After, shall we call it, a “conversation”,with the artificial intelligence system, Gemini, earlier this year I reached a conclusion that as a Guide to good places to eat in Britain, the AA Guide, was the one for me. The Michelin Guide, Gem and I agreed, was too pretentious for normal people to be accurately guided to a good restaurant - it clearly has its own agenda (including screwing a lot of money out of the South Australian government to get its inspectors to visit the state and, we are sure, quite coincidentally, awarding 11 Michelin stars to restaurants in South Australia while the rest of Australia has none (!), but it did seem reasonable to conclude that the Michelin Guide is a book (well, an online site anyway) for chefs - it gives them a goal to aim for and a feeling of appreciation if their restaurant makes it to the pages of the Guide or, better still, is awarded a star or more. But take it with a pinch of salt if you’re a paying customer and especially one in the West Midlands region where Michelin inspectors seemingly fear to tread (unless it’s a pretty little village in the Midlands Cotswolds, the sort adored by Michelin inspectors though loathed by the socialist newspaper food critic, Jay Rayner). Perhaps the West Midlands counties’ councils should get together and fund a jaunt by the Michelin inspectors to the area and we might then see Michelin stars shining out all over West Mercia. The south Australia affair has severely brought in to question the integrity and usefulness of the Michelin Guide to diners.
Then there’s also the online Good Food Guide. Strictly for hipsters and increasingly losing any credibility as a guide to where to eat a dinner worth eating.
Which brings us to the AA Restaurant Guide. Gem and I agreed this was the guide for me. Then again, Gem seems to agree with everything I say which either means I’m a modern Solomon or AI either likes to patronise its human or is simply fawning and thereby, in doing so, adds to its creepiness. I have used the guide several times this year and on two or three occasions been disappointed and would not have recommended the restaurants myself based on my experiences. The problem is that the AA Guide visits self-referred restaurants and apparently awards one or two rosettes possibly on a single experience. This is a recipe for inaccuracy and inconsistency.
Regardless, for the present at least I continue to be interested in the places the AA Guide is recommending to us and so here are the West Midlands restaurants included in the recently released 2027 AA Restaurant Guide -
West Midlands county-
Birmingham -
670 Grams ✳️✳️
Land ✳️✳️
Trillium ✳️✳️
Hotel du Vin Bistro Birmingham ✳️
Six by Nico Birmingham ✳️
Adam’s ✳️✳️✳️
Restaurant Folium ✳️✳️✳️
Chez Mal Brasserie and Bar ✳️
Opheem ✳️✳️✳️
The Wilderness ✳️✳️✳️
The Bridge at New Hall Hotel and Spa (Sutton Coldfield) ✳️✳️
Solihull
Grace and Savour (Hampton in Arden) ✳️✳️✳️✳️
Kynd (Hampton in Arden) ✳️✳️✳️
Meriden
The Barn at Berryfields ✳️✳️
Wolverhampton -
Bilash ✳️✳️
15 restaurants in the county (34 rosettes)
Gloucestershire -
Berkeley
The Malt House
Cheltenham Spa -
Bao + BBQ ✳️
Bhoomi Kitchen ✳️✳️
Chez Mal Brasserie and Bar ✳️
The Curry Corner Est 1977 ✳️✳️
Cowley Manor Restaurant ✳️✳️
The Greenway Hotel and Spa ✳️✳️✳️
Hotel du Vin Cheltenham ✳️
Le Champignon Sauvage ✳️✳️✳️
Lumière ✳️✳️✳️✳️
The Nook On Five ✳️✳️
Prithvi ✳️✳️✳️
The Restaurant Ellenborough Park ✳️✳️
Cirencester
The Fleece at Cirencester
Cowley
The Green Dragon Restaurant
Eldersfield-
The Butcher’s Arms ✳️✳️
Frampton Mansell
The Crown Inn
Gloucester -
Hatherley Manor and Spa ✳️
Nailsworth -
Wilder ✳️✳️✳️
Painswick
The Painswick ✳️✳️
Selsley
The Bell Inn ✳️✳️
Tetbury
The Brasserie at Calcot ✳️✳️
The Close Hotel ✳️✳️
Westbury-on-Severn
The Barn at Severn and Wye Restaurant ✳️✳️
28 restaurants in the county (44 rosettes). Cheltenham has 12 restaurants (26 rosettes) - this compares with Birmingham’s 11 restaurants (23 rosettes).
