It’s awards season for hospitality, with the 2025 UK and Ireland Michelin Guide ceremony taking place just a week before the AA Rosettes announcements. One Scottish restaurant that’s done well from both is Elements in Bearsden - just outside Glasgow - and it’s only been open since July 2024.
Having been visited by Michelin inspectors, it gained a recommended status in the coveted guide before being awarded the prestigious accolade of three AA Rosettes.
Three Rosettes is denoted by the AA as having “achieved culinary standards that demand national recognition well beyond their local area. The cooking will be underpinned by the selection and sympathetic treatment of the highest quality ingredients.
“Timing, seasoning and the judgement of flavour combinations will be consistently excellent. These virtues will tend to be supported by other elements such as intuitive service and a well-chosen wine list.”
Elements is the first restaurant from head chef Gary Townsend, who was last awarded three AA Rosettes at Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens in the city’s west end.
Formerly of Martin Wishart’s Michelin starred restaurant at Cameron House, and head chef at One Devonshire Gardens, Townsend has built a strong team with a seasonal, noteworthy menu and exceptional wine list.
The menu at Elements showcases Gary’s passion for sourcing local Scottish ingredients and excellent producers from around the UK. His dishes highlight the very best ingredients combined with innovative techniques to enhance the flavour profiles of each component.
Dishes currently include North Sea Wild Halibut with shrimps, hen of the woods mushroom, BBQ hispi cabbage and sauce Vin Jaune, alongside Highland Roe Deer with smoked aubergine, red cabbage, crosnes, lemon and elderberry vinegar as well as Rhubarb with caramelised white chocolate, vanilla beignet, kumquat and ginger.
Upon achieving Three AA Rosettes Gary said:, “I am over the moon that our wee restaurant has gained this prestigious recognition from The AA so soon after opening.
“It’s a goal we’d set for the team from the very beginning and we’ve put our heart and soul into creating a memorable and special experience for our guests.
“I’m delighted beyond words, it’s testament to our continually evolving menu, our hard work and dedication to excellence. We’re excited for the future and so grateful to our wonderful customers and suppliers for their continued support ”.
We visit on the weekend before the AA Rosettes are announced, for a Sunday lunch. It’s a freezing day, and there’s nothing nicer than hiding from the cold in a convivial restaurant, which is what Elements is.
Stylish with its deep blue walls, panelling and open kitchen, it’s welcoming without being stuffy. Other diners are couples, including one with a new baby. It’s clearly a neighbourhood restaurant that just so happens to be fine dining.
We decided to try the seasonal tasting menu with a non alcoholic drinks pairing - a real highlight to see how much care and work has gone into creating these interesting drinks - which comprises nine courses including canapes, bread and petit fours to end the meal.
After kicking off with two not too sweet mocktails - fire, a take on an old fashioned and earth, a kind of zingy gimlet, we got started with the seasonal canapes that were served with Wild Idol non alcoholic sparkling rose wine.
These were a parmesan and goat's cheese galette; smoked potato and comte with puffed rice shallot and leek powder and sea bream ceviche tartlet, with avocado cream and caviar. Each was a delicate mouthful bursting with flavour and texture.
These were followed by the rustic sourdough, which comes from a bakery in Crieff and served with two butters - a cultured disc and a whipped stack of homemade chicken skin butter.
Then it was on to the two starters, which were Oban sea trout served with a buttermilk and miso sauce, a furikake crumb, served with black radish and mirabelle plum. Our non-alcoholic drink was a clarified bloody mary consomme - a refreshing burst of tomato flavour that cut through the rich sauce and fattiness of the fish.
This was swiftly followed by Tweed Valley Beef Short Rib served with braised kohl rabi, onion, watercress and a deeply umami beef dashi. The drink here was a deeply flavourful and colourful beetroot syrup topped with soda.
Mains were a large piece of North Sea wild halibut served shrimps, hen of the woods, bbq hispi cabbage, tokyo turnip and a wonderfully rich sauce vin jaune; and Highland roe deer served with smoked aubergine, red cabbage cooked in a way I can only dream of and elderberry vinegar.
The deer also came with a small cylinder of warmly spiced kofta topped with yoghurt. Finally desserts, which started with a sticky, sweet lemon cream and sorrel granita topped with burnt meringue followed by Yorkshire rhubarb, with caramelised white chocolate, a small but sweet tahitian vanilla beignet, candied kumquat and ginger.
There was just enough room for tea and petit fours - flavours of which reflect the four elements - served in a hollowed book-box.
Our lunch was a complete triumph made even better by the knowledgeable staff and, while we were expecting a meal of seasonal Scottish produce, I was pleasantly surprised at the Japanese influences and the thought and care that he gone into the non-alcoholic pairings (who would think beetroot and soda would work with short rib?)
The AA said of the new rosettes: “From innovative tasting menus to a renewed focus on provenance and seasonality, these establishments showcase the very best of what the British food scene has to offer,” and Elements is the epitome of this but without alienating the local customers. It’s not hard to see why the awards are coming so quickly for this new business, long may it continue.
