The Room
Oncore by Clare Smyth opened in 2021 on level 26 of Crown Sydney in Barangaroo. The dining room is dressed in serene cream and brass with floor-to-ceiling windows over the harbour and the city skyline. Clare Smyth, the first female chef to have run a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Britain (Restaurant Gordon Ramsay) and now the chef-patron of Core in London, built the Sydney room as her first international project, with a similar premise: classical British and Australian ingredients, refined to the highest international register.
The dining room seats 90; a chef's counter holds 12 directly facing the kitchen. Service is brigade-British in rhythm with Australian floor warmth. The booking window is six to ten weeks for weekend evenings.
The Food
The eight-course tasting at AU$295 rotates seasonally and pulls from a serious Australian ingredient bench: Tasmanian salmon, Riverina lamb, native finger lime, Yamba prawns, NSW oysters. The signature Potato and Roe (caviar with a perfectly poached potato in dill cream) made the cross-Pacific transit from Core London. The pairing menu at AU$195 is the right way in.
Wine programme is one of Australia's deepest, Burgundy and Bordeaux benches alongside Tasmanian sparkling, Hunter Valley Semillon and Margaret River Cabernet.
Best Occasion Fit
Proposal: The chef's counter at Oncore on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening is one of the most-photographed proposal seats in Sydney. Notify the staff at booking; the kitchen will arrange the moment.
Impress Clients: International visitors recognise Clare Smyth's name and the La Liste top-50 designation without translation. The eight-course tasting frames Australian ingredients at the highest international register.
Birthday: Oncore handles birthdays with quiet British discretion, a candle on the dessert, a signed menu, the captain's acknowledgement.
