404. Simpsons.

 

  In the most recent couple of years or so, my visits to Simpsons, the doyen of Birmingham restaurants, have been several, almost numerous, but usually related to special dining events being held there. In the 20 teens, as I have previously reported, I had had several disappointing meals at Simpsons with near-chaotic service and food which did not reflect the expense of it all. My most recent experiences there have been wholly pleasing however suggesting that Chef Director Luke Tipping has pulled Simpsons through its dark patch and out the other side even though The Good Food Guide, seemingly presently devoted to the levelling up, or perhaps the dumbing down, of dining out continues to fail to recommend it in its hallowed pages (pages obviously less hallowed than those of the Michelin Guide which does still recommend the restaurant and rightly so). 

  It was time to dine at Simpsons for a meal from its regular menu rather than that of a special event (though it was a special event as it was the Old Bloke’s birthday - not that I was making it public - I can not bear fuss and have reached the stage of my life where endless well-intentioned congratulations are rather wearing).  The day was wet and miserable which did not seem very generous of the weather god but it was to be hoped that his colleague, the goddess of food and abundance, might be feeling a little kinder.

  My two guests arrived at Simpsons at exactly the same time as myself  and, as orphans of the storm, we were pleased to be seated in Simpsons’ comfortable sitting room quaffing glasses of pleasure = mine was white port with tonic - and nibbling on a sign of what was to come - a delicious little cod beignet, crispy-coated with perfectly textured and tasty fish and a pretty, flower decorated crisp with goats cheese mousse. 

  Thence into the bright, spacious dining room, its lengthy window giving a fine view of the garden, with purple rhododendrons in their fully blossomed glory being contemporaneously watered by God’s Almighy Hand, as the rain fell from the heavens.

  The welcome was excellent and the seating comfortable and we prepared to start on our seven course voyage through Simpsons’ current tasting menu (though we also had the choice of a three or five course menu). It was to be a voyage of calm seas and great pleasure.

    First the excellent bread with a cod’s roe spread and wild garlic butter. Already, Chef Luke Tipping was hitting the target with punchy flavours and wonderful textures - the crunchiness of the crust of the bread and the smoky marine flavour of the spread and the carefully judged garlic taste of the butter. 

  

  The first starter was the scintillatingly fresh flavour of Isle of Wight tomatoes with tomato sorbet - multi-textured, gorgeously presented and doing what a starter should do, enticing the diner to anticipate the coming of wonders and imminent great pleasure. Then a second starter bringing tasty white crab with the acidity of blood orange and three dainty and well cooked spears of asparagus under a crispy tuile. 

  If the crab were not enough, more luxury from the sea - this time a pleasingly sized piece of turbot, the best cooked I have had for a while, beautifully presented with a sweet carrot purée and a punchy, but not inappropriately so, bisque.

    The next course was a heritage beetroot dish, which in some restaurants can be rather tiresome, but here the beetroot was served in a number of forms of various textures and sweetnesses and acidity and, as beetroot dishes go, this was up there among the higher echelons of such beasts.

  And then, the star, a very fine dish of supremely perfectly cooked Cornish lamb served with a zinging mint gel (chefs so often fail to appreciate just why ingredients have become locked together by tradition - lamb and mint are a marriage made in culinary heaven) and courgettes, often dull and of little worth but here absolutely on point and sitting on the plate looking all perky and alluring, looking more, at first glance, like figs than chunks of courgette. But the lamb’s the thing. It was gorgeous, it was tender, it tasted of fine sheep meat, it was perfectly cooked, it was immaculately seasoned, it was … perfect. And it was crowned with a sublimely unctious lamb sauce. A great modern British dish. 

  And so, farewell to a great main course and on into the final phase of desserts. First the soothing flavours of peach and the hit of coumarin in woodruff. Finally, a spectacular mango soufflé, risen as high as a block of flats, as lightly textured as a cloud and accompanied by coconut and passion fruit. 

  Simpsons certainly is back up at the peak as well as being at its own peak. A simpatico space to eat in, a happy ambience, good service and extraordinarily good food.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞

On 20 May 2024, it was announced that the Chef director of Lunar in Stoke on Trent, Niall Keating, had left his post the previous day by “mutual agreement” with the co-founder, Craig Wilkinson,  Keating will be involved in a new role in a hotel in Manchester. (See Blog 400). Keating’s departure came a few days after the Head Chef at Lunar, Craig Lunn, had left his post at the restaurant.

  Three days after Keating’s departure, it was announced that Carl Riley, previously of The George in Alstonefield which had been recommended in the Michelin Guide from 2011 to 2023 but is not currently featured in the Guide, had been appointed to be the new Head Chef in Lunar.

Niall Keating

Craig Lunn and Niall Keating

317. Lunar, Stoke on Trent.

 

  Special events are certainly a good way, or so it seems to me, to draw in diners in these troubled times. Niall Keating had come up with a very special event in his restaurant, Lunar, sited at the World of Wedgwood in the distant outskirts of Stoke on Trent (see Blog 214). This was to be a six course dinner, with extras, in which caviar was found a place on each and every dish. I had never paid so much for a meal before and so it was a bold move both by myself and by chef and by the eleven other diners who congregated at the table on this night of the full moon.

