's when you're late in bed at night, watching roaches climb the wall.

Speaker 117:26

Cold your dad, he could stop it, oh yeah. He lived and lived like commonly

Speaker 117:44

And dance and break and screw

Presenter17:49

Pulp and common people. So Claire Smith, after leaving college, you spent seven years working in some of the very best restaurants in the world. You even learned French to join Alan Ducas's team at Louis Cairns in Monte Carlo. How did someone who's so restless in the classroom go about getting to grips with a whole new language?

Clare Smyth18:07

Yeah, I mean, it's ironic, isn't it? I always had my sights in working for the best chefs in the world because I thought if I work for the best chefs in the world, then I've got a chance of making it, learn from the masters. And so, after spending three and a half years working with Gordon Ramsay initially in his kitchen, Louis Cairns to me was like, well, it's one of the most iconic restaurants in the world. Back then, it had gold cutlery, gold teapots. It was just incredible. It was the most luxurious restaurant in the world and probably still is today on Monte Carlo Square, owned by the Prince of Monaco. And Alan Ducas being one of the greatest chefs in history. That was my dream. So, how did you do it, and how long did it take? I went to work as a private chef in south of France for a few months to earn enough to pay for French schools. So, I then went into a French school for a month intensively and got fined a Euro every time I spoke an English word. Put myself through the intensive course to get the job at Louis Cairns, and then I continued on. I spent a couple of years working there before getting the great opportunity to come back as head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsey, which at that time was the only Three Michelin star restaurant in London.

Presenter19:14

Was making that switch from this place that had been your dream to going back to London to work with him? Was that an easy choice to make?

Clare Smyth19:22

It was a difficult one. Alan Ducas wasn't very happy about it, to be honest, because having previously worked for Gordon, he thought, well, she's just come for just to take what she could and go back. It wasn't the case. It was the fact that this opportunity came up to be a head chef of a Three Michelin Star restaurant, which changed my life. The opportunity to do that was incredible. And I was the first woman to run a Three Michelin Star restaurant then, and it was really where I started to get a lot of recognition. But it was a lot of pressure. It was a very, very tough restaurant. It was famous, probably the most famous restaurant in the world. I was 28 years old when I took over as the head chef, and I was the first woman to do it. And so I was always petrified of being the first woman to lose Three Michelin Stars. And it was kind of me finding my feet as a boss and a manager for the first time being a head chef, heading up a restaurant that was so famous that if I slipped up, it would have been all over every newspaper. It was a huge amount of pressure. And I remember when I took over, Gordon announced.

Presenter19:49

Yeah.

Clare Smyth20:22

The position and it was all over the papers. And Gordon said to me, You know, God, you've got more press than the Prime Minister today. The Sun newspaper went to my parents' house, and it was Gordon was obviously incredibly famous at that time, or still is obvious, but it was really when he started to become sort of globally famous. The restaurant was so in the limelight, and then I was thrust into that as the head chef as well. And after a few years of maintaining the Three Michelin stars, I started to grow into my own shoes and then started to develop really my own style. And what's that like? Much more calm, quiet. And I remember Gordon coming in and feeling really unnerved by how quiet the kitchen was and saying, I don't even know what's going on in here anymore.

Presenter21:00

Two moss thing.

Presenter21:04

Let's turn our attention to the music now. Back to your discs. This is your fifth choice.

Clare Smyth21:09

Fire to the Rain by Adele. And Adele is someone that I admire greatly. She's one of my favourite artists, and I've been very lucky to cook for her on several occasions. But I think the most the coolest thing was we got our MBEs together at Buckingham Palace. And this set Fire to the Rain tune I used to listen to going to work every day when it came out, and I just absolutely love it. But she is a real idol of mine, and I think going through our lives, I just can't wait to grow old listening to Adele and to see what she does in the future.

Speaker 121:48

What's it for as I have to pay?

Speaker 121:53

When it burned while I cried, cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name

Speaker 122:02

We're late.

Speaker 122:05

With you

Speaker 122:06

I could stay there, closing my eyes for you

Presenter22:12

Adele and set fire to the rain. Claire Smith, after many years running Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at three star level, in 2016 you left to set up your own place, CORE, in London. It's a huge financial undertaking and came along with, of course, a culinary challenge to reach three Michelin stars again. Did it feel like a risk at the time?

Clare Smyth22:36

Yeah, I mean it was a huge risk. I had literally come from running the most high-profile restaurant in the world where we had three mission of stars. We maximized all of the guides. I was doing incredibly well and then it was okay, started at nothing. It wasn't a poor budget, but it was compared to what I was coming from, it was a small budget to start up and set up that restaurant. So, you know, I had to write a business plan, get the site. So I was literally going from hero to zero and starting out at the basics again. But we just had to dig deep and do everything we could to pull out all the stops to get open. And it was horrible. I remember, you know, waiter tripping down the steps in the restaurant and smashing into the glass window with plates of food and food just sliding down the glass window in front of the kitchen on the opening night and it was just awful.

Speaker 123:27

Chin on the iPhone.

