Top Birmingham Chefs Enjoyed a Michelin-starred Masterclass with Luke Tipping at Simpsons, Birmingham!

On Monday (2) July, Michelin-starred chef Luke Tipping welcomed top Midlands Chefs into his impressive restaurant, situated in a grade II listed building in upmarket Edgbaston, Birmingham. The Chefs’ Forum event was staged to showcase Luke’s culinary flair and skill that has acquired him a Michelin Star in 2004 which he has retained ever since!

In 2010, Luke received a Professorship of Culinary Arts by the University of Birmingham in recognition of his efforts in promoting the next generation of kitchen stars. In January this year, Luke and his head chef Leo Kattou, worked with The Chefs’ Forum Educational Foundation alongside Masterchef The Professionals Louisa Ellis, Mark Walsh (Opus), Olivier Briault (The Edgbaston Boutique Hotel) to cook a course of an impressive lunch which raised an impressive £1500 to help young chefs coming into the industry.

The money raised at this Chefs’ Lunch and three others like it held in London, Bath, Cornwall and Devon has since been successfully used to fund young chefs’ travel and accommodation in securing their first jobs in industry after college, further-underpinning Luke’s commitment to supporting the next generation of chefs.

Simpsons Owner, Andreas Antona also attended the event. Andreas has owned Simpsons for the past 25 years, both in its pervious Kenilworth location and its current beautiful home in its stunning Edgbaston site. Andreas has worked with some of the biggest names in the chef world including Michael Quinn MBE, Britain’s first celebrity chef and Anton Mosimann OBE. The Chefs’ Forum team were truly honoured to hold an event at Andreas’ restaurant.

Simpsons is an informal, contemporary and elegant restaurant that reflects the spirit of fine dining today. It was great to see so many chefs attending the event who had worked at this culinary institution at some point in their career. The respect held for Andrea and Luke was clear to see and their common goal of supporting the next generation in coming together as a top-drawer local restaurant scene at Birmingham’s leading chef networking event.

Catherine Farinha, event organiser and Founder of The Chefs’ Forum stated:

“Luke’s versatile and personable, expert skill set makes him the ideal mentor in inspiring young chefs. As we are now in July, the students have finished, so today’s event was more about bringing together all of the top chefs of Birmingham for some great networking and CPD in a butchery masterclass from Walter Rose, a Spanish ingredient showcase from Brindisa, a talk on perfect seasoning by Santa Maria and an extremely informative ‘Cressperience’ by Paul Da Costa Greaves of Koppert Cress. The visiting chefs showed great enthusiasm for the event and gave great feedback, offering their participation in future events that will take place in Birmingham every quarter. We are proud to work with Andreas, Luke, Leo and the Simpsons team in bringing the Birmingham culinary industry together.”

Synergy Grill inventor, Justin Cadbury, a member of the famous local chocolate dynasty showcased his award-winning grill at the event. Demo chef Claire Mansfield joined Justin to showcase the grill to the guests who attended cooking-up delicious Walter Rose chicken skewers, perfectly-seasoned with Santa Maria spice. Claire offered the guests the opportunity to have their own personal demo at their premises at a time to suit them which was very well-received by many!

Temporary chef, Max Colver from Chefs’ Forum sponsor Simply Chefs went into the kitchen on the day to help prepare canapés. This was to showcase his skills to the culinary experts who attended in case they ever need to hire in some top-quality kitchen help in an emergency. Max did a great job and his agency proud. Max helped set up the event for fifty culinary experts from across Birmingham and The Midlands who came to get a glimpse of Luke’s award-winning set-up and deliciously impeccable, well-thought-out food.

Luke was very happy with the way the event went, he said:

“It was great to see so many friends, old and new here at Simpsons today. My main reason for working with The Chefs’ Forum is to inspire the next generation of chefs, so I look forward to future events with UCB and my team and I’m teaching in The Chefs’ Forum Academy at Gloucestershire College, enriching the learning of young chefs in catering colleges as well as inviting them here to Simpsons on work experience and even apprenticeships for those showing real promise”.

Other highlights of the day included an expert pork butchery demonstration by Jack Cook of award-winning Walter Rose & Son, showing the chefs how tasty pig cheeks are cut from the pig’s head, as well how to achieve the perfect French trim of rib and loin from a side of pork. A duo of Michelin-starred cookery demonstrations by Luke and Leo then followed the first utilising the freshly butchered pig cheeks by Walter Rose & Son and the second showcasing Leo’s use of liquid nitrogen to add the ‘wow factor’ to dishes on the Simpsons menu. Luke and Leo make a great team and the energy and respect between them is absolutely apparent – The perfect working relationship.

The day finished with a brilliant Cressperience by Paul Da Costa Greaves of Koppert Cress and a great day was had by all who attended. The Chefs’ Forum continues to hold quarterly events in Birmingham and is looking forward to the next event to be held at The Edgbaston Boutique Hotel on the 1^st October 2018. Any chefs wishing to attend or get involved should contact Catherine@redcherry.uk.com