What Are The AA Rosette Awards?

A number of restaurants across the country won gold in last night’s AA Rosette Awards spring update. One London restaurant scooped up the coveted four AA Rosette title, while a number of others secured three – but what do the different numbered awards mean? Here’s everything you need to know.

A Guide To The AA Rosette Awards

What Are The AA Rosette Awards?

First awarded in 1956, the AA Rosette award was the first nationwide scheme introduced to assess the quality of food in restaurants and hotels across the UK. They are awarded annually on a rising scale by a team of inspectors, and a restaurant can receive a maximum of five Rosettes. The standard of the food is the most important factor, with each level increasing in terms of quality and skill.

The Vineyard’s Tasting Room

What’s The Difference Between The Awards?

Here are how the numbers of Rosettes differ, according to the AA website:

One Rosette: ‘These restaurants achieve standards that stand out in their local area. They serve food prepared with care, understanding and skill, using good quality ingredients. The same expectations apply to hotel restaurants, where guests can eat in with confidence and a sense of anticipation.’

Two Rosettes: ‘Excellent restaurants that aim for and achieve higher standards and better consistency. A greater precision is apparent in the cooking, and there will be obvious attention to the selection of quality ingredients.’

Three Rosettes: ‘Outstanding restaurants that achieve standards that demand recognition well beyond their local area. The cooking is underpinned by the selection and sympathetic treatment of the highest quality ingredients. Timing, seasoning and the judgment of flavour combinations will be consistently excellent. These virtues tend to be supported by other elements, such as intuitive service and a well-chosen wine list.’

Four Rosettes: ‘Among the top restaurants in the UK, where the cooking demands national recognition. These restaurants exhibit intense ambition, a passion for excellence, superb technical skills, and remarkable consistency. They will combine appreciation of culinary traditions with a passionate desire for further exploration and improvement.’

Five Rosettes: ‘The pinnacle, where cooking compares with the best in the world. These restaurants have highly individual voices, exhibit breathtaking culinary skills, and set standards to which others aspire to, yet few achieve.’

Claridge’s Restaurant

Which Restaurants Have Newly Awarded Rosettes For 2024?

New four AA Rosettes:

• La Dame de Pic London, Four Seasons at Ten Trinity Square, London

New three AA Rosettes:

• Social Eating House, London
• Pavyllon London, Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London
• Claridge’s Restaurant, London
• The Silver Birch, London
• Studio Frantzén, London
• Fallowfields, Housel Bay, Cornwall
• Summer Lodge Country House Hotel, Dorset
• Toffs by Rob Palmer, West Midlands
• The Gin Trap Inn, Norfolk
• The Dining Room and Cellar, Hillbark Hotel & Spa, Merseyside
• The Little Chartroom, Edinburgh
• Mingary Castle, Highlands
• Thomas by Tom Simmons, Cardiff
• The Tasting Room, The Vineyard, Berkshire
• The Angel Inn, Suffolk
• Kintsu, Essex

Lympstone Manor

Which Restaurants Have Five AA Rosettes?

Only a small selection of restaurants hold the coveted five AA Rosette award:

• The Fat Duck, Bray
• Midsummer House Restaurant, Cambridge
• L’Enclume, Cartmel
• Lympstone Manor Hotel, Exmouth
• Moor Hall Restaurant with Rooms, Ormskirk
• Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, London
• Sketch (Lecture Room & Library), London
• Pollen Street Social, London
• Muse, London
• Restaurant Story, London
• Claude Bosi at Bibendum, London
• Core by Clare Smyth, London
• Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, Nottingham
• Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton
• Steve Smith at Latymer, Bagshot
• The Kitchin, Edinburgh
• Ynyshir, Eglwys Fach

Find the full list at theaa.com.