Mail as saying that he hoped that the new restaurant would achieve the award of 2 Michelin stars in 5 to 7 years but that hope remains unfulfilled. The restaurant was awarded 1 Michelin star in 2009. The first Maitre D' at Purnell's was Jean Benoit Burloux who had previously worked in a more junior role at Jessica's. He was succeeded by Sonal Clare in 2014 who began work at Purnell's in 2008 as a waiter and was awarded the Best Sommelier Award at the GQ Food and Drink Awards 2018 in May 2018. Sonal Clare left Purnell's on 21 December 2019 to work as General Manager and Head Sommelier at The Wilderness from January 2020. He was succeeded at Purnell's by Jared Samborski in January 2020. In June 2018 Purnell was asked to create a dish to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the beginning of work to construct 'Spaghetti Junction', the Gravelley Hill roadway interchange, and he received considerable publicity for his dish of potato and celeriac 'spaghetti' with a cream and ginger sauce finished off with truffle. Simpsons In 2004, Andreas Antona opened Simpson's Restaurant in Edgbaston Birmingham, within a Grade II-listed building. Antona founded the original Simpson's in Kenilworth in 1993, which was awarded a Michelin star in the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2000. Chef Director Luke Tipping had previously been Chef at Simpson's in Kenilworth. Andreas Antona was later to establish a restaurant at The Cross in Kenilworth where the Head Chef is Adam Bennett, who had worked for Antona at Simpson's in Kenilworth and subsequently, has been Head Chef in the Edgbaston restaurant. The name "Simpson's" was taken from the chemist's shop, belonging to Antona's father-in-law, which occupied the site in Kenilworth before Antona opened his restaurant there. After the Edgbaston restaurant had been closed for a short period for redecoration towards the end of 2015, Nathan Eades, who previously had had his own restaurant for a short while in nearby Bromsgrove, took over as Head Chef from Matt Cheal who left to open his own restaurant, "Cheal's of Henley" in the village of Henley in Arden, between Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon. Nathan Eades left Simpson's in December 2017 to work at the 'Wild Rabbit Inn' in Kingham. Previously, Andy Waters, another former Head Chef of Simpsons, had had a restaurant, "Edmund's", in Henley in Arden before moving it to Birmingham and then going