After a thrilling and delicious Sunday lunch the previous week at Stirchley’s Eat Vietnam’s collaboration with Dan Lee, I felt I was ready to be a little more sedate and classic at Simpsons which of course has recently been put up for sale by its owner and founder, the doyen of Birmingham and West Midlands dining, Andreas Antona. I had opted for the three course Sunday lunch - I had sirloin pave with Yorkshire pudding on my mind as the alluring beef Wellington was only available for couples to share, misere me.
Simpsons does very good canopés and those served on this visit were delicious and I ate them alongside a white port and tonic. To be honest, the realisation came to me that I was gobbling them with all the pleasure a little gluttony brings with it. Well, I was sitting in a discreet corner being served, to my great pleasure, by Thomas Moore (not, as far as I know, related to his namesake who so displeased Henry VIII and thereby earned himself a sainthood though it took a few centuries for him to achieve that earthly reward).
Thomas had worked at an early stage in his career at the late Purnell’s and had been the chief server at one of my birthday dinners which I liked to hold there every year for close friends to have the opportunity to urge me to run life’s course for another twelve months. Thomas had been very impressive, virtually an infant prodigy in his knowledge and carrying out of his work front-of-house, and had been promoted at Purnell’s and worked there till the restaurant gasped its last breath. By then he was accomplished in the knowledge and service of wines, and as one door closed another opened. As Purnell’s was closing, so Simpsons’ esteemed sommelier, Gian Giancomo Stella, announced he was returning to Italy after seven years in his finely executed role in Edgbaston, and Thomas was appointed to succeed him and work with him as he familiarised himself with the job.
I was also pleased to hear about Adrien Garnier who been Restaurant Manager and Sommelier at Purnell’s - he had decided to return to France after Purnell’s closure but had kept in touch with Thomas and during the meal, Thomas texted Adrien to let him know I was dining at Simpsons and Adrien had replied with a message of good wishes. How very charming and kind.
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| Thomas Moore |
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| Gian Giancomo Stella |
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| Adrien Garnier |
The starter proper was a lovely lobster and prawn raviolo - nicely sized and the pasta well made - with tender salsify and robustly flavoured lobster and pepper sauce. This was an excellent dish. I was recently reading some food reviews by Jay Rayner, who eats well like so many metropolitan socialists who enjoy and can afford the good life (Raymond Postgate the founder of the Good Food Guide was also a notable socialist who made sure he ate the best of food), and who is the retiring food critic of The Observer, and a quote from his final missive for the Observer Food Monthly states, “Hyper-expensive foods are never about deliciousness; they are about status. Don’t bother with them”.
Well, firstly he does not define at which point ‘expensive’ food becomes ‘hyperexpensive’ food. To a 78 year old pensioner on £13000 per year income who has had their winter fuel allowance grabbed away by the recently elected Starmer Labour government which Rayner enthusiastically endorsed, I suspect that lobster and roast sirloin pavé (at a supplement price of £10 on top of £75 three course meal price) and passion fruit soufflé (further supplement of £10) are all ‘hyper-‘ rather than plain expensive. The champagne socialist may have an alternative definition. Regardless, I believe, that an expensive element which to the people increasingly neglected by the faux socialists now in power, would undoubtedly be ‘hyperexpensive’, lends something to the pleasure of a special meal which is something that one goes to restaurants like Simpsons to enjoy. The lobster was lovely and the sirloin excellent - tender, cooked to exactly my own preference, delicious and generously portioned.
It’s a rule that one should listen to experts and then remember that they have their own axe to grind. I suppose, in fact I know, that Simpsons’ prices represent wonderfully good value compared with those of the London restaurants wherein Rayner would most often dine. His ‘hyperexpensive’ is not our ‘hyperexpensive’ and though Simpsons’ prices are not cheap, the quality and delightfulness of the dishes Luke Tipping delivers to diners there represents very good value. Long may it continue even after Andreas Antona has sold the business.
The slices of sirloin were served with a towering, crispy Yorkshire pudding and the tenderest, most gorgeously cooked and handsome-looking carrots I have been served in many a moon (others no doubt would have liked some bite to their’s but the undercooked carrot people have had their way for far too long and it’s good to see the kitchens of Simpsons leading the fight back). The roast potatoes again were the mostly accurately, perfectly cooked I have been served in recent memory and I enjoyed the shredded cabbage. The weakest element was the cauliflower with cheese sauce which needed more of the sauce, given that sauce was served, to give it more cheesy flavour though I wish there would be some restaurant or the other which would serve the cauliflower denuded of any such covering so that diners could appreciate the flavour of cauliflower in all its unique naked flavour. The beef sauce was unctuous and delicious but I should have liked more heat in my horseradish sauce.
Finally the dessert. I was not able to resist the prospect of the passion fruit soufflé though I longed almost equally to have my first rhubarb of the year which was one of the alternatives. The soufflé was impeccable and the ‘exotic sauce’ was dominated by mango and the chantilly cream innocuous though not really necessary. At the bottom of the dish, when the soufflé had all been scooped away, there was a distinct and not very pleasant bitterness from the sauce that lurked there which I think might have some alcohol element though I could not tell as I disliked it enough not to consume it. This was a pity but it did not ruin what had been a fine meal of a very high standard. I rounded off the meal with a post prandial After Eight cocktail and two delightful mignardises - a delightfully chewy macaron and a Madeleine which was the stuff that dreams are made on and I felt rather pleased with myself. Simpsons marches on. The doyen is still the doyen.
Rating:-🌞🌞🌞.
16 February 2026.
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