AA Rosette Awards February 2023: London restaurant Amethyst wins top gong at awards - full list of winners

Four London restaurants have received a prestigious rosette in the February 2023 AA Rosette Awards. The awards ceremony showcases the best restaurants across the UK and recognises culinary excellence and dedication, ensuring consistent quality of the highest order.

The long-established awards scheme celebrates successful cooking at different levels across the UK. Awarded by the AA’s team of inspectors who boast years of experience in assessing quality, receiving this award is a significant achievement in the culinary world. The highest award a restaurant can win is five AA rosettes.

In the latest round of accolades, Amethyst restaurant in Mayfair won the highest prize of the month as it was the only establishment in the UK to be awarded four AA rosettes. Amethyst offers modern European, Nordic, Japanese cuisine in a fine dining atmosphere.

The AA inspector’s review of Amethyst reads: “Discreetly hidden away on Sackville Street, just off Piccadilly, Amethyst is every bit a culinary gem from ex-Xier’s Carlo Scotto. The acclaimed Italian-born chef has worked in renowned kitchens across the globe, as well as in London’s top kitchens, including the likes of Murano with Angela Hartnett and Galvin at La Chapelle.

“The tasting menu combines Scotto’s experience of Nordic and Japanese cuisines with French and Arabic influences and delivers with understated class, its beguiling creativity bound by balance, refinement and high technique, and driven by captivating flavours and presentation. There’s a surprise at every turn; take charcoal-black cod in caramelised miso and naganegi dashi to beef with ras el hanout, sesame-seed-encrusted medjool dates and beetroot ‘ketchup’.”

Turnips with Tomas Lidakevicius in London’s Borough Market won three rosettes in the February awards, with the inspector writing that chef-patron Tomas Lidakevicius’s debut restaurant is a “unique affair, with a high-energy backing track from the sprawling market and trains running above.” Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal in Mayfair bagged three AA rosettes in the latest awards, with the inspector stating that the establishment is “one of London’s most elegantly stylish dining rooms with cooking to match”.

Restaurant 1890 by Gordon Ramsay, which offers modern French classics inside the iconic Savoy Hotel, also won three AA rosettes. The inspector wrote: “Overlooking the iconic entrance to the Savoy, Restaurant 1890 pays homage to the hotel’s lauded chef Escoffier and the date when he started working there. The decor of this intimate dining room conveys Art Deco overtones with a rich palate of gold textures and ornate lighting.

“Tables are immaculately set and the kitchen uses high quality ingredients from all over the world. Start with Orkney scallop, seaweed beurre blanc and finger lime before short rib topped with snails and a decadent shaving of black truffle. Hazelnut soufflé with cacao nib ice cream is a memorable way to end a meal.”

AA Rosette Awards February 2023 winners

New four AA rosettes

Amethyst, London

New three AA rosettes

• Upstairs by Tom Shepherd, West Midlands
• The Traddock, North Yorkshire
• Smoke, Hampton Manor, West Midlands
• Home by James Sommerin, Wales
• Karrek, St Enodoc Hotel, Cornwall
• The Dog and Gun Inn, Cumbria
• Turnips with Tomas Ludakevicius, London
• Thornbury Castle, Gloucestershire
• The Checkers, Wales
• Ben Wilkinson at The Pass, South Lodge, West Sussex
• Alex Dilling, Hotel Café Royal, London
• 263, Lancashire
• Restaurant 1890 by Gordon Ramsay, London
• One Devonshire Gardens by Hotel du Vin Glasgow, Scotland