The Gluten Free Blog

Eat Natural Gluten Free Bars

These bars from Eat Natural have become a huge favourite at Gluten Free Towers in recent weeks. Chewy and nutty with a smooth yoghurt coating they have no artificial flavours or colours, and no preservatives. And most importantly they’re gluten free. Yay. Perfect for that mid-afternoon slump.

Next time we might actually have a picture of one of the bars. (Thanks guys for scoffing them before I took a pic!)

We’ve been buying ours in Waitrose and Sainsbury’s but I think they’re pretty much available everywhere.

Just got back from the Allergy & Gluten Free show at London’s Olympia. And as usual it was a packed show full of good ideas and tasty foods.

Kent & Fraser

Our regular favourite brands such as Doves Farm, Hale & Hearty, and Orgran all had stands. But as usual we tried to hunt down some less well-known names and products. We chatted to the lovely Danny at Kent & Fraser who make scrumptious gluten free cookies, biscuits and shortbread, and whose packaging is eye-catching and contemporary. I can highly recommend the award-winning Stilton and walnut biscuits. Imagine these with a wedge of cheese and a glass of red on a warm summer’s night. Mmmm.

We said hello to the Rude Health girls. I’ve never come across this brand before. But it’s available in Waitrose and Sainsbury’s and numerous health food stores across the UK. They do gluten free honey puffed oats, puffed rice and honey rice flakes. In fact, we came away with a whole box of honey rice flakes, so we’ll do a taste test on those next week. Again, great packaging and a quirky website. Check it out.

Continuing to tickle the savoury tastebuds were Amisa’s organic gluten paprika and chilli crackers. These were crispy and flavoursome. Definitely recommended. Amisa is available at health food stores throughout the UK.

M&S chocolate and cherry cake

Good to see M&S have a stand this year. Marks has been rolling out its gluten free brand with its distinctive green packaging for a while now and we’ve already written about their orange and polenta cake and gluten free sandwiches. It was a good opportunity to chat to Helen, M&S’s nutritionist, and I asked her why M&S gluten free products were so expensive. She told us that gluten free products contain lots more ingredients than ‘regular products’ and some of those ingredients such as almond flour, are costly. The gluten free sandwiches had come down in price a bit apparently – so that’s good news.

Whilst I was chatting to Helen I took the opportunity to scoff two bits of M&S gluten free chocolate and cherry cake. Oooh this is a winner. And only £2.99.

We couldn’t leave without having a quick chat to our friends at Genius bread. Julie was on the stand (follow her on Twitter @geniusfoods) and we chatted about the latest addition to the Genius family: the sliced multi-seed loaf, which is available from May 16th 2011 in Tesco. Tasty, springy and substantial. Just what you’d expect from Genius.

Genius multi-seed bread

And last but not least, we have to mention the Warbutons stand which included a sushi-style conveyor belt! Great stuff.

The Allergy and Gluten Free show is at London’s Olympia until Sunday May 8th.

Did you go to the show this year? What did you think of it? Did you discover any new products? Let us know in the comments.

If you’re out and about in the West End and you’re struggling to find something tasty, filling and gluten free to grab for lunch or dinner, you should head to Pho.

Pho (pronounced feu in Vietnam or foe by anyone outside Vietnam) is the Vietnamese national dish and is a simple, fresh nutritional noodle soup dish that’s eaten for lunch, breakfast and dinner. And as it’s made with clear vegetable stock and rice noodles it’s also a great choice for coeliacs as it’s gluten free.

Pho Chay and Bun Cha Gio Ga

So last weekend we went to Pho the restaurant on Wardour Street, one of the four Pho restaurants in London, to try pho the dish.

And the first thing you notice about Pho is it’s pretty cool. As are the waiting staff. But they’re also friendly and super knowledgeable. Our waitress was very helpful and friendly and was happy to spend time going through the menu and pointing out the few dishes I couldn’t eat because they contained hoisin sauce or soya sauce (although Pho are happy to take these out). But most dishes on the menu are great for coeliacs and there were numerous vegetarian options too.

So what we did choose?

Well I started with Goi Cuon, fresh summer veggies and noodles wrapped in (gluten free) rice paper with a fish dipping sauce. And Andrew chose Cha Gio, fried pork spring rolls. Both these starters are fairly substantial and incredibly filling. So if you want to leave space for your main course you might want to share one of these.

At Pho everything is freshly made with ingredients that are delivered daily. So my Goi Cuon was packed full of fresh peppers and mint. And our server took the time to show Andrew how the lettuce could be wrapped round the pork spring rolls for extra crunch.

Homemade lemonade vodka

For the main course I chose Pho Chay, which is tofu, mushrooms and rice noodles in a veggie stock, and Andrew chose Bun Cha Gio Ga which is lemongrass chicken with a stir-fry topping and rice noodles, and is served with veggie spring roll and peanuts. This dish had a lovely combination of textures with crunchy stir-fry and soft noodles and a beautiful combination of flavours including coriander, chili, nut, and lemon. My Pho Chay came with side dish of fresh herbs including flat leaf parsley and mint, and chili so I could give my dish a bit of an extra kick if I wanted to. I didn’t need to. It was tasty and filling but a bit on the salty side for my personal taste.

