St Mary's Hall restaurant awarded AA Rosette
The Spirit Restaurant at St Mary's Hall hotel has been awarded an AA Rosette for culinary excellence.
Spirit is now the only restaurant on St Mary's to achieve the recognition.
The hotel posted on social media that it is "incredibly pleased" and "immensely proud" to be given the award, saying it has been a "real team effort".
Phil Fallows, head chef at The Beach who also oversees the kitchen at the hotel, told This is Scilly: "Going for a Rosette is something we've talked about for quite a few years and we felt like this was the year to have a crack at it. We didn't think we'd get it this year as we only made an enquiry with the inspector as to what we'd need to step up to get the Rosette and he was so impressed with the food and service in the restaurant he said he'll give us one straight away. He said he was very impressed with the level of confidence in the food and the menu overall.
"We were obviously completely delighted. The Rosette recognises culinary excellence so from the chef's point of view we're absolutely over the moon. We work long hot hours to produce what we feel is some of the best food on the islands so to get the recognition has made me and the rest of the kitchen team extremely proud."
He added: "As a kitchen team the Rosette has really given us all so much more confidence and a boost that I believe will ultimately come through in the food we produce and we'll just get better and stronger. Who knows, we might even go for two Rosettes next year!"
The New Inn on Tresco also has one AA Rosette, while the Ruin Beach Cafe an Karma St Martins Hotel have two each. Hell Bay Hotel on Bryher has three and featured in the Michelin Guide 2018 along with the Ruin Beach.
The AA Rosette system, which was founded in 1912, ranges from one to five, with only one in ten restaurants achieving as much as one rosette.
St Mary's Hall Hotel also managed to retain its 3 star silver award for the second year. Silver stars are awarded to highly commended hotels selected for their superior quality and high standards of hotel keeping and cuisine.
"The inspector has highly recommended that we consider going for 4 star next year as he was so impressed with our standards," Phil said.