Simpsons

20 Highfield Rd, Birmingham, Edgbaston

An imaginative kitchen team and honed service put one Edgbaston restaurant at the top of its game

Birmingham’s reputation for fine dining has been growing steadily over the last decade, and particularly so in and around the leafy suburb of Edgbaston, known for its botanical gardens, plush mansions and cricket ground. Richard Turner’s eponymous neighbourhood restaurant has held a Michelin star for five years, while Andy Waters opened the swiftly acclaimed Waters on the Square last year. The Edgbaston is a new chic and cheerful hotel with kick-ass cocktails, while The Highfield Townhouse, due to open this autumn, promises to build on the burgeoning gastropub scene already nurtured by The White Swan.

At the heart of the movement, though, is Simpsons. The brainchild of chef patron Andreas Antona, the restaurant’s heritage dates back to Antona’s original launch in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, in 1993. There, as ‘Simply Simpsons’, it won a Michelin star, which is proudly sported today by the Edgbaston incarnation, which opened its doors in 2004.

The imagination of the kitchen, and executive chef director Luke Tipping, is constantly on show, with dishes so harmoniously colourful Damien Hirst would be proud.auliflower as carpaccio, its flavours elevated to headline status; cherry beer ice cream delivering hits of vibrancy to counter the dreamyness of a chocolate and pistachio soufflé. Seasonal ingredients are to the fore, but dressed with all the tools of a chef’s armoury. Potatoes are rendered as ‘pebbles’, onions transformed to gnocchi, scallops cased in ravioli; all delivered with an apparently effortless delicacy and elegance. It’s a feeling that permeates this venue, right through to aperitifs and summer dining in the landscaped gardens.

There is a lightness of touch on show, not least in the easy, relaxed but constantly correct service; staff attentive, but never overly so, furnishings formal but not stiff. Our lunch was spun out over an indulgent afternoon that meant we had to drag ourselves away – a mental note made to book dinner next time and make use of the four guest rooms on offer. Like the Saturday morning cookery school run by head chef Matt Cheal and, indeed, the Simpsons cookery book, it’s not a facet of the operation that is shouted loudly from the rooftops. That’s how they do things here – discreetly, understated but with consummate creativity. GW.