Nine Leicestershire restaurants have made the grade in the latest AA Restaurant Guide.
All of the restaurants are in towns and villages spread across the county – with none on the list based in urban Leicester.
Just one of the list – John's House, in Mountsorrel – has picked up three rosettes out of the maximum of five.
It is also the county’s only Michelin-starred restaurant and its menu includes courses such as lightly salted fillet of cod, crab, passion fruit, cucumber and spiced bisque alongside roast guinea fowl, confit leg, brassicas, hen of the woods and elderflower.
According to the AA, places with three rosettes offer an outstanding service that achieve standards that demand national recognition well beyond their local area.
Nationally only a handful have the coveted five AA rosettes including The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire, run by Heston Blumenthal, and the Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, in Oxfordshire, which is run by Raymond Blanc.
Restaurants with five rosettes are described as the pinnacle, where the cooking compares with the best in the world. The AA says these restaurants will have highly individual voices, exhibit breath-taking culinary skills and set the standards to which others aspire, yet few achieve.
The Restaurant Guide 2022 features more than 1,700 restaurants which have been awarded Rosettes for culinary excellence by the AA’s professional inspectors.
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Now in its 28th edition, it gives detailed descriptions of each destination, information on latest chef changes, opening times, sample menu prices and images of many of the featured locations.
With the AA releasing no guide in 2020 for the first time 50 years, the publication returns with a blend of familiar favourites and more than 100 new restaurants than the previous edition.
Leicestershire restaurants included in the 2022 AA Guide:
Three rosettes:
- John's House, Mountsorrel
Two rosettes:
- Sapori Restaurant and Bar, Anstey
- Stapleford Park, Melton Mowbray
- The White Swan, Shawell
- Kilworth House Hotel, North Kilworth
- Hammer and Pincers, Wymeswold
One rosette:
- The Royal Oak, Long Whatton
- Three Swans, Market Harborough
- The Shires at Quorn Country Hotel, Quorn
One rosette denotes restaurants achieving standards that stand out in their local area, featuring food prepared with care, understanding and skill, and good quality ingredients. The AA says the same expectations apply to hotel restaurants where guests should be able to eat-in with confidence and a sense of anticipation.
Two rosettes are given to the best local restaurants, which aim for and achieve higher standards, better consistency, greater precision apparent in the cooking and obvious attention to the selection of quality ingredients.
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