Life may feel gloomy at the moment, but there is promise of better times ahead. Pubs, bars and restaurants sit empty, waiting for us to return in our masses. 

When that day comes, why not show a bit of love to a sector of the hospitality industry you may have previously overlooked: the college restaurant. Run and catered by students eager to showcase their culinary and hosting skills, they serve industry-standard food at just a fraction of the cost. 

And now, the AA rosette scheme allows you to plan your trips to very best restaurants the sector has to offer. 

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The award sees experienced AA hotel and restaurant inspectors carry out inspections of both lunch and dinner service. If they witness industry-standard food and service, inspectors bestow a AA award or a AA highly commended award to the college restaurant.

Just 29 college restaurants in the UK have been awarded these prestigious rosettes. In no particular order, they are: 

The Atrium, University College Birmingham
Highly commended

Senara, Truro and Penwith College (Penzance campus)
Highly commended

few little token pictures from today's service thank you @MStevensFish and @fruitsales for the amazing produce as standard #inspiringthepresent #trainingthefuture @Truro_Penwith @HospitalityTC pic.twitter.com/Ckwq3vrQpL

— Senara Training Restaurant (@PenwithSenara) November 5, 2019

Spires, Truro and Penwith College (Truro campus)
Highly commended

Why not spoil yourself with a well deserved treat any Tuesday evening in Spires from 5.30pm.
Call 01872 267621 to book an appointment or email spires@truro-penwith.ac.uk pic.twitter.com/hgsYIZQVst

— Spires Restaurant (@SpiresDining) January 31, 2018

Trevenson, Cornwall College (Redruth campus)
Highly commended

Cloisters, Cornwall College (St Austell)
Highly commended

Patrons of Cloisters Restaurant at Cornwall College St Austell enjoyed a three course dinner with Charlestown’s renowned Restaurant ‘The Longstore’ at the helm https://t.co/RsZjqlKvVH @The_Longstore @CloistersRest #thecareercollege #futurechefs pic.twitter.com/vhEqG5Vk2I

— Cornwall College (@CornwallCollege) November 18, 2019

The Brasserie, Milton Keynes College 
Highly commended

#supportlocal
Cheese board on our Christmas menu, beer bread with @blackenedsunbc chutney from @friars_farm_chutneys_preserves and cheese sourced from @abfruits1982 🧀🍺🍅 pic.twitter.com/Dn3RovBk25

— The Brasserie MK (@ThebrasserieMK) December 13, 2019

Parcs, Peterborough Regional College
Highly commended

It’s all heating up @countryrangeuk #CRStudentChefChallenge! Come on PRC, you’ve got this!! @ThomasRidleyFS @prclatest pic.twitter.com/jusj5ijZqV

— Parcs Restaurant (@parcstweet) January 24, 2020

Debut, City College Norwich
Highly commended

Dessert today by @charlieboychef for the uk young seafood chefs of the year @youngsseafood competition @norwichcollege well done to all the competitors and @seafishuk great day pic.twitter.com/qdAwhRTSgQ

— Debut Restaurant (@DebutRestaurant) May 10, 2019

Edmunds, West Suffolk College
Highly commended

An inspiring day @WestSuffolk @Passion2Inspire 👨‍🍳👩‍🍳 @edmundsWSC students making the judges job very difficult by demonstrating such amazing standards💥@MurrayKC @Zeppelin162 @jamescarn12 @ch3flee @gyoung2311 @stuasc @ClaireWaterson5 pic.twitter.com/D4opR3nogw

— Edmunds (@edmundsWSC) February 12, 2020

BR6, London South East Colleges
Highly commended

Lovely skills from Young Rotary Chefs today. @LSEColleges @Orpington1st @RotarySe @RotarySE1120 pic.twitter.com/UZWZxicOCR

— BR6 Restaurant & Bakehouse (@BR6Restaurant) February 1, 2020

Haford, Coleg Cambria
Highly commended

Our new menu dishes 😋 @colegcambria @ycelstryn @andywoods215 #1cambria #fresh @jarvisa25 @Hudson1Judith pic.twitter.com/tEbxh3oVln

— Angharad and judith hospitailty tutors (@HafodCambria) May 3, 2019

Aspire, Trafford College
Highly commended

Last nights guest chef and alumni @chef_exose showcased some impeccable cooking delivering on all levels! @TraffordCollege pic.twitter.com/J2mA7pgyYr

— Aspire Restaurant (@traffordaspire) February 28, 2020

The Silver Plate, The Sheffield College
Highly commended

Fantastic Wine & Dine evening tonight, delicious food by our Chef Neil & his @msksheffcol Level 3 students. Excellent service provided by our @greeneking_official BTEC students led by our manager for this evening Jack. Special thanks to Paul from @hnwines for joining us tonight. pic.twitter.com/h5keg8JERV