Winchcombe
The Lion Inn ✳️
Stroud
The Bear of Rodborough ✳️
The Burleigh Restaurant at Burleigh Court ✳️✳️
Herefordshire -
Aymestrey
The Riverside at Aymestrey ✳️✳️
Hereford
L’Ecole Des Amis ✳️
Ledbury
Feathers
Symonds Yat (east)
Saracen’s Head Inn ✳️
4 restaurants in the county (4 rosettes)
c.f. 2026 - 5 restaurants, 7 rosettes
Shropshire -
Bridgnorth
The Acton at Morville ✳️✳️
Hodnet
The Bear Inn ✳️✳️
Ludlow
The Feathers Ludlow ✳️
The Cliffe at Dinham ✳️✳️
The Charlton Arms ✳️✳️
Market Drayton
Goldstone Hall ✳️✳️
Much Wenlock
Gaskell Arms Hotel (assessed by Visit England)
Munslow
Crown Country Inn ✳️✳️
Norton
The Hundred House ✳️
Oswestry
Pen-y-Dyffryn Country Hotel ✳️✳️
Shifnal
The Granary Restaurant ✳️
Shrewsbury
Lion and Pheasant Hotel ✳️✳️
The Royalist Restaurant ✳️
House of the Rising Sun ✳️
The Saloon ✳️
Telford
The Ugly Duckling ✳️
Upton Magna
The Haughmond ✳️
Whitchurch
The Swan at Marbury (assessed by Visit England)
18 restaurants in the county (24 rosettes)
c.f. 2026 - 16 restaurants, 26 rosettes
Forelles at Fishmore Hall (Ludlow) removed from list.
Staffordshire -
Barton under Needwood
The Two Pigs
Cheddleton -
The Flintlock at Cheddleton ✳️✳️✳️
Consail
The Plumicorn ✳️✳️✳️
Ellastone -
The Duncombe Arms ✳️✳️
Hoar Cross -
The Ballroom at Hoar Cross Hall ✳️✳️
Leek -
The Black Lion Inn ✳️
Three Horseshoes Country Inn and Spa ✳️
Lichfield
The Boat ✳️✳️✳️
Larder Brasserie and Grill ✳️✳️
Upstairs by Tom Shepherd ✳️✳️✳️
Stafford -
The Moat House ✳️✳️
The Swan
12 restaurants in the county (22 rosettes)
Warwickshire -
Alderminster -
Ettington Park Hotel ✳️✳️
Armscote -
The Fuzzy Duck ✳️✳️
Henley in Arden -
Lithos Restaurant ✳️
Ilmington -
The Howard Arms ✳️
Kenilworth -
The Cross at Kenilworth ✳️✳️✳️
Long Compton -
The Red Lion ✳️
Lower Brailes -
The Kitchen at Felton Valley ✳️✳️
Royal Leamongton Spa -
Oscar’s French Steakhouse and Bistro ✳️
The Warwick at Mallory Court ✳️✳️✳️
Shipston on Stour -
The Bower House ✳️✳️
Stratford-Upon-Avon -
Hotel du Vin Bistro Stratford-Upon-Avon ✳️
No. 44 Brasserie on The Waterside ✳️✳️
The Woodsman ✳️✳️
Wishaw -
Ryder Restaurant ✳️✳️
14 restaurants in the county (25 rosettes)
Worcestershire -
Abberley
Badgers ✳️✳️
The Manor Arms ✳️
Barnt Green
Black and Green (rosettes ‘suspended’)
Broadway
The Back Garden ✳️✳️✳️
Foxhill Manor ✳️✳️
Grill by James Martin (Lygon Arms) ✳️
Hook by Martin Burge ✳️✳️
MO ✳️✳️✳️✳️
Tattersall’s Brasserie ✳️
Callow End
The Refectory at Stanbrook Abbey Hotel ✳️✳️
Chaddersley Corbett -
The Malvern Restaurant ✳️✳️✳️
Malvern
The Inn as Welland ✳️✳️
L’Amuse-Bouche ✳️✳️
1919 ✳️✳️✳️
Ombersley -
The Venture In ✳️✳️
The Kings Arms Ombersley ✳️
15 restaurants in the county (33 rosettes)
The above lists are not entirely compiled from the paper copy but from the present online version, for instance the paper edition includes Simpsons presumably because it went to press before Simpsons closed but the online edition correctly omits the restaurant. However we may conclude from the above lists that Cheltenham is by far and away, according to this particular guide, the place to go out to eat in the west midlands region (if you agree that northern Gloucestershire is part of the West Midlands rather than being a ridiculously northerly part of the West Country).
Hence Cheltenham has 2.17 AA rosettes per 10000 residents while Birmingham has only 0.19 rosettes per 10000 residents. There may be several reasons for this - the most obvious being that middle class, wealthy Cheltenham does actually have many more higher quality restaurants per head of population than Birmingham does. On the other hand it may be that Birmingham restaurateurs are far less likely to refer themselves to the AA for a visit from a guide inspector and that being the case miss the opportunity to be included in the guide. It may just be that AA Guide inspectors prefer visiting picturesque Cheltenham than they do visiting the former industrial metropolis of Birmingham with all its urban problems.
The AA Guide states that it awards a single rosette to restaurants which can be viewed as offering a venue where the diner “can eat with confidence”. My own experience of dining at one rosette restaurants is that that is not necessarily the case and I have had some disappointments in the past year after following the AA Guide’s advice and I therefore would be very cautious in trusting the Guide’s reassurance that I can be confident about what I might be served in that grade of dining establishment.
