Is there anywhere you really want me to review?
Are you hunting for something specific that I can cover? GF tea at the Ritz perhaps?
Post a comment and I'll do my best to make it happen.
Thanks!
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Tierra Brindisi: Attentive GF Tapas
There is something about Tierra Brindisi I just really like. A combination of the atmosphere, helpful staff, great central location, and the decor just appeals.
Tapas as we know is a generally gf friendly cuisine anyway, but I liked the extra attention the staff here paid to my needs, so I thought it was worth a post.
When I ordered the Chorizo in cider, the manager came over afterwards just to check the type of cider they were using didn't have any barley malt in it (which it didn't). It showed knowledge and thoughtfulness, and he didn't make me feel uncomfortable in the least.
The quality of the tapas was excellent. The octopus was simply delicious, as was the complimentary chicken liver pate at the start (which, yes, I ate on it's own with my fork!). The Spanish omelette was one of the best I've had, in or outside of Spain, being moist and moorish.
So if you are stranded in Soho, and fancy some above-average tapas, in a wonderfully gf friendly and chic restaurant, look no further than Tierra Brindisa.
Tapas as we know is a generally gf friendly cuisine anyway, but I liked the extra attention the staff here paid to my needs, so I thought it was worth a post.
When I ordered the Chorizo in cider, the manager came over afterwards just to check the type of cider they were using didn't have any barley malt in it (which it didn't). It showed knowledge and thoughtfulness, and he didn't make me feel uncomfortable in the least.
The quality of the tapas was excellent. The octopus was simply delicious, as was the complimentary chicken liver pate at the start (which, yes, I ate on it's own with my fork!). The Spanish omelette was one of the best I've had, in or outside of Spain, being moist and moorish.
So if you are stranded in Soho, and fancy some above-average tapas, in a wonderfully gf friendly and chic restaurant, look no further than Tierra Brindisa.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
The Engineer: Gastropubbing with GF style
The Engineer in Primrose Hill is a favorite of mine, especially when it's summer and you can sit in the beautifully tended garden at the back.
I'd recommend it because of a strong gluten friendly menu, and knowledgeable and helpful staff, who are happy to cater to your needs.
I adore the vegetarian dish of crispy polenta with grilled vegetables and goats cheese. It has a bit of a chilli oil kick and is one of those perfect dishes where you could feed it to a meat and wheat eater and they'd be completely content. So all you (very brave) gluten free vegetarians out there, this is one to try.
The cheese burgers are also top notch- and I recently discover, 100% gluten free, always a treat, who needs a bun anyway?
If you fancy somewhere for brunch on the weekend and are sick of having nothing to mop up soft poached egg yolks with (is that just me?), then the added sauted potatoes with their eggs benedict/florentine/royale will be a welcome treat.
Next stop is getting in gluten free beer in bottles so be able to sit in the sunshine with..... I'm working on it - watch this space!
I'd recommend it because of a strong gluten friendly menu, and knowledgeable and helpful staff, who are happy to cater to your needs.
I adore the vegetarian dish of crispy polenta with grilled vegetables and goats cheese. It has a bit of a chilli oil kick and is one of those perfect dishes where you could feed it to a meat and wheat eater and they'd be completely content. So all you (very brave) gluten free vegetarians out there, this is one to try.
The cheese burgers are also top notch- and I recently discover, 100% gluten free, always a treat, who needs a bun anyway?
If you fancy somewhere for brunch on the weekend and are sick of having nothing to mop up soft poached egg yolks with (is that just me?), then the added sauted potatoes with their eggs benedict/florentine/royale will be a welcome treat.
Next stop is getting in gluten free beer in bottles so be able to sit in the sunshine with..... I'm working on it - watch this space!
Monday, 27 July 2009
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!
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!
Friday, 17 July 2009
Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons: The Ultimate Decadance for a GF Foodie
Okay, Okay, so it's not exactly somewhere that you could go once a month, or even once a year! But Raymond Blanc's Michelin starred, Les Manoir aux Quat'Saisons near Oxford, is superb, and worth every, of the very many, pennies.
