Simpsons named among top 30 restaurants in UK

Oct 14 2009 by Richard McComb, Birmingham Post

Simpsons restaurant in Birmingham has been named among the top 30 places to eat in the country.

Andreas Antona’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Edgbaston came in at 24 in the National Restaurant of the Year Awards 2009, beating esteemed London dining rooms such as Le Gavroche and Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester.

Simpsons was also ranked above provincial heavyweights like Gidleigh Park in Devon and Midsummer House, Cambridge.

The ranking is deserved recognition for executive chef Luke Tipping’s consistently high-level of cooking and there will be restrained satisfaction at Antona HQ at being named the top kitchen in Birmingham.

Glynn Purnell’s eponymous restaurant was recently named AA Restaurant of the Year for England but the judges of the National Restaurant of the Year Awards have placed the Cornwall Street eatery ten places behind Simpsons, at 34. Elsewhere, Turners in Harborne is 85th and La Becasse in Ludlow is 86th.

Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant was voted Restaurant of the Year, beating Hibiscus, run by former Ludlow chef Claude Bosi.

The National Restaurant Awards are decided by a panel of chefs, restaurateurs and food critics assembled by Restaurant magazine.

Its editor, Paul Wootton, said: “Restaurants live or die by their reputation, which can only be enhanced by winning a National Restaurant Award. At a time when recession-hit customers are being cautious about where they spend their dining pounds, objective endorsement from industry experts is sure to encourage new visitors and extra spend.”