Scotland’s restaurants and hotels have collected a substantial haul of honours from the AA, with Inver awarded four Rosettes and a Glasgow restaurant named AA Restaurant of the Year for Scotland.
The latest announcements produced 13 Scottish awards or new Rosette recognitions across restaurants, hotels and hospitality professionals, including six restaurants receiving new Rosette status.
The results were revealed around the AA Hospitality Awards at Grosvenor House in London on Monday night (21 September), as the organisation marked the 70th anniversary of its restaurant Rosette scheme.
Among the biggest culinary winners was Inver, the acclaimed restaurant on the shores of Loch Fyne near Strachur, which was awarded four AA Rosettes.
Run by chef and writer Pam Brunton and her partner Rob Latimer, Inver was one of only six restaurants across the UK to receive four Rosettes in the AA’s autumn announcement.
The restaurant, which is currently being offered for sale after more than a decade in business, is known for its highly seasonal approach to Scottish produce and also holds a Michelin Green Star.
Flavour in Tarbert on the Isle of Harris was Scotland’s other major new multi-Rosette winner, receiving three AA Rosettes.
The small restaurant is run by chef Chris Loye and his wife Nicola and offers an eight-course tasting menu in an intimate setting where diners eat in the kitchen and can watch dishes being prepared and plated.
Swadish by Ajay Kumar in Glasgow was meanwhile named AA Restaurant of the Year for Scotland.
The two-Rosette Merchant City restaurant, run by Ajay Kumar and his wife Jas, combines Indian cooking and techniques with seasonal Scottish produce.
It succeeds Edinburgh’s The Little Chartroom, which won the Scottish Restaurant of the Year title at the 2025 AA Hospitality Awards.
Scotland also secured a series of major hotel and individual prizes.
Crossbasket Castle in High Blantyre was named AA Hotel of the Year for Scotland, while the Old Course Hotel Golf Resort & Spa in St Andrews won the UK-wide AA Spa Hotel of the Year award.
Lys-Na-Greyne in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, was named AA B&B of the Year, while the team at Knockendarroch Hotel and Restaurant in Pitlochry collected the AA Small Hotel Team of the Year award.
Knockinaam Lodge at Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway won the AA Wine Award for Scotland. The five-star restaurant with rooms holds three AA Rosettes and has a wine list of more than 300 bottles.
There was also an individual award for Cromlix reception manager Ilona Harris, who was named AA Rising Star of the Year.
The AA said Harris had introduced initiatives to strengthen communication, consistency and recognition among staff at the luxury Perthshire hotel near Dunblane.
The awards followed another group of Scottish restaurants receiving their first AA Rosette as part of the organisation’s September guide update.
The Bothy on Ruthven Lane in Glasgow’s West End, Nico Simeone’s Lennox on Byres Road and Atlantic Bar and Brasserie on St Vincent Place all entered the guide with one Rosette.
The Lime Tree Hotel in Fort William also received its first Rosette.
The Bothy is led by head chef James McDonald and specialises in Scottish produce, while Lennox opened earlier this year after Simeone replaced his former Six by Nico restaurant on Byres Road with the new sharing plates, pasta and dry-aged meat concept.
Atlantic Bar and Brasserie is a long-established French-inspired restaurant in Glasgow city centre, while the Lime Tree Hotel’s restaurant overlooks Loch Linnhe from Achintore Road in Fort William.
It means the Scottish restaurants receiving new Rosette recognition in the AA’s latest announcements are Inver with four, Flavour with three, and The Bothy, Lennox, Atlantic Bar and Brasserie and the Lime Tree Hotel with one each.
No new five-Rosette restaurants were announced anywhere in the UK this autumn. The new awards will appear in the AA Restaurant Guide 2027.
The AA Rosette scheme was launched in 1956 and awards restaurants following inspections by the organisation’s professional inspectors. Its highest three, four and five-Rosette awards are reserved for restaurants operating at the upper levels of the UK dining industry.