LONDON ONTARIO’S TOP RESTAURANTS in 2013

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Bryan Lavery's Picks  

LONDON ONTARIO’S TOP RESTAURANTS in 2013

 
See Updated Mini Reviews on 
http://ethicalgourmet.blogspot.ca/2014/01/london-ontarios-restaurant-roundup-2014.html
 
Best London Ontario Restaurants: The City's Most Delicious Offerings

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/09/22/best-london-ontario-restaurants_n_5851492.html?1411408428


“We must pass our unbiased impressions on to the readers, while alerting the dining public to the diversity of choice on the culinary scene.”

 For those of you who are reading this blog for the first time, the objective has been to offer a professional insider’s perspective and to contribute to the enthusiasm and discussion about the local and regional culinary culture at large, and about the restaurant community in particular.

Seemingly, restaurant blogs the world over face a similar predicament. Are rating restaurants purely a question of taste? And within that there lies the matter of ingredients, innovation, style, consistency, service and much more. We place importance on other criterion such as, the wine list, the atmosphere, the setting and obviously, the price.

There are plenty of restaurants whose simple virtues deserve to be recognized without too much bravado or angst. Hopefully I will get to all of them in time. However, I am not in league with the restaurant business to hype underserving chefs and their establishments.

As patronising as it must sound, my personal mission has been to encourage people to dine out and to support culinary tourism and the farmers and culinary artisans by helping to reinforce community initiatives.

The food media are very necessary members of the culinary community. Like any thoughtful patron, I hope that I continually bring appreciation and sensibility to the table. But the food media’s mission goes beyond that. We must pass our unbiased impressions on to the readers, while alerting the dining public to the diversity of choice on the culinary scene.

Good writing furnishes you with enough information and insight to enable you to make informed decisions, while helping to arbitrate the standards of dining out. If you don’t have a good, strong food media — whether you love them or despise them — you don’t have the same degree of interest, enthusiasm and accountability.

One of the greatest satisfactions joys about writing a blog on the culinary scene is “unearthing the diamond in the rough”. In my opinion, among the disappointments are discovering restaurants that don’t live up to their reputations, or the complaining owner who has lost interest in the business and the writing is on the wall. Almost as bad is the culinary equivalent of grey: dull at worst, inoffensive at best. Or the one-trick pony — the great restaurant whose menu never changes, and quickly the food becomes stagnant.

Even more obnoxious are those hosts/servers who ride on the chef’s laurels and the restaurant’s former accolades, thinking the chef’s/restaurant’s reputation gives them carte blanche to dispense rude, indifferent or poor service to their customers.

Despite the changing definition of restaurant professionalism, poor customer service and unfriendly reservation policies disappoint us, and good service fosters loyalty, which in turn inspires repeat business and great word-of-mouth. Every time I return to certain restaurants, it hits me just how much uninterested service irks me and how profoundly irritated its patrons must feel, even when the food is the cream of the crop.

Reading someone else’s assessment of a restaurant is not necessarily enough for every reader to evaluate a restaurant. The real way to do a restaurant justice is to eat there. These are my professional opinions.
  

 

In Ontario, we are very fortunate to have many talented chefs, restaurateurs and culinary retailers who are not just advocating eating and drinking local, and eating seasonal, they are actively and creatively enhancing and developing new region-specific cuisines. As for their cuisine, it’s made from scratch and it’s innovative. They are implementing time-honoured traditions and trusted techniques yet delivering ingredients in revolutionary ways. They are the new culinary vanguards. Many of these trailblazers of the cutting-edge and emerging culinary regionalism in Ontario's Southwest are profiled on this blog. Our true culinary stars are not only our farmers, but also those labouring in restaurant, hotel and market kitchens throughout the city, offering up some of Ontario’s finest food and most innovative drink experiences.

 

London Ontario’s Top Restaurants in 2013


The latest news on: restaurants, chefs, farmers` markets, culinary retail and food events. The ethicalgourmet curates the best restaurants in Ontario and beyond. Serving them up to you in an entertaining and accessible way so you can appreciate the best the area has to offer.

We’ve wined there, we’ve dined there and now we want to share our best places to drink and dine in in London’s top dining destinations, as selected by ethicalgourmet in 2013:
"2013 was the year of the Modernist Chef as the indie- hipster artiste."



 


Best Chef – Daniel Markovic, Kantina Restaurant


Best Pastry Chef – Michelle Lenhardt, River Room


 


Best Restaurant Dining Experience – River Room


Best New Restaurant – Byron FreeHouse 


Best Fine Dining Restaurant – David’s Bistro


Best Farm-to-Table Restaurant– The Only on King


Best Modernist Dining – Kantina Restaurant


Best Overall Dining – Garlic’s of London


People's Choice – Michael's on the Thames


Best Gastropub – Church Key Bistro


Best Diner – The Early Bird


Best Deli – Billy’s


Best Bakery/Cafe – Organic Works Bakery


Best Restobar – Che  Restobar


Best Health Conscious Menu – Blackfriars Bistro


Best Hotel Dining – Idlewyld Inn


Best Private Dining – Blu Duby


 Best Alfresco Dining – Black Trumpet


Best Restaurant Interior Design – Tamarine by Quynh Nhi


Best Restaurant Wine List (Ontario) – The Only on King


Best Restaurant Wine List (Overall) – David’s Bistro


Best Restaurant Craft Beer – Milos Craft Beer


Best Caterer– North Moore Catering


Best Organic – The Root Cellar


Best Italian – Abruzzi


Best Ethiopian – Addis Ababa


Best Latin American – Tru Taco


Best Chinese – The Chinese Barbeque


Best Greek – Mykonos


Best Hungarian –The Budapest


Best Indian – The Raja


Best Korean – Korean House


Best Mediterranean – Aroma 


Best Polish – Unique Food Attitudes


Best Thai – Thaifoon


Best Vietnamese – Tamarine by Quynh Nhi


Best Restaurant Service – Blu Duby


OUT OF TOWN


Best "Local" Restaurant – Monforte-on Wellington, Stratford


Best Fine Dining Restaurant – Mercer Hall, Stratford


Best New Restaurant -The Bruce


 


 


 


 




 

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