Kadi (15 December 2009)

We visited Simpsons on our wedding anniversary on a Tuesday evening which was booked 3 weeks in advance, the polite gentleman on the phone said they were nearly fully booked already. Arrived 20 minutes before we were due to dine at 19:40. On arrival we were greeted by a pleasant gentleman who placed us at the bar area, which was a very nice place to be. After a 10 minute wait we were taken to our table which was located in the main part of the restaurant near the kitchen. As soon as we sat down we were advised that as it was our first time at the restaurant we should consider the tasting menu, so the tasting menu it was to be at £70pp. It didn’t take my wife and I long to be convinced by all those wonderful sounding dishes. We also went for the accompanying wine selection at an extra £45 pp, we thought this was quite reasonable as the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu was £30 and believe me I looked through the book, yes book! If they haven’t got the wine you want in their book then it doesn’t exist! The food arrived one by one, I’m including only a fraction of the courses in this review as there were so many. We had foie gras ravioli, seared tuna rolled in wild sesame, sweetbreads, the softest beef, perfectly seared scallops, goats' cheese, two desserts, coffee and petit fours. Each of these courses were accompanied with various purees, compotes and tempura. One of the highlights were shavings of very tasty goats' cheese that lay around the plate, what turned out to be a foam of goats' cheese on the middle was accompanied with beetroot crisps on top, this was then accompanied by a beetroot sorbet, which was unusual but it worked well even though I’m not a huge fan of beetroot. My favourite was the seared scallops with pureed cauliflower, tempura cauliflower and a raw slither of fresh cauliflower; it was a cauliflower overdose that suited me perfectly!

When the waiter delivered the dishes he explained how each dish was made and what the ingredients represented in regards to our taste buds, plus the wine waiter also explained each glass of wine we had, a different glass for nearly every dish was specifically chosen to that specific dish to make our taste buds go wild with flavour and he was right, the flavours of the dishes combined with the wine was exquisite, and it was all presented beautifully! The staff were friendly, polite, and experts in their field without being pretentious, even the water waiter was efficient. The only down side of having all those various waiters in such a medium sized restaurant is that you’re never left on your own for more than 5 minutes, which is not a bad thing, it’s just a little annoying. Everything was perfect; the Michelin stars are clearly visible here! Although not the cheapest establishment to dine in, it was worth the money. The decor was smart and classy and you never felt uncomfortable. Highly recommended for those special occasions or if you fancy a special treat. The bill came to about £240 plus 12 ½ % service charge.

Helen Bowden (19 January 2008)

On Friday, we visited Simpsons for the fifth time. Each time we eat there, we are more delighted and more enchanted with the food and surroundings. The staff are welcoming and attentive and very helpful in both wine and food recommendations. As always, we left feeling totally treated, to a truly special evening. It really is an amazing place to dine.