La Porchetta: Woohoo - edible GF pasta!

Well done to the folks running La Porchetta- they have gluten free pasta on the menu, and, more astonishingly - it actually tastes good!

I was absolutely delighted upon reading the menu at this cheap and cheerful restaurant in Camden to see that I wasn't limited to the usual Italian restaurant "I-can-only-eat-a-salad" scenario (salads can be so tedious, can't they? I'll just munch away gratefully on some leaves whilst watching melted cheese from your fresh baked pepperoni pizza dribble down your chin. Lucky me!).

That great big honking pasta section that is usually an irritating waste of space? Add in a gf pasta option and it's transformed like magic into a thing of beauty! The amount of gf pasta sauce options were excellent, unlike the unfortunate Carluccio's situation. I had the Rigatoni Sofia - spinach, ricotta and tomato sauce. Scrumptious! The pasta didn't taste gluten free at all, in fact, it was so good that I couldn't believe it was true and asked the waiter to check that it was actually gluten free (making a bit of a PITAC fool out of myself!).

I'm looking forward to going back to try out some of their other sauces - there's a salmon and cream one, and another that has chorizo and prawns. And at under £7 a dish, it's a place you can eat at on a regular basis.

And for those of you not in the Camden area there are four other branches; Islington, Clerkenwell, Holborn and Finsbury Park.

Next stop - gf pizza bases? If I ask nicely? Pretty please?

For now, go and enjoy the world of gluten free pasta in a restaurant, my coeliac friends!

Hache: Fancy a gluten free burger anyone?

I stumbled upon the burger restaurant Hache in Camden Town a couple of months ago.

They are purveyors of excellent burgers, excellent gluten free burgers to be precise! Made from 100% beef (or whatever other meat you choose) they contain no fillers. There is an option at the top of the menu to switch out the bun for a salad. And hey, when it comes to burgers who needs the bun anyway?

The selection and variety on the menu is stunning. Anyone for a venison burger topped with melted brie? Or how about a Morrocan Lamb burger, complete with coriander and smoked Paprika?

Even if you just head for a plain "Steak au Naturel", it is absoultely delicious, and there is no chance of you being treated like a pain-in-the-ass-coeliac here! There is also another branch in Fulham, for those of you living out West.

Gluten Friendliness: 9/10

P.S. Click here to follow The Gluten Free Foodie on Twitter.