Afternoon tea (and a spot of dinner) at Tewin Bury Farm

Having tried out gluten free afternoon teas at both the Dorchester and Harrods, I was excited to see how afternoon tea at a location a bit closer to home (and much cheaper!) would stack up. I am actually getting married at TBF next year so afternoon tea there was a perfect excuse to have another nosey round my venue.

Overall I was very impressed with TBF's offering. Their sandwiches were absolutely delicious (the cream cheese and cucumber was my personal fave), as were the scones (although I was a bit disappointed that they had no currants in... To me a scone isn't a scone without a bit of fruit!).

My only slight disappointment was the cakes. Not because they tased bad, no way, but more because they didn't really give me anything that I couldn't have bought at a supermarket (lemon & poppyseed cake, Bakewell tart and a brownie). I don't know about you, but to me, afternoon tea is something that should be a little bit special and not what you would normally have at home, for example, the cakes at the afternoon teas at Harrods & The Dorchester.

However, don't let this put you off TBF's offering alas a) they were still delish, b) it is a lot cheaper at TBF (TBF costs £29.95 for two, The Dorchester is £82 for the equivalent and Harrods is £58 (unless you find cheaper deals for the latter two, as I did), c) by the time I got to the cakes I was already stuffed anyway and d) I actually think that TBF has a nicer setting and ambience than either of the other two locations.

So, to sum up, I would definitely recommend TBF afternoon tea- everything was delicious and £30 for two is really excellent value. 8.5/10

I have also had dinner at the restaurant at TBF, and again, would really recommend it. The chefs are really accommodating and can adapt most of the dishes on the menu to be gluten free. I would just advise letting them know that you are gluten free when you book. When I arrived, they had also sorted out some gluten free bread for me too!

For more details on the restaurant, including afternoon tea, see http://www.tewinbury.co.uk/restaurant

Pizza Express have finally gone gluten free!

Well, when I say finally, the gluten free menu was actually launched a few months ago, but wedding planning has been all consuming, hence the lateness of this post!

Having had some bad times with Pizza Express before they launched this menu (most notably, when they tried to re-serve me a salad which they had accidentally put bread sticks on, simply by taking the bread sticks off... Hello, cross contamination?!) I was head of the anti Pizza Express club. So when I heard that they were launching a gluten free menu, I was somewhat dubious. However, I was lucky enough to live in the same town as one of the restaurants that the new menu was being trialled in back in January so thought I may as well give them a go.

Due to my previous experiences with Pizza Express, I made sure to quiz them on their cross contamination knowledge, and was very impressed. All the staff had been trained on it and were fully aware of the steps that they needed to take to avoid it.

And the food itself... Pretty good! I have never been a massive fan of P.E. pizzas- I have always found them a bit too saucy(!) and this remains the same with the gluten free version. I am however aware that this is not a view shared by all, so if you liked P.E. before you went gluten free, I am sure you'll love it now.

The thing however that wins it for me is the fact that they serve gluten free beer! Bearing in mind how many chains now do gluten free menus (ASK, carluccios, prezzo etc) it actually seems quite rare for them to extend this to their drinks menu. Sure, many drinks are naturally gluten free anyway, but I have missed being able to go out and have a nice cold beer with my meal. So the fact that they do Green's Pilsner makes them a winner in my eyes!

Full gluten free menu can be found here... Pizza Express gluten free menu

Oh, and their gluten free brownie is pretty yummy too. 7/10