  On my previous visit to Lunar at the beginning of 2022, I was unable to see much outside the taxi window which carried me to World of Wedgwood but this time, it now being late spring, I was able to obtain a much clearer impression of the pleasant Stoke suburbs and the vast area that makes up the museum site.

  And so, into the dining room, elegantly dressed (the room not me, though I do my best when I need to) and politely and professionally greeted. A glass of champagne having been rendered up onto me, I was taken to admire a glorious stack of a variety of caviars, all of which we were to be served, and given a generous helping of the stuff to get me going.

  The Lunar diners took their places and the meal commenced. After some tasty, nicely textured sourdough, on came the first treat and for me, not my favourite. This was accurately poached hens egg with piece# of asparagus, mild wild garlic, and spring peas, served to conjure up the very essence of spring. This was excellent but I am not a lover of dishes incorporating poached egg and I like my peas cooked a little more and my asparagus whole. Still, you can’t please all the people all the time. The accompanying smoked caviar however was pleasant and fitted the dish nicely.

    Then, a triumphant and gorgeous dish found its way to the table in the hands of the excellent waiting staff, so smart and professional. This dish of saffron linguine in a lustrous, silky, enriching sauce topped with a generous portion of osciestra will almost certainly be on my list of ten most delightful dishes of the year. I could be to this dish what Cleopatra was to ass’ milk.

  Then high drama, exciting theatre, far better than the recent production of Julius Caesar at Stratford, that’s for sure. In came the magnificent salt-baked turbot and two chefs, including Niall Keating cut their way through the coating. Then, after the steamy drama, the fish was returned to the kitchen and cut into generously sized portions and served anointed with Imperial Beluga caviar, a champagne sabayon of a noble nature and an admirably restrained sprig of purple sprouting broccoli. Such wickedness.

  The next lordly dish of fine beef was not to be outdone easily. It sat on a dead of delightful Rosita and bathed in a delicious beef sauce and was crowned heavily by Royal Beluga caviar. 

  Then,  just one dish sans caviar, the intermediate dish - highly successful ‘white chocolate tofu’, a lesson that in the hands of a fine kitchen an occasionally acceptable, in this case highly enjoyable, tofu dish can be served up, no matter how improbable  may seem.

  Even more improbable was the dessert - Mr Whippy-style ice cream, soothingly yuzu-favoured, topped by Imperial oscietra. Fabulous. It might be impossible to eat soft ice cream ever again unless it is mingled with generous amounts of caviar.

  

  The evening ended. The full moon shone bright. The new Lunar Society had met again in the town of one of the members of the original society of Georgian times. Lavish, Near-outrageous. Quite splendid. I already have my reservation made for the next full moon in Stoke.

  But perhaps I might have a little rest from caviar for a short while at least.

205. Purnell’s, Lunar,Upstairs.

  As we know the hospitality industry suffered badly during the COVID-19 pandemic though there’s little doubt that a number of government measures saved many businesses which would have otherwise gone to the wall. But eventually business appeared to have returned to normal. Then the omicron variant originating in South Africa, more rapidly spreading it appeared than the then dominant delta subtype which had spread out from India, turned up. Right into early December the hospitality industry seemed to be holding up and diners were turning up happily to their favourite restaurants - there was quite a wait for reservation dates at some favourite establishments - and then Professor Christopher Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical adviser to the government, spoke out about the potential dangers of the new variant and almost overnight restaurants experienced large numbers of reservation cancellations and the vital pre-Christmas trade took a spectacular hit.

  The situation was not helped by large numbers of restaurant workers actually contracting the condition and their employers being unable to staff their restaurants adequately. Thus on 21 December Purnell’s announced that it would be closing early pre-Christmas saying, “Due to current circumstances we don’t have enough staff required to provide the high standard of service that we consistently deliver at Purnell’s”. Clearly this represented a significant financial loss for the restaurant but as the restaurant was planning to close for its Christmas break on 23 December in any case, one supposes that matters could have been even worse.

 

  By 23 December early studies of the effects of the omicron variant were suggesting that it may very well cause a less clinically severe illness than the variants which had gone before and it was becoming reasonable to hope that the renewed threat to the hospitality industry might be short-lived and not as severe as the doom-laden professor was suggesting it might be.

   It was reported on 18 December that the Stoke-on-Trent native, Niall Keating, Executive chef at the Michelin starred Whateley Manor in Wiltshire, will leave his job at the end of December presumably to concentrate on his new restaurant, Lunar, which opened in November in the World of Wedgwood visitor attraction at Barlaston as well as other projects. It is excellent to find another accomplished West Midlands chef returning to his roots and further adding to the gastronomic wonders in the region. Which reminds me that I must get up to Stoke in the new year to visit Lunar.

