Rainbow Cafe, Cambridge

If you are ever a bit further afield than Hertfordshire and find yourself in Cambridge, why not check out the Rainbow Cafe?

It's a lovely little restaurant that not only caters for gluten-freers, but also vegans and is completely vegetarian. As I have mentioned before, my Mum is a veggie coeliac so it is always great to find somewhere that can cater for gluten free veggies, and she loves this place (as does my non-coeliac, meat eating Dad!).  My parents actually visited this restaurant for lunch today and you can see pics of their delicious food below. And, not only do they do gluten free mains, they also provide gluten free puddings as well! I always find that in many restaurants, the gluten free pudding choice is often restricted to ice-cream or fruit salad, so it is great that this is not the case here.

 

The Latvian Potato Bake is one of the restaurant's most popular dishes, and you can see why. The topping on the beautifully seasoned veggie filling (potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, garlic & herbs) is lovely and crunchy (made of cheese and gluten free breadcrumbs).

 

 

 

Tagine L'Algerienne (roasted sweet potatoes, aubergines and whole roasted carrot chunks, slow cooked in a rich North African tomato casserole, with rice and green lentils).

 

Lemon and Walnut Treacle Tart.

You can check out their website here: http://www.rainbowcafe.co.uk/

Lovely, friendly veggie restaurant, great for the veggie gluten freers who so often get forgotten: 9.5/10 (sorry it's not a 10 Mum... I'm as stingy with my 10s as Craig Revel Horwood!)

Larger restaurant chains

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

Afternoon Tea (Harrods & The Dorchester)

If, like me, you love a good afternoon tea, you may be concerned that some of the 'posher' afternoon tea venues will have a poor selection of gluten free items/not provide for gluten free at all.

Well, worry no longer! I have been to both Harrods and The Dorchester in London for afternoon tea since being diagnosed coeliac and they were both absolutely excellent at catering for me- you just need to make them aware a day or so before you attend.

Harrods provide the standard afternoon tea items, finger sandwiches, scones and sweets. Their sweets were by far the best part of the tea... as you can see from the photo below, they were absolutely beautiful... a lovely meringue & chocolate mousse cake amongst others- the fiance was really quite jealous! Their scones were delicious as well and, pleased to say, didn't crumble like gluten free scones usually do. Unfortunately, the sandwiches did let them down a bit. The bread was odd... sort of sticky- got very stuck to the roof of my mouth, and for some reason, I did not have the same fillings as the fiance's 'normal' sandwiches.. a bit of a disappointment as his lobster sandwiches sounded lovely.

Overall, very yummy, just a shame about the sandwiches. Also, the setting (on the top floor, next to the dog grooming area) made it feel more like a shop cafe. 7/10

 

 

The Dorchester also provides a gluten free afternoon tea. The setting is beautiful, lovely music and very attentive and gluten free knowledgable staff. Again, they provide the usual sandwiches, scones and sweets. Again, the sweets are the best part of the tea... you really feel like they make the extra effort with the gluten free sweets. However, in terms of the scones and sandwiches, they were the exact opposite to Harrods! Their sandwiches were lovely, absolutely delicious home made bread and I got the exact same fillings as my fiance, so no food envy there! On the other hand the scones weren't as good as Harrods... whilst yummy, they were really very crumbly which did make them quite difficult to eat.

 

Therefore, purely down to the slightly better ambiance/staff, and the fact that I do love a good sandwich(!), I would have to give the Dorchester the edge. 8/10

Calzone Essential Pizza, Apsley Lock

This restaurant is literally about two doors away from Woody's Vegetarian Cafe, and, like Woody's, also offers a gluten free pizza.

Having had a lovely gluten free pizza from Woody's, I was interested to give this place a go to see how they compared, especially being so close. So, I again got a takeaway pizza for my lunch one day (not in the same week, promise!).

Now, I really appreciate any restaurant that tries to provide for us gluten-freers. There was a time when, if you were gluten free, you were pretty much screwed as nowhere would really cater anything other than your salads and jacket potatoes. Things are different now, but I really do appreciate these restaurants that will go out of their way to provide for us. As such, I hate giving a negative review and always do try to see the positives. However, unfortunately, whilst I do appreciate their effort, I was quite disappointed with the pizza I received.

The base was really quite soggy and floury, and the toppings really were not that tasty. It wasn't cheap either, which I don't usually mind, but seeing as I only actually ate 2 slices, it was a bit of a waste. The restaurant itself is lovely, again, right on the marina, but I did find it quite hard trying to explain what I wanted to the staff... even though they advertise gluten free on their menu!

Therefore, if you are in the area, and don't mind sacrificing meat on your pizza, I would definitely recommend Woody's instead. If you do fancy giving them a go, their website is here: http://www.calzoneapsley.com/

Nicely located restaurant, and appreciate the effort, but a long way to go: 4/10

Woody's Vegetarian Cafe, Apsley Lock

Having never actually eaten in at this restaurant, I cannot really comment on the restaurant itself (although being right on the Apsley marina, I would imagine it's lovely). However, I have picked up one of their gluten free pizzas for my lunch, and it was lovely.

