From other posts, you may be able to tell that I am not really in the whole "pay lots of money for food" camp of the world. Hitting up swanky restaurants isn't my style and quite frankly, I think the $9.99 steak, potatoes & salad from Cracker Barrel is not only a great deal, but really tasty.
That being said, once in awhile, for special occasions, I enjoy a nice restaurant. Gluten free eating can make any eating experience a pain in the ass. But if I'm going to spend a bit of my hard earned dough at a restaurant, it better be a damn good GF experience or I'm just going to be grumpy with the situation.
Okay, okay. Enough of my blabbing about my thoughts on food and restaurants. Let's get to the point. If you live in or near London, Ontario and you have not eaten at The Only on King (http://www.theonlyonking.ca/), you are missing out. Not only am I totally comfortable saying that this IS the best restaurant in London, it is also the best restaurant I have ever eaten at. And it's not just me who thinks this, they were voted the number 6 is restaurant in Canada in 2008! Awesome.
Alright, before we get to the food and the gluten free experience, let's just focus on the restaurant. Not in the greatest location in London (King Street can be shotty, but hey, can't every street in downtown London), but it doesn't matter at all. Once you're inside, it's an adorable little oasis. Everyone who works there is super friendly and good looking to boot (the chef's cute and the waiter was smokin' hot - just an added bonus for a girls night out). The decor is awesome and the vibe is great. Plus you feel like you're all by yourself regardless of if you're sitting in the middle of the restaurant.
Anyways, when I called for the reservation (a week and a half ahead of time - just an FYI), I mentioned that I'd need gluten free food. When I got there, our server was aware of everything on the menu that I could eat or have modified to eat gluten free (I kind of gather that the chefs discussed it ahead of time with the waitress, which is always a nice feeling when eating GF - especially since she asked if it was just to be gluten free or if it was celiac disease, which is also nice to know that they don't think I'm just doing the GF thing to be part of the fad).
Two of the features were out (a pizza type thing and a tart type thing), but there was a cheese dish that was available. Unfortunately only two of the starters were GF, but I love love love the dressing on the mixed greens salad, so it didn't much matter to me. The majority of the main dishes were alright (except the swordfish that was marinated in a sauce that was soy based which apparently wasn't GF - major GF pet peeve. While a friend of mine informed me today that perhaps the gluten free soy sauces weren't as tasty as non-GF soy sauces, I just find it hard to believe. Like, could you just please not use HP sauce?? It would just make everyone's life easier). I was a little bummed that the only beef type dish was the one that was meant for two since I'm not an "adventurous" eater at all, but on my new found like of fish, I may have gone with the swordfish.
Anyways, I'm deviating.
I ended up getting the Cornish Hen which on the menu came with a risotto (or something like that that was beyond my sophomoric food knowledge) which apparently wasn't GF. So I left it in the hands of the kitchen to do something with summer veggies - which obviously ended up being super yummmmmmy.
And a bunch of the desserts were GF, however, I was eating out with my girls from work to "celebrate/mourn" our one friend moving to Toronto for work and a boy. Since I knew I was going straight from there to Joe Kools and then a bar for dancing, I thought better than to have dessert.
Anyways, I feel like there was some MASSIVE rambling in this post. Long story short: The Only on King is AMAZING. Good looking restaurant, people and super duper delicious food. Oh, and a super easy gluten free experience!! Loved it and I can't wait to go back!
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