It was some time - years - since I had last dined at the one Michelin-starred The Cross at Kenilworth where Adam Bennett has held the ship steady as Chef Director since it was opened by Andreas Antona in 2013. Bennett had joined the staff of Simpsons when it was situated in Kenilworth in 2003 and had moved to work with Antona at the new location of Simpsons in Edgbaston in 2004. Coventry-born, Bennett had trained ar Henley College and subsequently worked under Anton Mossiman at the Dorchester and in France ar Restaurant Gut Lassausaie and Restaurant Marc Meurin before returning to England to work in country house hotels including Mallory Court. When Simpsons opened in Edgbaston he was appointed Head Chef under Luke Tipping who was Executive Chef and he held the post until 2013 when he stepped down to lead the United Kingdom team in the Bocuse D’Or competition held that year. Matt Cheal stepped into the role while Bennett’s team achieved the highest position (4th) ever for a British team. Bennett led the team again in 2015 with Britain coming 6th in the European finals and achieving 10th place overall. Bennett took up his post at The Cross in 2013 and the restaurant was quickly included in the Michelin Guide and then awarded a single star which it has retained ever since.
Rather like Heaven, as described by Jesus Christ, there are many rooms in The Cross with a large outdoor dining area at the back of the building which has all the outward appearance of being an everyday pub until the interior is viewed and the dining rooms are revealed to the unsuspecting - they are spacious, comfortable, cheerfully decorated, rustic in a smart, high middle class sort of way and … busy.
I chose to order from the three course à la carte menu (£90). Two canapés in the form of gougères with two types of sauce were served. There was a discernible cheese flavour but not at all intense but the exteriors were pleasingly crispy though slightly oily. I have had far more memorable canapés at Simpsons with much stronger and gorgeous flavours than the pair served at The Cross on this visit.
Afterwards, some good sourdough was served with a nice Jersey butter and this helped to fill the long gap between the time I placed my order and the time when the first course eventually showed its face. It did seem that food was slow to come out of the kitchen, perhaps the baking hot weather was something to do with it.
It has to be said that the starter was delicious - Dorset crab with a good pasta in the form of cavatelli and a saffron sauce with the well-judged bite of chilli. There seemed to be plenty of crab meat and the pasta was cooked nicely. There seemed to saffron gave it all a warm, comforting appearance and this was a pleasing dish.
I chose what proved to be a remarkably good and delicious main course of beautifully tasty and tender sirloin cooked over coals with it being spot on as medium rare and served with some toothsome slow cooked short rib and sweet Roscof onion and 6 very well triple cooked chips with black garlic purée and unctuous red wine sauce. This was an excellent dish, the meat being Hereford beef from Ireland (I expect you understand my meaning) and of high quality and the cuisson just as I would have wished it to be. A lovely dish
For dessert I chose the fine peanut butter parfait with milk chocolate crémeux, the richness of both being splendidly balanced by banana and lime ice cream. A pleasingly light but satisfying dessert.
In contrast to the previous evening’s dinner at Oscar’s French Steakhouse and Bistro where service was speeded up to a dizzying pace, the meal at The Cross proceeded at a snail pace but it’s hard to argue with saying, “Something worth having is worth waiting for”.
12 August 2026
Rating:- 🌞🌞
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