Birthday Meal Choice
I wanted a birthday dinner at a place which makes a big fuss and effort for birthdays, photos of the birthday group, the words happy birthday in chocolate around the dessert plate, a candle on the dessert and the Happy Birthday music or a fanfare as the spluttering candle comes in through a darkened room and everybody goes quiet looking at it. But my family said the quality fo the food comes first, rather than an American cheer leaders atmosphere, and we'd tried Indian last year, so this year our birthday boy, who likes steak (to make a change from the lunchtime pizzas, afternoon dimsun,and evening Indian meals delivered while working.late. .When I phoned the restaurant I found out that the booking was listed in the father's name, but thinking that they might write the name on a plate or cake, or sing happy birthday to you to the wrong person, I made sure to tell them the first name of the birthday boy, In the event there was no writing of a name, and you could not hear the name during the singing. I'd thought of asking if they could address the birthday boy by name, and wish himhappy birthday on arrival. No need. But that would have meant another phone call and we were rushing out. However I was very pleased the wine waiter or amitre d greeted the birthday boy by name soon after we were seated - (ensuring that later the dessert with candle was placed in front of the right person). Our birthday boy was quite impressed and astonished and pleased to be addressed by name by a complete stranger.
Booking
We booked through Top Table. Most of the lastminute.com deals were for early or late evening and this place was what we chose instead. The advantage was that you do everything on line . The disadvantage is you don't get given a phone number and can't ask about parking or say that it's a birthday. I phoned them up and said it was a birthday and they promised to put a candle on the dessert.
The venue is one large room. The ceilings are magnificent. The tables were rather plain, white cloths with silver cutlery, plain glasses, and a pink rose head in a small goldfish bowl.
Greeting
No chance of you walking in unnoticed. The reception is in the hallway or foyer in front of the dining room. A chair and newspapers in the hall occupy you if you wait for your driver to find a parking place..
Starters and bread. The toilets are immediately outside on the ground floor - no danger of losing people or sending the elderly up or down flights of steep stairs. this must be a blessing for ladies in tight skirts and heels as well as portly gentlemen with a huge paunch but a tiny bladder.
Dress Code
Knowing it was a traditional and formal atmosphere I'd tried to persuade my menfolk to wear ties. Several men were wearing ties, one in a dark shirt and white tie - I'm not sure what kind of style this is, 1940s and before my time, Mafia from a village I haven't visited, or some art school idea of contrasting plain colours making a statement about one's colour co-ordinationg, the drama of contrast, or simply a deliberate or unconscious use of the tie as a male sexual advertisement.But the other men were smart casual in black jeans or trousers with dark shirts without ties..the ladies were mostly understated, though one was dressed up in a fetching diagonal top off one shoulder iridescent purple satin cocktail dress.
Room and table layout and seating
the room is large and square, reminiscent of a school or university dining hall with square or oblong tables in rows. tables for two are along one side, beyond the piano along the left as you walk into the room, talbes for two, four or more in lines in the middle, more private pew seating along the right hand wall for three or more. On a Saturday night the place was full. I imagine that all the table were booked and they had either filled all the tables or arranged things so that the right number of tables and chairs were set out.. Our table for three had two on one side and one chair on the other with the place setting in the middle so our birthday boy could face both his parents equally. Better than the usual system which has the third person taking one chair, blocked by an empty chair - although an empty chair can hold a handbag.,
Wines
For the heavy alcohol drinkers lots of interesting choice all the way up to famous wines from specific years costing three figure sums. If you of you is driving or on medication which doesn't mix with drinking, they have a non alcoholic drink. If a couple drink a mixture of reds and whites you can get a house red by the glass and a rose wine. BUT nothing sparkling or sweet. I was disappointed to get only a pleasant looking rose wine. I would have liked a pink sparkling wine or a prosecco for a celebration. Maybe they think you'll order champagne for celebrations. Not necessarily at their prices. Not necessarily if only one person will be drinking it. Although it was wine by the glass they showed us the bottles before pouring it, which ensured we got red or white and neither we nor they had made a mistake, and that we were happy with the colour and label. .
Bread and butter
Bread, white or brown, and butter appeared immediately. We went without a starter to leave room for the main course and dessert and the chef sent tiny cups of soup as an amuse guele.
Starters
We passed on these. If you have them of course that pumps up the price. We wanted to leave room for desserts. for some reason restaurants don't serve cake but put a candle on a dessert. One could equally well put a candle on a piece of bread roll at the start and enjoy having a birthday all evening not just at the end.. People at the next table had smoked salmon. The plate had lemon wrapped in white muslin so that the pips don't fall on your food.
Main Courses
The signature dish is the beef on the trolley, dome removed, meat carved off the bone by a chef in a tall white hat. We did not have an alcove because they were all taken reserved. But it was very jolly being in the middle of the room and seeing everything all around you.
The main courses were great with interesting vegetables. The purple sweet and sour savoy cabbage was unusual, colourful and so tasty and more-ish. My chicken dish sounded unexciting but I Was glad to have proper pieces of chicken, not the fashionable whole baby chicken so you have to distractingly drag slivers off the poor baby chick's tiny bones. the chicken was accompanied by tiny round onions and the most delicious rillete, a circular slice of what seemed to be solid potted meat mixed with walnuts. Everybody wanted more of that. Exquisite taste and texture.
I had found the menu on the Simpson's website and was able to decide what I wanted in advance. I had also printed out the dessert menu with the words Happy Birthday at the top.
Desserts
The dessert menu on line was slightly different. Presumably desserts up are updated seasonally. But the website is not updated to match.
We chose the sharing dessert menu which was good. You could choose for two or four and as we were three we opted for the two persons which had four desserts.The treacle pudding went down a treat.. The four sugary desserts were balanced by a few pieces of fruit, one strawberry, .
Coffee
Their coffee machine was broken so they only had filter coffee. You'd think that a major organization would have a backup, but at least they had the filter coffee maker which puts them ahead of many restaurants which have broken coffee machines and don't offer any kind of coffee.
Service good - always somebody walking past and lookng about so you can catch their eye.
They sang happy birthday in tune.An unusual feat. They must have at least eight people running around serving. Maybe they selected the four with the best voices. The piano was played by a youngster..
He later played Mozart's Rondo a la Turque, a very jolly tune, most suitable to liven a birthday. Obviously not for a funeral tea - one does get the impression that most restaurants think their diners are funeral parties, which applies at the Barn hotel in Ruislip near the crematorium, where funeral teas are boooked in a private room away from weddings, but I do feel that most couples in restaurants in evenings are out ofr a jolly relief from work, or romance, or anniversaries, or birthdays, so funeral music is better replaced by jolly music, but not so often nor so loud that you can't talk. Since the restaurant began as a venue for chess players constant msuic was obviously not part of their tradition. I think Simplsons got music and most things just right.
Price
The meal for three, only two courses, no coffees, no bottles of wine, just a glass of alcohol or non-alchol each, was just under £100 and with the 12 and a half %
service charge just over £110. You could easily spend double if your budget and belly and diet allows starters,you opt for the dearer main courses at around £30-36 pounds per person - chicken was about £20, I generally like a bit more colour (yes, literally colour - giant flower displays, coloured lighting, coloured napkins) No children nor shouting drunks. An elegant evening. A friend says Simpsons has two more places in the same building, much livelier if that's what you want. On your way out and in notice the chess board and chess pieces framed on the hall wall reminding you that the restaurant was originally a place where chess players met and the food was brought up on a trolley so they could eat quickly and quietly without interrupting their quiet tete a tete.