With a vegetarian coeliac mum, I know how hard it is to find restaurant's who cater for gluten free veggies. Most gluten free options as restaurants are usually meat based as these seem to be easier to adapt. Therefore, a vegetarian restaurant that provides gluten free is always welcome. They offer gluten free crepes, pizza, salads and ice cream. I have only actually tried the pizza, which was lovely. A nice crisp base and delicious toppings as well. Definitely worth a visit if in the area, and especially if your a GF veggie! You can check out their website here: http://www.woodyscafe.co.uk/

Cute, marina side, veggie restaurant: 8/10

Bruschetta, Kingston upon Thames

I first visited this restaurant a few years ago, and to date, it remains one of my absolute favourite gluten free restaurants.

Being in Kingston, it is quite a trek, but it definitely worth the trip! Again, this is a restaurant that really knows it's stuff when it comes to cross contamination, and the choice of gluten free stuff is excellent. It's very rare that when I go out I will have a starter, main and pudding, but this is one of the few places where I just cannot resist! Their bruschetta starter is delicious, the bread on which the topping lies is lovely and crisp. I then usually follow this up with one of their amazing stone baked pizzas... and I can honestly say that you cannot tell the difference from a 'normal' pizza. Plus, if, like me, you have eyes bigger than your belly, then they will package the leftovers up for you to take home! Excellent for lunch the next day! And a gorgeous slice of cheesecake is the perfect way to finish the meal.

The staff are lovely and welcoming too... and you get free olives on the table upon arrival... everyone loves a freebie!

You can check out their website here: http://bruschettaglutenfree.co.uk/index.php

Fab gluten free, Italian restaurant: 9/10

King William IV, Speen

After having been recommended this restaurant by a fellow gluten-freer on Facebook, I was eager to give this place a visit, especially with it only being 20mins down the road (nothing compared to my Woburn Sands mission!)... And I am so glad I did visit... What a lovely place with excellent food.

I have been a few times now, each time trying something new. The first time, I gave their fish and chips ago... Whilst they were not quite up to the Deep Blue, Woburn Sands standards, they were still delicious and had the bonus of coming with a side of mushy peas! The second time, I had the fish cakes.... Oh my days, they were beautiful! Lovely and crispy, and coming with a mountain of salad (although I must admit, I did add a side of chips on to mine... When you find truly gluten free chips out and about, you have to make the most of it, don't you!?). Last time we went, we opted for the hot rock steak. This was a new concept to me, but one that gave the meal the 'fun factor'. Basically, the steak comes out cooked rare, and then you can leave the steak on the hot rock to cook it to your liking... A very cool idea and one that was definitely appreciated by me!

Oh, and the puddings... The puddings!!! Where do I start?! I have tried the chocolate brownie and the apple and cinnamon crumble and they were absolutely beautiful. I honestly believe that were you to take a non gluten freer to this place and not tell them that their meal was GF, they wouldn't have a clue. Every time I have gone, my (non GF) fiancé has had gluten free options through choice, which I think says a lot, as does the fact that I shall be going back again to celebrate my birthday there!

Check out their website here: http://www.thekingwilliamivspeen.co.uk/

All in all, lovely pub, lovely staff and amazing gluten-free food. 9.5/10

Deep Blue Fish & Chips, Woburn Sands

If, like me, you regularly have a craving for gluten free fish and chips, look no further than Deep Blue in Woburn Sands. Their gluten free fish and chips are to die for!

Again, this is a place that knows its cross contamination. They have special evenings (every Sunday and Monday) where they fire up the separate gluten free fryer especially for us coeliacs/gluten intolerant. And thank goodness they do! Their gluten free fish and chips are amazing! The fish is always beautifully cooked with a wonderfully crispy batter, and, because your order is cooked from scratch as you wait, the chips aren't soggy like the 'normal' chips, but are lovely, hot and crispy.

Check out their website here: http://www.deepbluerestaurants.com/shops/Woburn-Sands-21

I really cannot recommend this chippie highly enough. The fact that I embark upon a 1hr20min journey to get my mitts on this food should say enough. 9.5/10

Robin Hood pub, Tring

If you ever find yourself in the Tring area, you should definitely check out this great little pub on the corner of the High Street. Not only is it a cosy local, it has a gluten free menu which offers up some of the traditional pub grub favourites, all gluten free!

I have tried the fish and chips, shepherds pie and lasagne and can confirm that they are all excellent! Ever since going gluten free, I have been craving a good old shepherds pie and when I saw this place did it, I was thrilled and, luckily, not disappointed when I tried it.

As you can see from the menu, they are also very aware of cross contamination, ensuring that chips etc are cooked in a separate fryer. So often when visiting a restaurant, I will get excited to see that the chips are gluten free, only to be gutted when I see the usual disclaimer that they are actually cooked in the same fryer as everything else (so therefore aren't actually gluten free at all!!). So to come across a place that ensures their chips are cooked in a way that means that they truely are suitable for coeliacs is excellent.

A lovely little gluten free gem in Tring. 8/10