hi thereyet,

should you wish to venture further afield, i had an excellent roast beef sunday lunch at the "Royal Oak" pub in staffhurst wood, near Oxted in Surrey, just 2 sundays ago. [yep ,they let me out of Cornwall without my passport].

getting there might be a tad tricky though - train to Oxted from Victoria, then either taxi or walk about 7 miles through lovely countryside - you'd need your lunch after that.

it would make a great day trip on a sunny day.

hope you're having a terrific trip,

regards, ann

PS - you can cure any cricket withdrawal symptoms by tuning into Sky Sports, or Radio 5 live extra every morning, to watch/listen to England v India [in india, it's a bit chilly for cricket in the UK in December]

PPS <<the average Londoner will eat at Simpsons once in their life.>>

i worked in london for nearly 18 years. I never ate there. do go so you can tell me what it was like!

"That is very odd, isn't it ira? You would think such a famous pair of... characters... would warrant some proof of their custom"

At one time there was a plaque on the wall at the Criterion Bar (Piccadilly) commemorating the meeting "near this spot" between "John H. Watson, MD and Stamford, dresser at Bart's, who introduced him to Sherlock Holmes and immortality . . ." or something like, placed by the Baker Street Irregulars.

Haven't been back since the big renovation a decade or two ago, so don't know if it survives.

If I remember correctly, as one woman turned the corner to come into the dining room at the Connaught I thought she was wearing a sable. It then dawned on me that, no, it was one of the those fur coats that Eskimos wear complete with embroidery around the cuffs and hood. Then the rest of the party filed in and I could see that they were all wearing these coats.

Well, sweetie darling, if you have ever been to the Connaught you know that as soon as you sit down at table, 17 waiters appear and surround you. The waiters tried to take the coats from these people but they would not give them up. They threw them over the backs of the chairs!!

"We Alaskans always keep our coats nearby," one white-bearded man explained, "because we never know when we are going to have to leave in a hurry."

Well, thank you very much for the explanation, guv.

They did have some class, however, as they ordered a few bottles of the absolute best Champagne on the menu---Krug 1963.

Thin

Is Simpson's still what was written way back when?

RIP Cholmondley. You are missed.

Hi IRA,

"... I met him by appointment that evening at Simpson's, where, sitting at a small table in the front window, and looking down at the rushing stream of life in the Strand,....."

Which story please? Love Sherlock Holmes....

It's the "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" short story, written in 1924.

Lovely to see C_W in a thread, gone but never forgotten.

Is Simpsons the same . . .

Well, when this exchange began in 2008, it sounds as if it was unchanged since my late father dined there in '43 and '44. I wish I had asked him how he managed the ration cards.

And CW us missed!

Hi RUBRICUND,

"It's the "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" short story, written in 1924."

Thank you - not familiar with that particular story. My favorite Holmes iteration is the Jeremy Brett series done decades ago...

I've had traditional fare at Simpsons twice and at Rules, perhaps 7 or 8 times. I would take Rules hands down every time for the full experience. Just call it personal choice if you want.

For uber traditional I also prefer Rules. Though I wouldn't turn down being treated to Simpson's.

For what it's worth here's from my April 2014 TR:

Simpsons in the Strand: Roast of Rib of Scottish Beef--£31 was accompanied with a nice olive bread, roasted potatoes, a huge Yorkshire pudding and a small copper pot with meh “savory” cabbage.

I had the same dinner at my hotel Strand Palace for less and it was as tasty. The ambience at Simpson's was spectacular. I haven't been to Rules, Neo. A good reason to return, eh?

RIP C_W.

>> I wish I had asked him how he managed the ration cards.<<

If I remember the history books correctly, there weren't ration cards for restaurants, they just weren't allowed to charge more than 5s. for a meal (more or less $1 at the then exchange rate). This was the time when a lunch menu at the Strand Palace read:

"(a) Ballotine de Jambon Valentinoise
(b) Assiette Froide et Salade
<I>Authorized translation by the management:</i>
(a) Hot Spam
(b) Cold Spam".

as well as the late lamented CW, another lost friend here is the OP, thereyet, who has left us but for different reasons [which I have now forgotten!]

to absent friends.

Patrick - was that the origin of Monty Python's spam sketch?

Possibly - I found it in a Penguin compilation of the news clippings sent in to the New Statesman's This England column, which provides some pretty jaw-dropping evidences of past attitudes and peculiarities. But in their case, I think school dinners take the major credit. There's a distinct air of the end-of-term skit about that sketch (in my school, the line was "All good food! Derby winner 1947!"

There's a distinct air of the end-of-term skit about that sketch (in my school, the line was "All good food! Derby winner 1947!">>

I know that you mean - we had one dish that we called "elephant hide" [pig's liver and bacon if we were lucky] there was the obvious frogspawn, [tapioca] and deep fried spam in batter. And I developed a life-long and waist-line threatening love of steamed puds.

HI All, (Sherlockians, Holmesians and non)

In addition to ILLU, Holmes has this to say in "The Dying Detective" (DYIN)
"When we have finished at the police-station I think that something nutritious at Simpson's would not be out of place".

I think that today one goes to Simpson's for the atmosphere.

I suggest the Knight's bar for "looking down at the rushing stream of life in the Strand".

((I))

Ummm. These comments from Sherlock Holmes are interesting, but we do realize that he was a fictional character, right?

annhig: I <i>think</i> thereyet is still on Fodors w/ a different screen name.

There have been several comments to that effect over the last several months.

>>These comments from Sherlock Holmes are interesting, but we do realize that he was a fictional character, right?<<

Say it ain't so, Joe!

>>These comments from Sherlock Holmes are interesting, but we do realize that he was a fictional character, right?<<

I'm sure that I've heard the Hound of the Baskervilles as I've crossed Dartmoor.