  Posted on the Michelin Guide Twitter account today (23 December) is a reference to a Michelin inspector’s visit to Upstairs by Tom Shepherd in Lichfield (see Blogs 188 and 194) which is the second time in a period of a few weeks (last reported 12 November 2021 - see Blog 193). I have the feeling that the West Midlands may well have a new starred restaurant when the 2022 Guide is published and rightly so.

189. Lunar Society Meets Niall Keating, Fine Dining Soon In Stoke On Trent.

 

Meeting of The Lunar Society at Heathfield, home of James Watt

  Reports in The Caterer as well as in the local press in North Staffordshire inform us that Stoke On Trent is soon to have a fine dining establishment to be overseen by Niall Keating, Head Chef at the two Michelin-starred Whateley Manor in Wiltshire and former winner of The Great British Menu Central region heats. Keating, brought up in Stoke, is partnering with The Great British Experience events company to establish the new restaurant at the World of Wedgwood visitor attraction at Barlaston near Stoke and the restaurant will be named Lunar to recall the 18th century Birmingham-based Lunar Society (named because it always met on a full moon) of which the Stoke potter, Josiah Wedgwood was a member. The Lunar Society was a supper club for the Midlands enlightenment movement and included scientists, inventors and businessmen such as Wedgwood.

  The new 120 cover restaurant kitchen will be run by Head Chef Craig Lunn who worked as sous chef under Keating at Whateley Manor and also as chef de partie at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. The restaurant is due to open on 26 November.

  Stoke On Trent has not previously been known to be a place of gastronomic excellence. It does not get a mention in the 2021 Michelin Guide. Perhaps it is just about to benefit from a bit of gastronomic ‘levelling up’ and some Lunar Club-style enlightenment (of the gastronomic kind).

Niall Keating and Craig Lunn

  Bristol, it has to be said, is not in the West Midlands. It sits at the tail end of Gloucestershire but, while the regional status of most of Gloucestershire county is a matter of debate  - a Midlands county? a West Country county? (look at the map, it’s definitely in the middle) - Bristol has had its own county created for it to make its region indisputable - South Gloucestershire which is decidedly in the West Country. But it is only just across the border in its mini-county and I am there from time to time so I am not too unhappy about recording a visit to one of its respected restaurants.

  Bristol is a fine city though swamped now with a middle class, socialist elite since the Blairs saw a money-making opportunity in buying property there, that makes it like a vastly larger version of Moseley though in no way as ugly as that Birmingham suburb and of course it is not only a handsome city but it has the quay areas and the river which add to the city’s draw. Unfortunately since my last visit before the first lockdown, the self-regarding middle class denizens have gone mad and there is a great risk of being run over by dim-looking youths on electric scooters and green middle-aged people pedalling away on their bicycles and cars have been expelled to make way for this even more dangerous form of traffic shooting along the pavements. A warning as to what Birmingham will be like in the near future as the environmental fascists establish their new republic of bullying and sneering. Of course these well-heeled inhabitants can afford to eat in style once they’ve pedalled their way around the streets doing their best to kill old blokes with their ageing labradors visiting the city and so the city now has an array of Michelin-listed, -plated and -starred dining establishments.

  Not far from my hotel, on the waterfront, looking across the river at a vast, monstrous Art Deco building that looks like Mussolini put it up, on the upper floor of a collection of shops, cafes and restaurants housed by no means inaptly in shipping containers,  one finds the Michelin-listed Gambas which the Inspector’s report sums up as, “Set in a lovely first floor location in the bustling Wapping Wharf, Gambas comes with a terrace on two sides and lovely river views. The concise menu of small plates showcases great quality produce and has a seafood slant; dishes arrive as they are ready from an open kitchen”. Well, as I say, “lovely river views” is slightly debatable but being English the precise nature of the view does not really matter as we all like to sit by water, don’t we? and will do so in any weather come rain or shine.

“Lovely river views” (Michelin inspector)

  

  The welcome to the internally rustic-looking restaurant was warm and service was relaxed, informative and pleasing. I chose four dishes from the regular menu and the menu of today’s specials. From the former I picked the pan con alioli which was excellent with the bread being as delicious as any I had had in restaurants with greater pretensions - finely judged saltiness and excellent flavour - and precisely judged alioli with robust amounts of garlic but no bolder than than it should have been. Then came the absolutely delightful tortita de camerones - two delicate, thin and golden, extravagantly crispy, deep-fried sheets speckled with shockingly tasty, sweet little prawns. It was a great pleasure just to sit and admire their visual beauty, look at them so delicate, before purring with the happiness of tasting their flavour and experiencing their texture. I would go back to Gambas just for the pleasure of reliving the tortitas.

  The next arrival at my table were some supremely excellent patatas bravas with great swirls of even more alioli and then, from the specials menu, a perfectly cooked (and sized) meaty piece of glimmering hake with mojo verde and the sweetest and happiest little piquillo peppers. This was a very fine and enjoyable meal crowned with an excellent crema Catalan. The chefs in this kitchen really know their stuff. Fine but comforting, the Michelin inspector was right on this one.

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