Now whilst this blog is mainly for the smaller, independent restaurants in the area, I thought it would be useful to just give you a quick overview of how some of the larger chains provide for gluten free.
- Nandos- excellent for gluten free. I was a little unsure as their website does not specify exactly which items are suitable or not, but, when I got to the restaurant, I found that my server was extremely knowledgable and brought me over a copy of their allergens book which was very comprehensive and, I'm pleased to say, full of items suitable for gluten free. Here is what they say about gluten free on their website.... 'Please note that all our restaurants have a Food & Menu Specifications book that you can request to look at in the restaurant. This contains all the ingredients for any of our products. If you suffer from an allergy, please make sure you let the manager on duty know before ordering so that they can oversee the preparation of your meal to ensure extra precautions are taken to minimise cross contamination.'
- Bella Italia- again, have a brilliant choice for gluten free. They provide gluten free pizzas and pasta, as well as adapting some of their other dishes. Like most places, they do state that they cannot guarantee 100% gluten free (nowhere can that also provide 'normal' glutenous food, to cover their own backs), but I have never had a problem here- it's just down to personal preference I guess. Anyway, their pizzas are lush... lovely and crispy. They don't have a lot in the way of GF starters and barely anything for pudding, but if you are out and about and just fancy a quick bite, definitely worth a go. Menu can be found here: http://www.bellaitalia.co.uk/menus/milton-keynes/gluten-intolerant-menu-1
- ASK Italian- pretty decent. Not a huge variety of choice here but it's always good to know that there are at least a few dishes available for us. I will confess that I am not a huge fan of their latest redecoration (it kind of has the feel of a children's play-area now!), but the food is decent enough and, they will adapt the pasta dishes to make them gluten free... but only if you take your own pasta! Items suitable for coeliacs can be found here (just scroll down to the bottom): http://www.askitalian.co.uk/#!/menus/nutritional
- Pizza Express- rubbish! Don't bother... unless you only fancy a bowl of olives or a tomato and mozarella salad. It really is disappointing that in this day and age they make absolutely no attempt to provide any gluten free alternatives... resulting in me having aforementioned tomato and mozarella salad when my friend chose to have their birthday meal there. Embarrassing and left one very hungry customer.
- Wetherspoons- very impressive as they actually state on their main menu which items are suitable for a gluten free diet (and there are a decent number). They even have adapted their fruit crumble so that as standard, it is made with a gluten free crumble topping! Chips are a no-no here though unfortunately (you know how I feel about my chips!), but apart from that, not bad Wetherspoons, not bad at all! They have a brilliant 'build your own' menu section of the website where you can check off all of the dietary requirements that you may have, and then it will list for you what you can eat- what a BRILLIANT idea! Check it out here: http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/food/dietary-requirements
- Jamie's Italian- lovely food and, at the restaurant I visited in Covent Garden, excellent, knowledgable staff. They offered to make nearly all of the pasta dishes with GF pasta and a number of the items on the menu either are gluten free, or can be made gluten free. I had the flash grilled feather steak which was delicious (although the rocket side salad was, randomly, quite salty), and then ice cream for desert. Only downside is, once again, the chips aren't suitable for coeliacs due to being cooked in the same fryer as other glutenous products... damn! I have heard conflicting experiences at Jamie's... some say they were not offered a lot of choice, however, I didn't have this problem in Covent Garden at all. I am actually off to the one in St Albans for my birthday in a couple of weeks, so will do a full review then and let you know if they lived up to expectations.
- Cafe Rouge- not too bad. They offer a small but decent selection of items that are gluten free... pretty much steak... so if you like steak, they'll be absolutely fine for you! You can see their full allergen breakdown here: http://www.caferouge.co.uk/assets/rouge/pdfs/Cafe_Rouge_allergy_info.pdf?1345832472
- Carluccios- excellent providing gluten free options. They have their own gluten free pasta and also provide a pretty decent selection of gluten free deserts. Check out their GF menu here: http://www.carluccios.com/static/pdfs/menus/GlutenfreeMenu8.pdf
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