The AA Restaurant Guide rates more than 1,400 restaurants across the UK and Ireland, awarding up to five rosettes for the quality of the cooking.

The AA first started rating restaurants in 1955, when the first AA rosettes were awarded, and the guide remains one of the most respected and comprehensive in the country.

This page collects The Staff Canteen's coverage of the guide and the AA Hospitality Awards: who has won new rosettes, who has lost them, and every award handed out on the night.

What are AA rosettes?

Rosettes are awarded by the AA's team of professional inspectors, who visit unannounced and pay for their meals like any other guest. The scale runs from one rosette, for food prepared with care from good ingredients, up to five, reserved for a small group of restaurants whose cooking draws attention well beyond these shores.

One and two rosettes are awarded at the time of the visit. Three, four and five rosettes are revealed twice a year, in February and at the AA Hospitality Awards in September.

What are the AA Hospitality Awards?

The AA Hospitality Awards are held every September in London, and are the night on which the AA names its hotels, restaurants, inns, B&Bs and individuals of the year. The evening also acts as the launch of the new edition of the AA Restaurant Guide.

The best known award of the night is the AA Chefs' Chef of the Year, the only one voted for by the industry itself, with the ballot restricted to chefs whose restaurants hold AA rosettes. Past winners include Tom Kerridge, Nathan Outlaw and Daniel Clifford.

What are the AA Hospitality Award categories?

  • AA Chefs' Chef of the Year
  • AA Restaurant of the Year, for England, London, Scotland and Wales
  • AA Hotel of the Year, for England, London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
  • AA Hotel Group of the Year and AA Small Hotel Group of the Year
  • AA Wine Award, for England, Scotland and Wales
  • AA Sommelier of the Year
  • AA Restaurant with Rooms of the Year
  • AA Inn of the Year
  • AA B&B of the Year
  • AA Spa Hotel of the Year
  • AA College Restaurant of the Year
  • AA Rising Star Award
  • AA Housekeeper of the Year
  • AA Sustainable Award
  • AA Lifetime Achievement Award
  • AA Outstanding Contribution Award
  • The full category breakdown and how winners are chosen

Who inspects for the AA?

AA inspectors are recruited from the industry itself, from head chefs to general managers and housekeepers, and go through an AA training programme that continues throughout their career. They book and pay as ordinary guests, and judge the whole meal rather than a single dish.

Keep up to date with all the AA Restaurant Guide news below, including who has won AA rosettes and which chefs and restaurants have taken the other AA awards.