Simpsons, holder of one star in the Michelin Guide UK and three rosettes in the AA Restaurant Guide, was the venue for The Staff Canteen Live 2016’s second networking event sponsored by Pommery.

This month the chefs headed to Simpsons in Birmingham for a Michelin-starred lunch and champagne pairing. Our networking events aim to bring chefs and industry suppliers together over lunch to discuss the things that matter to them.

Following the success of our first networking lunch held at Michelin-starred City Social, this month the chefs and suppliers were treated to a menu designed by Simpsons chef and director, Luke Tipping and his team.

October’s guest list included: Alex Alexandrov, head chef, Hogarths; Matt Cheal, chef/owner, Cheals of Henley; Luke Butcher, pastry chef, Purnells; Glynn Purnell, chef/owner, Purnells; Brad Carter, chef/owner, Carters of Moseley; Julie Sharp, pastry chef, Callebaut UK; Richard Turner, chef/owner, Turners Restaurant; Simon Haigh, F & B director, Eden Collection; David Colcombe, chef consultant, We are liquid PR; John Graham, head chef, The Pickled Piglet; Mark Walsh, head chef, Harvey Nichols,; Gio Di-Vito, Assistant Dean; exec chef, University College Birmingham,; Matt Davies, executive chef, Lewis Partnership and Darryl Collins, head pastry chef, Genting Hotel.

Guests were treated to champagne on arrival before going behind the scenes as Luke Tipping took them on a tour of the kitchen and later sat down to a seven course lunch which included mackerel, beef tartare, hake, guinea fowl, winter truffle ice cream and Bramley apple.

Glynn Purnell, chef/owner of Purnells said: “It’s fantastic, we’re all from Birmingham and some of them (chefs) I haven’t seen in years and I think that’s the really great thing about today. Before today I hadn’t seen Richard (Richard Turner) for 18 months and I bumped into Luke (Luke Tipping) on the train but before that I hadn’t seen him in 12 months so to come here and break bread with them so to speak has been fantastic.

“We’ve been really looked after today at Simpsons, we’ve had champagne, caviar, tartare -  we’ve had some fantastic courses made for us by the kitchen team but I think the main thing is that we all spent time together around a table which was probably the biggest thing we got out of the lunch.”

Brad Carter, chef/owner of Carters of Moseley said: “I thought the lunch was brilliant, obviously it was a great choice of place. I wanted to be a part of it because I think The Staff Canteen is amazing. These lunches unravel the industry where chefs can showcase what we’re doing. The more of us involved the better. It’s a brilliant idea as it gets people together so you get to see old friends and meet new ones.”

Richard Turner, chef/owner of Turners Restaurant added: “Obviously with me Glynn and Brad, we’ve spoken about something like this in the past and said it’s something we should do more regularly, so thank you to The Staff Canteen for helping us do that.

“We need to make an effort collectively to support ourselves because at the end of the day I think it’s good to get together and bounce off each other. I think it’s good to get to spend some quality time together.”

Sara Hicks from Pommery who sponsored the event and supplied the champagne said: “The reason we love events like this is because it’s so difficult to speak to chefs because they’re rushing around, they have service ahead of them, etc. So finding five minutes to sit in a bar area is great. They’re with their peers and their friends, and actually the conversation has been relatively easy. It was great to have a lunch where you get to chat with everyone so it works very well on that level.

“I go to a lot of dinners and all too often it’s very formal and there’s constraints on what you can wear so I love the fact we have a lunch as opposed to a dinner and that we get to move around.”

The lunch was sponsored by Pommery, Nestle CHEF, HIT Training, Charvet, Santa Maria, Birchall Tea and Beacon Design.

Our next event will take place at Martin Wishart at Loch Lomond on November 14 and then at Pied à Terre. We’re sure you'll agree they are both outstanding restaurants!

If you'd like to apply for an exclusive place simply click the link below and complete the registration details today. (T & C's apply)

>>> TSCLive networking lunch registration form