572. AA Guide 2027.

 

  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. 

557. The Cross At Kenilworth.

 

   It was some time - years - since I had last dined at the one Michelin-starred The Cross at Kenilworth where Adam Bennett has held the ship steady as Chef Director since it was opened by Andreas Antona in 2013. Bennett had joined the staff of Simpsons when it was situated in Kenilworth in 2003 and had moved to work with Antona at the new location of Simpsons in Edgbaston in 2004. Coventry-born, Bennett had trained ar Henley College and subsequently worked under Anton Mossiman at the Dorchester and in France ar Restaurant Gut Lassausaie and Restaurant Marc Meurin before returning to England to work in country house hotels including Mallory Court. When Simpsons opened in Edgbaston he was appointed Head Chef under Luke Tipping who was Executive Chef and he held the post until 2013 when he stepped down to lead the United Kingdom team in the Bocuse D’Or competition held that year. Matt Cheal stepped into the role while Bennett’s team achieved the highest position (4th) ever for a British team. Bennett led the team again in 2015 with Britain coming 6th in the European finals and achieving 10th place overall. Bennett took up his post at The Cross in 2013 and the restaurant was quickly included in the Michelin Guide and then awarded a single star which it has retained ever since.

  Rather like Heaven, as described by Jesus Christ, there are many rooms in The Cross with a large outdoor dining area at the back of the building which has all the outward appearance of being an everyday pub until the interior is viewed and the dining rooms are revealed to the unsuspecting - they are spacious, comfortable, cheerfully decorated, rustic in a smart, high middle class sort of way and … busy.

Adam Bennett at the pass

  I chose to order from the three course à la carte menu (£90). Two canapés in the form of gougères with two types of sauce were served. There was a discernible cheese flavour but not at all intense but the exteriors were pleasingly crispy though slightly oily. I have had far more memorable canapés at Simpsons with much stronger and gorgeous flavours than the pair served at The Cross on this visit.

  Afterwards, some good sourdough was served with a nice Jersey butter and this helped to fill the long gap between the time I placed my order and the time when the first course eventually showed its face. It did seem that food was slow to come out of the kitchen, perhaps the baking hot weather was something to do with it.

  It has to be said that the starter was delicious - Dorset crab with a good pasta in the form of cavatelli and a saffron sauce with the well-judged bite of chilli. There seemed to be plenty of crab meat and the pasta was cooked nicely. There seemed to saffron gave it all a warm, comforting appearance and this was a pleasing dish.

  I chose what proved to be a remarkably good and delicious main course of beautifully tasty and tender sirloin cooked over coals with it being spot on as medium rare and served with some toothsome slow cooked short rib and sweet Roscof onion and 6 very well triple cooked chips with black garlic purée and unctuous red wine sauce. This was an excellent dish, the meat being Hereford beef from Ireland (I expect you understand my meaning) and of high quality and the cuisson just as I would have wished it to be. A lovely dish

  For dessert I chose the fine peanut butter parfait with milk chocolate crémeux, the richness of both being splendidly balanced by banana and lime ice cream. A pleasingly light but satisfying dessert.

In contrast to the previous evening’s dinner at Oscar’s French Steakhouse and Bistro where service was speeded up to a dizzying pace, the meal at The Cross proceeded at a snail pace but it’s hard to argue with saying, “Something worth having is worth waiting for”.

12 August 2026

Rating:- 🌞🌞

550. What’s The Point Of Restaurant Guides?

   I asked Gemini - at a time when I hadn’t got anything better to do - about the subject of how useful each of the main restaurant guides are to the ordinary but discerning diner who was reasonably prepared to eat novel dishes and experience new cuisines. I know AI is often wrong - it makes things up and its research is not as thorough as it might be and I’m pretty sure it rather grovellingly tries to give you the answer it thinks you want to receive. Still it does its best. Anyway we had a pleasant interchange where it did indeed largely express views which were in line with my own. Firstly, is the Michelin Guide any use? Its reply -

    We then moved on to the Good Food Guide which under its present editor uses flowery descriptions and reviews not sparing in the number of words used and is largely aimed at middling middle class hipsters and students giving it the impression of it trying hard to dumb down good food. It has surrendered to trendiness and coolness and this is much to be regretted. 