Clare Smyth23:31

But I had a really good team around me and that I knew that we would come through. It took us a a little bit to get our feet, but then so then we started to get really bit more into it in about three months.

Presenter23:43

Well, you now have three Michelin stars and you've opened a sister restaurant in Sydney. You've also produced a cookbook that has recipes for some of your award winning dishes. It is exquisitely beautiful, but I wonder how easy it's going to be for a home cook to get to grips with your recipes.

Clare Smyth24:00

If they're very, very keen, sometimes I am surprised. Some people do cook them at home, but however, it's full of little recipes that are really useful, be it a dressing, a pastry, a tart, the canopies in there, the shoe pastry, things that are achievable.

Presenter24:14

And what about if your competitors get their paws on it, Claire? I mean, you're worried about giving away your trade secrets here.

Clare Smyth24:19

Do you know, we work in this world, it's just ever-changing and ever-moving, and anyone can take anything from anywhere.

Presenter24:26

Yeah. Uh

Clare Smyth24:26

Yeah.

Presenter24:26

Now, Claire, I've got to ask about pricing. You're obviously at the luxury end of the market. It costs one hundred eighty five pounds for a tasting menu at Core. And as you know, the country's currently in a cost of living crisis. Do you ever have any qualms about the cost of fine dining?

Clare Smyth24:40

Do you know? No, so we have 54 seats and we have 57 members of staff. So to give you an idea of the costs that go into running a fine dining restaurant, and those members of staff just aren't any, they are the very best in the industry. And the ingredients we use are phenomenal and we pay a fair price for them. So in a way, value for money at fine dining in Britain is actually some of the best in the world. You would easily pay double in France to dine in a three-michelin-style restaurant. Let's have some more music, Claire. This is six.

Presenter25:12

The choice for you today, what have you gone for and why?

Clare Smyth25:14

This is Maria Blondie, and I love listening to this when I'm going to work. And this is like my one of my walk on tunes if I ever win an award. And it is on the on the playlist of the restaurant as well.

Speaker 125:27

You wanna make a oh yeah?

Speaker 125:38

Taking out of your mind.

Presenter25:56

Blondie and Maria.

Presenter25:59

Claire Smith, in May 2018 you had the booking of a lifetime. So you were asked to cook for the wedding reception of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor. How did it come about?

Clare Smyth26:10

Meghan was a big foodie, as is Harry, actually, and she had come to eat at call with a friend.

Clare Smyth26:16

And then, you know, the engagement got announced. I didn't really think anything of it. And then the core came. And core being a restaurant, we couldn't cater for that. So we had to start to find someone we would work with. Anton Mozaman was the official royal caterer who had catered for quite a few role engagements. And they said to me, you know, you can choose whoever you want. You don't have to work with Anton Mozamman. And I said, no, you don't understand. I want to work with Anton Mozammer. So this is the guy. This is your teenage hero. Yeah, the first book that I bought, the person's book that inspired me to become a chef and to do what I did. And so I said, no, you don't understand. Yeah, I want to work with Anton. What was on the menu?

Speaker 126:44

But

Clare Smyth27:00

They selected some of the dishes from Cor, but then we also did a little version of their roast chicken as well for their main course.

Presenter27:06

So this is the the ultimate full circle moment. What did it feel like to be in a kitchen with him, to be standing together, working together?

Clare Smyth27:13

Just phenomenal. I mean, the minute he found out he did all his research about all of my food, all the dishes, and then I had a meeting with him. And, you know, he's in his 70s, and what a legend. And, you know, when you meet your heroes and they end up being what you wish they would be, and he was. A true gentleman, true professional. And I remember on the day, you know, it was about 6am in the morning and it was a beautiful, bright, sunny day. And I had arrived in the car park, and it was a bit of a joke because they always thought I was one of the Royals coming in in my Black Range Rover. And I was waiting in the car park, and Anton pulled in in his Jaguar E-type with his bow tie on, and I just standing next to him at 6am in the morning. Just what a special day. It was like Formula One, you know, the training and the preparation to make sure that everything went absolutely to the minute, timing everything, making sure that we got it on the nail. And obviously preparing your team. Everybody had to kind of surrender their phones, all that kind of thing. It was. Absolutely. You know, we just didn't know what was going on during the whole day. We were kind of in Windsor and we had no idea about what was going on around us, only what we were doing and our little part in it.

Speaker 127:31

Yeah.

Speaker 127:41

Yeah.

Speaker 127:48

Range Rover

Presenter28:28

It's time for your seventh piece of music, Claire. What have you gone for, and why are you taking it with you to the island? Yeah.

Clare Smyth28:33

So this is Brass in Pocket by The Pretenders. I'm a massive Chrissy Hine fan and this tune reminds me of getting successful. I know how I've got a little bit of brass in my pocket and I was lucky enough to hear her play this live and she actually played it for me and you know she's a vegan so we had to hide all the meat everywhere. She's just such a legend, she's in her 70s, she was on stage with Fleetwood Mac the night before and I couldn't believe my luck when I turned up and she was there and she was warming up and I was like, God, I can't believe this. And I said, Any chance you're going to play brass in pocket? And she's like, yeah, of course. I love live music and it's such a privilege to be able to see artists do what they do.

