Simpsons, the doyen of Birmingham restaurants, is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, as we have noted before. To commemorate this anniversary, Luke Tipping - Chef Director - has been staging some eclectic collaborations - firstly with Stuart Deeley of Smoke and then with Paul Colis of the burger restaurant, Meat Shack (both collaborations were reported on in previous Blogs). The third and final of these collaborations was staged on the evening of 3 October 2023 at Simpsons with Tom Shepherd, acclaimed chef of Tom Shepherd at Upstairs in Lichfield. This took the form of a fine seven course dinner.
The thoughtfully already autographed menu included some excellent dishes and to local gourmands it was not difficult to decipher the culinary clues as to which chef was responsible for which dish. A thrilling amuse bouche was clearly the work of Tom Shepherd - a delicious savoury custard of smoked eel was flavoured not only by the eel but sweetened by the corn and given texture by both. Very Tom Shepherd. On to Luke Tipping’s first course - finely cured cubes of salmon with dill oil, oyster leaf and frozen horseradish. Very Luke Tipping.
Not hard, too, to spot that the third course - one of the plummiest, meatiest scallops I’ve ever the pleasure to become acquainted with, textured with peanut and playfully paired with satay - was the work of Shepherd. Then to Tipping’s remarkable foie gras with a slice of banana, all sitting on spied honey bread. A gem of a dish. The foie gras-banana combination is not unknown and seems to be an American thing and I rather like it.
Shepherd had had the honour of regaling his guests with the main course. This was accurately cooked, tender-as-butter venison with king oyster, plump blackberries and celeriac purée - the mellow mists and fruitfulness of autumn surrounded the highly seasonal plate. A hit! A palpable hit!
The correctly timed cheese course brought Baron Bigod to the table sublimely paired with fermented plum and truffled honey all on malted waffle and Tom Shepherd rounded off with a grand dessert - a delightful Valrhona Araguani chocolate mousse base with pecan ice cream and happy sweetness from Pedro Ximenez.
These are grand collaborations that we have been enjoying at Simpsons. We do not need a special anniversary to ensure we go to future such events.
Rating:- 🌞🌞
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