The new Simpson’s in the Strand is a classic for a new generation
The culinary calendar is hotting up and the Square Mile and its surrounds are right amongst it. This week I turn to two restaurants in Canada and the hotly-anticipated ‘new opening’ on the Strand, Simpson’s by Jeremy King.
Kolamba East
I first discovered Kolamba during the pandemic. One of the few successful ‘finish at home’ boxes available at a reasonable price point, it lifted my cooking game when my Big Green Egg and personal talent hit a ceiling. Shortly after lockdown, I visited the Soho flagship and left disappointed. Now a Liverpool Street offshoot has opened.
I’ve grown to love this part of The City. Leading the Evolv Collection, we’ve opened Chop House and Tavern, Sartoria and Vinoteca, all on New Street. Nearby Kolamba is in the north west corner of Spitalfields Market, a district which bears a remarkable resemblance to New York’s Meatpacking District and Chicago’s Fulton Market. In this environment, a restaurant has a danger of feeling sanitised, but Kolamba exudes an abundance of soul. A comforting, stylish hangout boasting generous booths and gigantic pillows, there’s a mood of a teddy bear’s picnic or a supper club before the concept became big business.
Spicy is the omnipresent adjective on the menu, and it is accurate. Outstanding aperitifs include spicy blood orange margaritas and the best starter is Jaffna-spiced lamb chops with smoked aubergine. The showpiece main course is Caylon spiced king prawn string hopper biriani, a fantastic one-pot dish featuring king prawns hidden in a bowl of shredded noodles, cashew nuts, leaves, citrus and more ‘spice’. Well worth a visit.
Coopers Cut, Four Seasons London Bridge
I visited this venue with the co-founders of Quarter Proof spirits, who are offering a three martini lunch at the venue. Although this sounds like something out of Mad Men, ending with no sensible return to the office, Quarter Proof is only 14% ABV – versus 40% in a normal martini – so it might just be the future of sociable, ‘almost sober’ lunching.
A room which used to house the magnificent (and two Michelin starred) La Dame de Pic now feels a bit lost – and empty – sadly. And so does the menu; the radish snacks are watery and in desperate need of flavour. The core ingredients in the hamachi carpaccio and the A5 Japanese wagyu were outstanding but spoiled by over-exuberant sprinklings of espelette pepper. Equally, a beautiful Shropshire pork chop did not need to be smothered in confit garlic. The wine list and service are both excellent, clearly legacies of the former resident. I recommend the Château Lynch-Bages Pauillac 2009 (£265) and the beef without any unrequested, unnecessary seasoning.
Simpson’s in the Strand
And so to Jeremy King’s latest restaurant for my final hurrah. It’s an awesome venue, one I looked at when I founded M Restaurants almost ten years ago. But even with my entrepreneur’s DNA and unshakable optimism, I walked away terrified by its enormity. Mr King, as his name suggests, is a better man, bona fide restaurant royalty (he’s the legend behind the original Ivy, co-founder of the Wolseley and Delaunay and the founder of The Park and Arlington).
Master of the ‘grand café’, the Grand Divan restaurant is typical King, a beautiful room that now boasts refurbished plaster work on the gilded ‘wedding cake’ ceiling and restored marquetry on the oak wall panels. When I visited it was filled with the warm, happy hubbub that the greatest hospitality venues provide.
It’s a dining room to enjoy the best people watching in London today, filled with a mature room of silver foxes and their companions who look like ladies’ maids of a former monarch. This is no haunt of the nouveau riche. I spotted the delightful Laura Harper-Hinton, chief exec of Caravan, and the dapperly-dressed Charlie Carroll, co-founder of The Devonshire. The latter made it clear he’s still smarting that I said his hangout is “filled with badly dressed, overweight tourists who have arrived a year too late to an already over-hyped party,” in this column last year. Check it out online…
Meanwhile the Simpson’s sommeliers – also legends of the sector – were omnipresent, lending wisdom and a kind table manner to the experience. The ‘La Petite Cote’ Yves Cuilleron Condrieu is particularly well priced at £105.
And the food is also very good. Scampi to start took me straight back to my childhood in Whitby, an evocative dish, perfectly prepared, with a divine tartar sauce. The venison tartare has an excellent balance of mustard, tabasco and Worcestershire sauce.
Equally well balanced is a retro prawn cocktail boasting three jumbo prawns peaking above a fan of avocado (although they could have been shelled for ease).
Main courses also hit the point (they share similar inspirations to my Liverpool Street Chophouse, as it happens…): pies, steaks, puddings, chops, all excellent. The bacon chop was faultlessly smoked and perfectly tender. The colonial ‘railway curry’ was slightly underwhelming, however: much better at its original home, Bluebird. Still, this is a classic restaurant reimagined as a classic for a new era.