Benares, Michelin Star Indian

I was recently surprised with a meal at Benares in Mayfair and because it was a surprise I hadn’t spent days looking through the menu mentally visualising what dishes I would pick (like I normally would!) so it was a nice change to not know much about a restaurant before you visit. I knew of Benares but didn’t realise it was modern, fusion Indian that is certainly different and way more refined from the usual Indian food I have eaten. My friend had rung up before hand and doubled checked there was plenty of gluten free on offer for me but once the waiter was going through the menu it was clear to see that most of it was already gluten free anyway. Best of all they even had

Sunday, Barnsbury

 

Sunday’s Baked Eggs and Gluten Free Toast

Sunday’s brunches are without doubt up there with the best brunches in London, in fact I have yet to find one that beats it! Not only are they incredible (just look at that photo!) but they can cater very well for gluten free customers.

It’s one of London’s top hidden gems on a quiet residential street in Islington, if it wasn’t for the queues  of excited brunchers that visit every weekend you probably wouldn’t know it was there.  Make sure you arrive early or not too hungry as there is always a wait, but its

Gluten Free New York

My first few weeks in New York have been amazing but a total whirlwind and I hoped I could blog more often to share all the great gluten free finds I have made. You can keep up to date on my daily food diary via twitter though just follow me on @glutenfree4tea . The first thing that’s great about eating out gluten free in New York is the amount of places that offer it, I have found or stumbled across so many restaurants, cafés and shops all over the city that offer gluten free menus or gluten free dishes. It’s also so convenient here, I ended up getting alot dinners to takeaway which is perfect if you are working in the city or need something quick for lunch or dinner. Here are my list of finds so far;

Pips Place
Murray Hill and Upper East Side

Il start with one of the best, a 100% gluten free bakery! I was very lucky that one of their cafés is right by where I am currently staying so I have already been a few times. They have the most delicious fresh baked cakes, cookies, brownies  and cupcakes. Plus they do a special grilled cheese sandwich on their home baked bread. Definitely

Delicious Alchemy

 

I got sent some lovely samples recently from Delicious Alchemy. It was something abit different: brown bread and cookie bake at home mixes and some breakfast porridge oats. They are all gluten and dairy free too 🙂 I have only tried gluten free packet mixes a couple of times and none of them have turned out that well so I was looking forward to another attempt. The bread mix was really simple to make and I only needed water and oil to add with the bag of dry ingredients. The only thing I didn’t have was a bread mixer or food processor to mix it with but I managed to

2 Oxford Place (100% GF Restaurant) Leeds

 

2 Oxford Place has recently opened its doors in Leeds and is the city’s first 100% gluten free restaurant. In fact I’m sure its one of only a handful in the country that can make this claim, even in London I only know of a couple. I was already planning a visit back home to Leeds this weekend and heard that 2 Oxford Place had just opened so I had to

Burger and Lobster

 

Burger and Lobster has been on my London ‘bucket list’ for a while now. Part of the expanding list of London’s new concept restaurants, this does exactly what it says on the tin; burgers and lobsters. Initially I thought there is no way there would be gluten free given that one half of the menu is a burger however I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the lobster, fries and others sides/sauces are in fact gluten free! Also the burger can be made GF (or Californian style as they say here) by removing the bun and replacing with lettuce. Being a big seafood fan I went for the lobster which came with skinny fries, salad (minus the croutons) and a garlic butter to smother over the lobster. Our waitress had excellent GF knowledge and allergy awareness however I just wish the food would have lived up to the great service! I wanted to love it, when it arrived on a large silver platter it looked quite spectacular.

Simply Cook

At the Gluugle launch I met Karen from Loves the Good Life  who is also one of the chefs behind Simply Cook’s new recipe boxes. Their concept is to make cooking restaurant style meals easier and quicker by sending you all the spice blends and dry ingredients you need. You add these to the fresh ingredients you buy from the recipe list included. Each meal kit includes enough ingredients to make 4 different recipes, with each recipe box having 3 pots of ingredients. These include pastes, seasoning blends, stocks, infused oils, spices, marinades or rubs which saves you having to go out and spend a fortune buying each individual component which may go into your cupboard and never be used again! I got send a box to try for myself and once I get back to London il set about trying them out and report back. If anyone else wants to try one and get 50% off your box (£5 instead of £10) use the code GFJane at the checkout.

La Baronia, Southampton

Thank you very much to all my twitter followers who helped me find somewhere to eat lunch in Southampton a couple of weeks ago. We were visiting a friend down there but as he was new to the area too, none of us had any idea of gluten free places to go. Thank you in particular though to Emma ( @emma_jayne86 ) who suggested about 10 different places to try but most recommended La Baronia, a Mexican just outside the city centre. If you are ever around Southampton and want the best gluten free Mexican food, go here! It is amazing and basically the whole menu is gluten free ( see all the GF symbols below) and the food is superb. All the tacos and tortillas are made from corn and I felt safe that the kitchen had good GF knowledge so there would be no cross contamination.

Gluugle Launch

Gluugle has to be one of the best gluten free inventions yet.  A very clever app designed by Caz from the Gluten Free Foodie that shows you a list of all the gluten free restaurants / cafes located around you with the click of a button, where ever you are in the UK. All the reviews are done by allergy sufferers themselves who have visited and had a positive experience, so you won’t be caught out travelling all the way to somewhere to be told ‘oh we don’t do gluten free bread anymore’. Sign up for free and you can be a part of the app by adding

A First Class Gluten Free Experience

I have been travelling back home to Leeds from London regularly for the past 3 years I have lived in London so I am a regular passenger on the East Coast train service from Kings Cross. I usually travel in standard class, which is more than fine for my 2.5 hour trip back up north, but on recommendations from my friends I have started to convert to first class and haven’t been disappointed! If you book far enough in advance (which I always do) it’s not actually that much more than standard class and with the east coast points reward scheme sometimes I even get a free ticket, which is nice.

During week nights East Coast offer a free meal with a first class ticket which includes complimentary soft and alcoholic drinks, snacks, a hot main course and a dessert. They are very good with gluten allergies, they did actually used to have a dedicated gluten free main course option marked on the menu but before my trip I checked and this wasn’t the case anymore. Here is the menu