Speaker 229:17

In pocket.

Speaker 229:20

Can't fado.

Speaker 229:22

I'm gonna use it.

Speaker 229:24

Intention

Speaker 229:26

I'm feeling myself gonna make you, make you, make you more tested.

Speaker 229:34

Come next.

Speaker 229:36

Mr. Remote

Speaker 229:39

Been diving.

Speaker 229:41

Detailing.

Speaker 229:43

No visa

Presenter29:47

The Pretenders and Brass in Pockets. So, Claire, the Covid 19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns had a devastating effect on business, didn't they? And hospitality in particular was severely impacted. As a restaurant owner and employer, how did you manage that situation that we're you know we're coming out of now?

Clare Smyth30:07

Myself in the mirror in the mornings when it first hit, and thinking, are restaurants even going to exist? What am I going to do? Do I have enough money to be able to pay off the bank loan for the business? And then what am I going to do? We were like everyone in the industry, you know, absolutely sort of on your knees at that stage, not knowing what the future would be. I mean, CORE had only two and a half years old as a business at that stage. I also felt pretty useless at that time because we all just closed and

Clare Smyth30:37

and not doing anything and we're capable people and you know, NHS and all the services are like they're working like round the clock and I was like, what are we doing? And so we then started to thought, well, we can cook so we can cook. So we went back into the kitchen and started to cook for charity and we

Clare Smyth30:56

We worked for five local charities and we took all the produce that all the suppliers couldn't use and turned it into healthy, hearty meals for people. And even to the extent of like a wagu beef supplier, we were cooking wagu beef, shin, and things for like kids in schools. So we were doing 600 meals out of core, and it was a huge volume and ways that we didn't cook before. So that's basically what we did during the first lockdown. And then we started to do other things when we realized that this was going to continue on. And I actually then needed to

Clare Smyth31:29

get some kind of an income because we just wouldn't have survived anymore. So we pivoted and started to do a home delivery.

Presenter31:35

Free service. It's almost time to cast you away now, Claire. Before I do, I wonder what would be your last meal before it was a life of campfire food?

Presenter31:44

I would probably go some

Clare Smyth31:45

thing with a roast chicken. If I was saying a luxurious thing, I do love a black truffle.

Presenter31:53

Full.

Presenter31:53

Well, one more tune before we send you off to your island, Claire. What are we going to hear for your last selection today?

Clare Smyth31:59

This is Circle of Life from the Lion King from the soundtrack. I just love the words of this song. And it's really a passion of mine travelling and travelling in Africa and going on safari. And I Your husband's South African, huh? He's South African. And I find it one of the places that I'm most connected to. I find the warmth of the African sun warms my soul. And the singing in this reminds me very much of that.

Presenter32:58

Circle of Life, sung by Carmen Twilley and Lebo M from the Lion King film soundtrack. Well, you'll have plenty of time to appreciate the wonder of the beauty of nature where you're going next, Claire, because you are off to your island. It's time to send you away. I'm going to give you the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare to take with you. You can also take another book. What would you like? Yeah.

Clare Smyth33:18

Yeah.

Presenter33:19

Lord of the Rings

Clare Smyth33:19

For me. Oh, so not a cookbook? No. Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. It's just something that I haven't read since I was a kid, but it's probably my favourite book. And I read all of his works as a child, and I love that fantasy in being taken away. You can also have a luxury item. What would you like? So, boringly, for me, it would be a chef's knife because it's the most practical thing. Are you not allowed a practical luxury, though? This is the contradiction in terms. Oh, but it is kind of a luxury, I think, because I think a chef's knife is not just a knife, it's a tool that is a luxury.

Presenter33:54

Okay, so it's they keep going. It's a work of art.

Clare Smyth33:57

It is, and it's something that is a is a beautiful thing that you've had for your lifetime. I have had them bespokely made.

Presenter34:04

Well, on the basis that it is an absolute work of art, I'm going to allow it. We'd also love to know which one of the eight tracks that you've shared with us to day would you rush to save from the waves if you had to?

Clare Smyth34:15

I think it would have to be back to circle of life for me because again, I just find that peace in nature and it puts everything in perspective.

Presenter34:25

Claire Smith, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you.

Presenter34:50

Hello, I hope that Claire's happy on her island and using her knife to prepare some decent food. Strictly as an artwork, it's not a practical item. There are more than 2,000 programmes in our archive which you can listen to. Claire's mentor Anton Mossiman is in there, along with Gordon Ramsey. You can find their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or on our own Desert Island Discs website. And if you'd like to hear which discs Adele or Noel Gallagher took to their islands when they were cast away, you'll find their programmes in there too. The studio manager for today's programme was Sarah Hockley and the producer was Sarah Taylor. Next time, my guest will be the musician, John Legend. I do hope you'll join us.