  Then there is Hardens which is like a Sunday family roast lunch in comparison with the Michelin Guide which is dining at the Ritz. As such it is to be commended. It is a vox pop but mostly the pop is informed, experienced, knowledgeable and discerning. There are certainly some restaurants included in it which would not make the cut in any other guide. I remember sitting in one of the (Harden-listed) bistros on Stratford’s Sheep Street and talking to a couple in early middle age who adored eating there and dined there whenever they were in the town. I smiled supportively, and hopefully not too patronisingly, as they praised their technically unambitious and quite pricey main course, inwardly grimacing as I tried to find even a glimmer of pleasure from the seriously overcooked fish I had been served. Still, I like Hardens, a Guide For The Common Man.

    Gemini deemed that the AA Guide was the guide for me. And I think it might be right.

 The AA Guide sets out the landmark events its own evolution but in terms of it being a restaurant guide the important dates are -

1967 - Introduction of the AA restaurant inspection scheme

1992 - The AA rosette scheme is revised as a 5 tier rating system.

   To explore which Birmingham and West Midlands restaurants had been featured in vintage editions o tge AA Guide I obtained the 1990 edition and perused its pages in search of well thought of Birmingham and other West Midlands restaurants which the Guide deemed worthy of inclusion. It really was not terribly useful. It took far more interest in the hotels it was reporting on with passing reference to eating arrangements in most of them. I really would have been better served by a 1992 edition when the 5 rosette system was introduced. I ordered a copy from É Bay but discovered that I had mistakenly ordered a copy of the 1992 Egon Ronay Guide which was a good thing as I hadn’t paid any attention to that particular important publication up until now (see below).

  Apart from hotel dining the guide mentioned only two restaurants and indicated their grading while the quality of those located in hotels was not indicated apart from commenting on price and nature of the menu. The two mentioned were Sloan’s and The Lombard Room in Kings Norton - 

xxx “Sloan’s, 27-29 Chad Square … Unusually located in a small square of shops to the west of the city centre, this chic, split level restaurant offers an imaginative menu of dishes in the light French style, making good use of fresh seasonal produce, and complementing its cuisine with a fine wine list and friendly professional service”

xxx “The Lombard Room, 180 Lifford Lane …. About ten minutes drive south of the city centre and convenient for the M42 is the famous Patrick Collection motor museum, within the beautiful grounds is the complex that contains the Lombard Toom, the elegant conservatory which holds the lounge and bar - all furnishings and décor are of very good quality. A short, imaginative à la carte menu offers a selection of tempting dishes. The quality of the food is complemented by professional attentive service and a magnificent of wines.”

  I am won over - for the present at least - by the idea that the AA Guide is the guide of choice for diners rather than chefs. I look forward to the next edition. I shall deal with the Egon Ronay Guide and the story of its editor in a future edition of BFAOBP.

Egon Ronay 

533. Albatross Death Cult.

 

  I made my reservation for the first service after the announcement of the 2026 Michelin Great Britain and Ireland awards in anticipation of Albatross Death Cult being awarded a Michelin star which it well deserves but did not receive. In all events its mother ship, The Wilderness, was the winner of a richly deserved Michelin star instead so Alex Claridge had something to smile about if he could find the necessary facial muscles to carry out such an act. I imagine he did while celebrating his success in Dublin where the award ceremony had been held.

  I was charmingly shown to my place at the counter as I have got used to during my now several visits to the restaurant which Grace Dent now famously described as one of the top five seafood restaurants in Britain. The maestro of the ADC kitchen, Oliver Grieve, was in place with one assistant preparing the first nibbles of the forthcoming meal and I ordered a pleasing cocktail to get myself started.

  The menu mixed old favourites with new additions. From the former group were the oyster cream amuse bouche and the signature mussels with a broth of n’duja and aflame with pepper - this dish seemed to have evolved to its ultimate state of existence - and the divine sushi rice ice cream with nori wafers. The world will not end while these three classics continue to survive.

  There were of course other wonders - Ollie Grieve was at the top of his game - the trout with dill and wasabi, the gorgeous miniature crumpet on which crab was being serenaded by apple, perfectly cooked cod partnered with artichoke and hazelnut, brill partnered by punchy smoked eel and trout once more but this time partnered with lobster. 

  The dessert brought to the table nicely poached seasonal rhubarb holding hands with crème fraiche and all shook up by Szechuan pepper. And I too felt shook up as Oliver told me that this was to be his penultimate service at ADC as he prepared to depart for Woven by Adam Smith at the Dorchester Collection. It’s hard to imagine what will happen at ADC next but Ollie Grieve is a very talented young chef and he is surely wise to expand his experience at this stage of his career. Let us hope that for the gourmands of Birmingham, it is more a question of au revoir rather than adieu.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞.

11 February 2026.