— The Silver Plate (@TheSilverPlate_) March 12, 2020

Chefs Academy, Newcastle College
Highly commended

Tonight we took over Northumberland Golf Club. What a fantastic effort from everyone involved. Well done, you were a credit to the College 👏@P1stAndy @NCLCollege pic.twitter.com/RjQawBduPe

— Lifestyle Academy (@NCL_Lifestyle) March 5, 2020

The Classroom, Cardiff and Vale College
Highly commended

Looking to book with us? You can online at https://t.co/SXCqD1GyCo
Eisiau archebu gyda ni? Gallwch wneud ar-lein yn https://t.co/z8wdokOMUj pic.twitter.com/HD2KbnTgfK

— The Classroom (@_The_Classroom) February 22, 2020

The Brasserie, Westminster Kingsway College
Highly commended

It’s the first day of our Christmas themed menu, we hope all of our guests have a lovely time 🎄. Tag us in your photos. Photo: @simonstocker1 pic.twitter.com/iZWa8kBW7o

— The Vincent Rooms (@thevincentrooms) December 6, 2017

Escoffier, Westminster Kingsway College
Highly commended

This week on our Escoffier Room Scandinavian Themed Menu: Skrie Cod, Norwegian Prawn Fritter, Sea Vegetables, Aquavit Butter Sauce. pic.twitter.com/NGlW6Hl8JO

— The Vincent Rooms (@thevincentrooms) February 5, 2018

Scholars, City of Glasgow College
Highly commended

Our Scholars Restaurant Highly Commended in AA College Rosette Scheme. Huge congratulations to our all our Hospitality and Professional Cookery students. Fantastic achievement. @CofGCollege @city_sa @tedtrek69 @cheffess2002 pic.twitter.com/H9XB0zbySX

— City of Glasgow College (@CofGCollege) April 14, 2020

L20, Hugh Baird College
Highly commended

We have availability tomorrow lunch . Here is few dishes from our current menu . pic.twitter.com/o3HLxFfek4

— L20 Hotel School (@L20HotelSchool) February 3, 2020

Origins, Shrewsbury College
Highly commended

A few pictures of are new menu here at Origins!! #originsrestaurant #NewMenu #Chefs #HardWork pic.twitter.com/wCxaqZ4xCd

— Origins Restaurant (@DineatOrigins) November 9, 2018

Academy, Cheshire Colleges - South & West
Highly commended

Some of the stunning desserts being made by the chefs of award winning @academycheshire - wow wow wow!!! #Amazing pic.twitter.com/kDN3FhEAE2

— Academy Cheshire (@academycheshire) May 20, 2018

Academy West, Cheshire Colleges - South & West

@CheshireCollSW @TasteCheshire @ChefBrianMellor @_stucollins what a great start to the year for our learners. Stu Collins led a session with our 1st yrs to create traditional dishes with a modern twist #partnership #shapingthecurriculum pic.twitter.com/8uT92XFOM5

— Academy West (@_academywest) January 31, 2020

Riverbank, Hopwood Hall College

Some of the dishes tonight from our valentines theme night @hopwoodhall Riverside Restaurant. Level 1, 2 & 3 students doing an amazing job cooking & serving #employability #skills pic.twitter.com/urcH6WxxuO

— Hopwood Chef (@HopwoodChef) February 14, 2020

Y Celstryn, Coleg Cambria

Bistro East, The Manchester College

How talented are our Catering and Hospitality students? Delicious free range duck, pickled pear, smoked ethical Foie Royale, beer and barley 🤩🍽#YesChef #BeAmazingTMC pic.twitter.com/D91f4Wz797

— The Manchester College (@TheMcrCollege) January 20, 2020

@34, Exeter College

Some great pics from the #RayKennyBursary @34Restaurant pic.twitter.com/raCdKcfQVQ

— @34 Restaurant (@34Restaurant) April 5, 2019

OKN1, NCC (Hackney)

An awesome selection of veggie & vegan platters for a client’s function at OKN1 earlier today.
👏
Well done chefs!

👨‍🍳🧑🏽‍🍳

Open for business as usual this evening.#veggies #veggie #vegan #eventplanner #event #venue #greatfood #hackney #hoxton #shoreditch #londonfood pic.twitter.com/hziHITArZt

— OKN1 Hoxton (@OKN1Hoxton) March 11, 2020

Rouge, NCC (Redbridge) 

We are having a spooktacular #Halloween at our Rouge Restaurant. #halloween2019 pic.twitter.com/WW28D7yT8V

— New City College | Redbridge (@NCCRedbridge_) October 31, 2019

The Atrium, Hertford Regional College

Great to win the 4th annual inter college Patisserie competition @HertRegCollege with @HarlowCollege & @NewCityCol close runners up! Well done all involved & thank you to the judges @ShangriLaShard and @McMullens1827 for giving up their time #LearnCookEat #DestinationHRC 🍰🏆 pic.twitter.com/PTKxnzmq56

— The Atrium at HRC (@theatriumHRC) April 20, 2018