Rules in Covent Garden is London’s oldest restaurant and after many months of thinking that I needed to check out their Gluten Free Dining options, I made a super last minute Sunday lunch reservation to see what was on offer.
Starters
G and I both have a sweet tooth so we always check what’s on offer in the dessert section first before deciding if we want to order starters – on this occasion there were some fabulous desserts on offer so we avoided the starters in favour of something sweet later on.
Main Course
After a quick discussion with the staff I choose the Pork Tenderloin with roast carrots, parsnips and charcuterie sauce (£23.95) as my gluten free main option along with mashed potato (£4.50). The pork tenderloin just melted in my mouth and the mashed potato was super creamy, just the way it should be. And more importantly you won’t leave hungry as the portion sizes are very generous, so generous you should probably wear stretchy clothes to allow for an expanding belly!
Dessert
I opted for the Roast Pineapple with Lime Sorbet (£7.95) which was perfect – light and refreshing after scoffing a lot of pork!
I will be back to try the Vanilla Pannecota with Orange, Mint and Pistachio Salad which I was told was gluten free along with the Rice Pudding (Rice and Pudding in the same sentence is just plain wrong in my world!).
For the Gluten Monsters
As G eats gluten I thought I would add this into the review and show what he ate – apologies for the bad photos however I had to be quick taking the photos as he was hungry and getting grumpy (he was suffering from #bloggerpartnerrage).
This is G’s Roast Beef with a huge Yorkshire Pudding and Apple Crumble (G said he would come back for another round of Crumble).
Drinks
We just ordered non-alcoholic drinks for the table which included a lovely big jug of water to sip on and then finished our meal with G ordering a coffee and me a cup of peppermint of tea which came in a pretty silver teapot!
Service
The service was attentive as you would expect and we were never rushed.
Atmosphere
Rules is definitely one of my favourite places to have a meal and was super quiet on the weekend we visited. It’s definitely a London gem that you must visit at least once as it’s so beautiful inside and so quintessentially English.
Gluten Free Information
I thought I would add a new category to my reviews around the gluten free information provided at the establishments that I’m reviewing i.e. menus, staff knowledge etc.
In this case the menu doesn’t list what is gluten free unfortunately (something I think gluten free and diary free folks would love to see going forward) however a member of the staff was able to point out dishes I could have however I didn’t feel entirely confident when I was having the discussion with the waiter as he used “it should be gluten free” rather than “yes that’s gluten free”. Staff knowledge is super important for gluten free diners, something I think we can all agree on.
Would I recommend – yes and I will be back to try out the other gluten free desserts on offer. Rules serves traditional British food including game meats and I have to say the menu has something on there for everyone. You can book via their website.
So have you visited Rules in London before – what did you think of the restaurant? Is there anything else you would like me to add to the reviews going forward? Where else do you recommend to try for a bit of Fine Gluten Free Dining?
xx
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