There’s one item on the menu that you absolutely must try and that’s the homemade lemonade vodka. Cold, minty and packing a punch. Highly recommended.

Pho Soho
Opening times: Monday to Saturday
 12 – 11pm, Sunday 
12pm – 10pm
Address: 63-165 Wardour Street,
 London,
 W1F 8WN,
Telephone: 020 7434 3938

As you know, we always like to find new and local gluten free brands, here at the Gluten Free Blog. So, last week, when we stumbled across Knead Bakery, a new allergy friendly baking company in London we were all rather excited.

Knead Bakery's gluten free, dairy free sugar cane free goodies

Knead Bakery, it turns out, is run by the talented and lovely Sim Smith, who’s a former journalist and long time allergy sufferer.

Determined to prove that a diet void of gluten, dairy and cane sugar needn’t be a diet void of tasty treats, she’s set up Knead Bakery, which has launched with six scrumptious products, including chocolate chip cookies, ginger cookies, mini blueberry muffins, mini lemon and poppy seed muffins, carrot cake and double chocolate brownies, all of which are free from gluten, dairy, cane sugar and additives and preservatives.

And we were fortunate to get a first look last week when Sim dropped into the office with a bag of goodies for us to try.

So we started with the muffins. They were light and fresh, with a bouncy texture and sweet without being sickly. The combination of sweet lemon and the almost peppery poppy seeds was divine. And the blueberries in the blueberry muffins were fresh, plump and juicy like they’d been picked that morning.

Next up were the cookies. You know how so many gluten free cookies and biscuits leave that taste of sugary nothingness in your mouth? Not these. The chocolate chip cookies were incredibly chocolaty and chewy. And the ginger cookies. Well, they were really zingy and mouth-watering. I love ginger cookies with a cup of herbal tea. And these take some beating.

The double chocolate brownie tasted ‘just like a normal chocolate brownie’ said Phil, a non gluten-freer. And it did. Moist and with a lovely consistency, I was left with dark chocolaty taste in my mouth and the feeling I’d eaten something really substantial. ‘Hmmm…perfect with a coffee’ said Miles.

Blueberry mini muffins and lemon and poppy seed mini muffins. That's my hand!

So then we tucked into the carrot cake. Now, Knead Bakery sells this by the slice and also as a whole cake. And I would encourage you, for any celebratory gathering whatsoever, to buy an entire cake. In fact, just by a whole carrot cake for yourself. I won’t tell. Because rarely have I eaten cake that has given me goose bumps. And this carrot cake did. Laced with fresh lemon curd and topped with a soya yogurt frosting, the combination of flavours is exquisite.

What we love about Knead are the quality ingredients Sim uses. So the chocolate chip cookies and the chocolate brownies taste of rich, dark chocolate. The lemon curd tastes super lemony. And you can really taste the vanilla, ginger and cinnamon in the products.

Gluten free, dairy free and sugar free carrot cake

Knead offers a personalised baking service. So if you need an allergy free cake for a special occasion such as a wedding or birthday give Sim a call. She also does gluten free, dairy free and sugar free goodie bags and gift bags which are ideal for corporate events, fashion shoes and even kids’ parties.

The online store will be available soon. In the meantime you can order from Knead by emailing info@kneadbakery.co.uk or calling Sim on 07920 102 284. Mini muffins and cookies are just £3.40 a bag. The chocolate brownie is £2.99 and the carrot cake is £3.99 for a substantial slice (but just get the whole cake!).

For more information visit Knead Bakery, London.

We’ve noticed quite a few people in the blogosphere and Twittersphere this week complaining about Warbutons gluten free bread. Warbutons’ own Facebook page is full of complaints about the slices crumbling and falling to pieces.

Breaking up is not so hard to do. Warbutons gluten free bread

As you know, we went to the Warbutons gluten free launch the other week. And the two loaves we were given to try were delicious.

But the loaf I bought in Asda last week was really dry after two days, the crusts were falling off and the slices were breaking in half. It meant I lost the last third of the loaf. Boo. I put it down to the fact I hadn’t stored the loaf in a cool, dark place like a bread bin; I’d simply left it on the side in my kitchen.

But then Mum picked up a white loaf in Sainsbury’s and as you can see from the picture, the entire loaf fell to pieces as soon as she opened it! I think we rescued two slices from the back of the packet for a bit of toast.

Now, fair play to Warbutons. Mum called them and explained what had happened and they kindly put £5 of vouchers in

Money off vouchers from Warbutons

the post the same day. She was also told that Warbutons had received a number of complaints about the slices falling to pieces and were looking into it.

I really hope they do. When you actually get a good slice it’s pretty tasty. Even the white loaf is nutty and flavoursome. But who will pay a premium of £2.69 for small loaf when you’re not guaranteed even one round of sarnies out of it?

Have you tried Warbutons gluten free bread yet? How was it? Let us know in the comments.