I did let them know in advance about me being a coeliac, as it is only fair when there is a tasting menu that will have to be tailored. But boy did they tailor it!
Situated in the countryside, Le Manoir is a beautiful building with amazing gardens.
While the rest of the group shared their canapes out on the terrace, I had a whole plate of gluten free canapes just for me. It's the only time I think that having a gluten allergy has been a bonus! Little spoons with crab and infused jelly, gf toast with foie gras on top; so many exquisite little things with complex and sensational flavours. I really could live just off canapes like that for the rest of my life.
The five course tasting menu was astonishing. Every dish was perfect. The asparagus with duck egg and parmasan, the red mullet with its own little soup, the poached chicken (I know, chicken?! But it was the best, most flavourful chicken I've ever had) with morel mushrooms, and the most amazing strawberry dessert. I've never had anything that tasted so much of strawberries; pure, sweet, intense strawberries. Certainly the best gf dessert I've ever had.
They had warmed gluten free bread for me throughout the meal, which was a nice touch.
And with the coffees afterwards came the chocolate petit fours, and it was a repeat of the canape situation. Score! My delicious gf selection included the world's smallest pavlova, some sort of sweet lemon ball and miniature chocolates filled with ice cream. Yum.
Totally amazing, one of the finest meals you will ever have, gluten free or not. I couldn't recommend it enough. Now, all that's left to figure out is how am I going to make my millions so that I can buy a helicopter and pop to Les Manoirs for lunch every day? Any ideas, let me know!
I did let them know in advance about me being a coeliac, as it is only fair when there is a tasting menu that will have to be tailored. But boy did they tailor it!
Situated in the countryside, Le Manoir is a beautiful building with amazing gardens.
While the rest of the group shared their canapes out on the terrace, I had a whole plate of gluten free canapes just for me. It's the only time I think that having a gluten allergy has been a bonus! Little spoons with crab and infused jelly, gf toast with foie gras on top; so many exquisite little things with complex and sensational flavours. I really could live just off canapes like that for the rest of my life.
The five course tasting menu was astonishing. Every dish was perfect. The asparagus with duck egg and parmasan, the red mullet with its own little soup, the poached chicken (I know, chicken?! But it was the best, most flavourful chicken I've ever had) with morel mushrooms, and the most amazing strawberry dessert. I've never had anything that tasted so much of strawberries; pure, sweet, intense strawberries. Certainly the best gf dessert I've ever had.
They had warmed gluten free bread for me throughout the meal, which was a nice touch.
And with the coffees afterwards came the chocolate petit fours, and it was a repeat of the canape situation. Score! My delicious gf selection included the world's smallest pavlova, some sort of sweet lemon ball and miniature chocolates filled with ice cream. Yum.
Totally amazing, one of the finest meals you will ever have, gluten free or not. I couldn't recommend it enough. Now, all that's left to figure out is how am I going to make my millions so that I can buy a helicopter and pop to Les Manoirs for lunch every day? Any ideas, let me know!
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Gluten Free en Paris; C'est pas possible, non?
Mais oui, c'est vrai!
Enough of the franglais now. It is true, the notoriously coeliac unfriendly French do indeed have their first gluten free restaurant in Paris. Hoorah! It's called Des Di et Des Mets, and is up near the fashionable Monmarte district.
I've not been yet, but I thought it was definitely worth a post in case any of you coeliacs find yourself up a french creek without a gluten free paddle, so to speak.
If anyone's been, please let me know what it's like!
Enough of the franglais now. It is true, the notoriously coeliac unfriendly French do indeed have their first gluten free restaurant in Paris. Hoorah! It's called Des Di et Des Mets, and is up near the fashionable Monmarte district.
I've not been yet, but I thought it was definitely worth a post in case any of you coeliacs find yourself up a french creek without a gluten free paddle, so to speak.
If anyone's been, please let me know what it's like!
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.
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.
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