A host of London venues triumphed at the 40th annual Catey Awards — sometimes known as the “Oscars of the hospitality industry” — at Grosvenor House Hotel last night.
Clare Smyth MBE, of the three-Michelin-starred Core by Clare Smyth in Notting Hill, won individual Restaurateur of the Year, while the Big Mamma Group won Group Restaurateur of the Year for its five trattoria-inspired venues which span the city.
Smyth, the first British woman to win three Michelin stars, opened Core in 2017, having been head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. The Northern Irish chef has also seen her restaurant receive five AA rosettes, and in the past has scooped accolades at The Craft Guild of Chefs and the National Restaurant Awards.
The team at Core cooks with sustainable British produce, with a tasting menu that starts at £205 and offers dishes such as Isle of Harris scallop tartare, and Smyth’s famous “lamb carrot”.
Big Mamma Group, meanwhile, was founded in 2019 by the Frenchmen Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux. They have five London branches — in Covent Garden, Marylebone, Shoreditch, Fitzrovia and Kensington — and others in Germany, France and Spain.
Big Mamma has become known for its playful and outlandish Italian chic, and its maximalist aesthetic and menu, serving enormous burratas, cacio e pepe served in wheels of Parmesan, and stacks of chocolate-covered profiteroles.
Other London venues to take home awards include Plates, a Dalston restaurant dedicated to plant-based food and which won the Menu of the Year Award, and the luxury Pan Pacific in The City, which was named Group Hotel of the Year.
The Cateys were attended by some of the biggest names in hospitality — Angela Hartnett and Ollie Dabbous among them — and guests dined on a three-course menu by John Williams MBE of The Ritz.
The winners are decided by industry experts and, over the past 40 years, Cateys have been given to the likes of Michel Bourdin, maître chef de cuisine of London’s Connaught hotel, and Richard Shepherd, credited with being the first British chef to win a Michelin star.
This year, a one-off award was given to the French chef Raymond Blanc to honour his services to hospitality. The Ruby Catey marked both the award’s 40th year and Blanc’s glittering career.
“This was a real milestone evening in the long history of the Cateys,” said James Stagg, editor of The Caterer magazine.
“Celebrating the 40th anniversary of excellence in hospitality has given us the chance to appreciate the outstanding talent in the industry and those who have set the standards that are continually built upon.”
