AA Restaurant Guide 2022: Sheffield and South Yorkshire eateries including Joro named some of best in country

The guide features more than 1,700 of the top restaurants in the UK and Ireland and is widely considered one of the most prestigious publications to be featured in.

All of the venues have received an AA Rosette award for culinary excellence, after being visited by professional inspectors.

The Rosette award, first awarded in 1956, was the first nationwide scheme for assessing the quality of food served by restaurants and hotels.

According to the AA, only around 10 per cent of restaurants across the UK are of a standard worthy of one Rosette and above.

There is a rising scale for how Rosettes are awarded, with five Rosettes being the highest award a restaurant can achieve.

In a brilliant boost for the city and its ever-evolving food and drink scene, this year there are four Sheffield restaurants featured in the guide, as well as one in Wortley in Barnsley.

Here are all the restaurants you can find in the guide and what rating they received.

What Sheffield and South Yorkshire restaurants feature in the AA Restaurant Guide 2022?

The first restaurant to feature in AA’s 2022 guide is Joro, which serves Scandinavian and Japanese fusions.

It can be found in the Krynkl development in Shalesmoor and has been awarded plenty of recognition and accolades since it was opened in December 2016 by chef Luke French and his wife Stacey.

As well as being featured in the guide, Joro has won the Michelin bib Gourmand, been placed 97 in the National Restaurant Awards top 100 and received numerous regional awards including ‘Restaurant of the Year’ award in the Yorkshire Life food and drink awards 2019.

Luke was also nominated the ‘chef to watch’ in 2019.

It has three AA Rosettes – the most of any local restaurant – and an inspector said ‘Joro’s urban edginess is bang in tune with the contemporary trend for neo-Nordic-influenced eating’.

They added: “Expect pin-sharp techniques andcombinations that pack a punch, starting with a perfect piece of mackerel in miso-boosted broth alongside kohlrabi pickled in buttermilk whey, intensely sweet and smoky wood-fired onions, and roasted yeast purée, followed by mallard with red cabbage ketchup and blackcurrant jam.”

Juke and Loe

The next restaurant to be featured in Juke and Loe on Ecclesall Road, which has one AA Rosette.

The guide says: “This small shop-fronted restaurant is situated in a trendy area of Sheeld and serves up modern British fare in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.”

The independent is run by two brothers, Joseph and Luke Grayson, and serves ‘the best and freshest local ingredients to celebrate traditional British cooking with a modern twist’.

Nonnas

The Italian favourite on Ecclesall Road is also featured this year and has one AA Rosette.

It has been open in Sheffield since 1996 and has won many awards, as well as being visited by famous guests like Sylvester Stallone.

The AA guide says: “Nonnas is a bustling, good-natured Italian restaurant with friendly staff, café-style marble-topped tables and green walls. This is an

imaginative kitchen turning out properly cooked, highly original dishes.”

Rafters Restaurant

Rafters is a ‘modern British’ restaurant in Nethergreen and is very well-established in Sheffield.

The AA guide says: “A well-established venue away from the bustle of the city centre, Rafters Restaurant is in an unusual corner building, and sits at the top of the stairs, as the name implies. Only around 30 covers, it has undergone a refurb that includes an open kitchen and chef’s table. It’s quite formal but friendly, and offers very modern British cooking.”

It has two AA Rosettes.

The Wortley Arms

Slightly further afield but still very much in South Yorkshire, The Wortley Arms on Halifax Road has received one AA Rosette.

The guide says: “The Wortley Arms is an appealing spot for a pint of local ale and some modern gastro-pub cooking. Timeless staples (beer-battered fish

and chips with home-made tartare sauce, or gammon steak with griddled pineapple) rub shoulders with more up-to-date ideas.”

The AA Restaurant Guide 2022 is available online or in bookshops priced £16.99 RRP. The 2021 edition is the only year where it was not published, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and most restaurants being closed.