AA dishes out rosettes to best in the Midlands
SEVERAL West Midlands restaurants and hotels have been awarded coveted AA Rosettes.
Solihull restaurant Grace and Savour was awarded four Rosettes, a ranking that AA said was only handed to establishments ‘where the cooking demands national recognition’.
Four Rosettes are given when restaurants “exhibit intense ambition, a passion for excellence, superb technical skills, and remarkable consistency”.
The AA said: “They will combine appreciation of culinary traditions with a passionate desire for further exploration and improvement.”
The only other establishment to achieve four Rosettes in the region is Peel’s Restaurant at Hampton Manor.
Aktar Islam’s Opheem was awarded three Rosettes, along with Restaurant 8 at Centenary Square and Restaurant Folium, in the Jewellery Quarter.
To earn three AA Rosettes, a restaurant must ‘achieve standards that demand recognition well beyond their local area’.
The guide said: “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.
“Around 10 per cent of the restaurants/hotels within the AA Restaurant Guide have three Rosettes and above.”
Sam Morgan, owner of Restaurant 8, said: “We are, of course, particularly proud of what the team have achieved since opening in the challenging year of 2020.
“The restaurant was only open three weeks of 2020 due to the
pandemic and six months of 2021, therefore to develop 8 into a restaurant considered in the top 10 per cent is nothing short of astonishing.”
AA Rosettes have been awarded since 1956 and are given based on the findings of a team of inspectors who visit restaurants around the UK. Adam’s, Carters of Moseley, Purnell’s and Simpsons are Birmingham Michelin star-rated restaurants that also have three AA Rosettes.