The Gluten Free Blog

Not sure which restaurants in your area serve gluten free foods? Or which ones have a good choice of vegan dishes? Or are nut-free? Wonder no more. Because we’ve recently come across LeaveItOut.co.uk, an all new specialist eating out online guide.

Whether you have a food allergy or intolerance, are vegetarian or vegan or even need to find a child-friendly venue or a place with disabled access, Leave It Out can help.

Simply enter your post code, click which intolerance you have and Leave It Out will show you your nearest restaurants.

You can even win dinner for two at a restaurant of your choice by writing a review or sending the site a new listing. Got a fantastic local restaurant you want to talk about? Just register here (it takes about 30 seconds) and write a review. Or if you want to see your favourite local restaurant listed just contact the Leave It Out team.

You’ll also find lots of informative articles on the site written by Medical Consultant Dr Adam Fox and Dietician Tanya Wright, such as Coeliac Disease And Malt Extract and When And How Can Wheat Allergy Occur?

We think this site is going to be a great resource. Remember to get your reviews and recommendations in. And you might be enjoying a gluten free pizza free of charge at the end of the month!

At the Allergy & Gluten Free Show the other week we found quite a few brands we hadn’t come across before including Lazy Day Foods and Steph’s Free From Cakes.

Dr Sally Beattie of Lazy Day Foods

Dr Sally Beattie who is a director at Lazy Day Foods is a professional food scientist, so she knows a thing or two about delicious food. And as a mum with kids who have allergies she knows a thing or two about food intolerances.

We chatted to Sally for a while and tried quite a few of her products – all in the name of research of course – and we can highly recommend the Millionaire’s Shortbread and the Belgian Dark Chocolate Tiffin. Delicious. And both wheat, gluten, dairy and egg free.

All Lazy Day products are handmade in a dedicated gluten free factory in Scotland and are available to order via the website. They’re so beautifully packaged we think they make ideal gifts.

New items to be added to the range soon include celebration cakes and muffins along with a Rustic Savoury Biscuit range flavoured with cracked pepper, mild spices or sweet chilli. We can’t wait for those.

Stephanie Palmer of Steph’s Free From Cakes

Another stand we spent quite a bit of time at was Steph’s Free From Cakes run by the lovely Stephanie Palmer. Steph told us she suffers from a number of food intolerances herself and began baking free from cakes when she couldn’t find anything suitable (or edible) in the shops.

I rather over indulged in Steph’s sweet Lemon Drizzle Cake and some very cute heart shaped Ginger Cookies which were a fabulous combination of crispy, moist and spicy.Steph’s Free From Cakes are all available to buy online and include classics such as Carrot cake and Battenburg cake. (Not forgetting the aforementioned Lemon Drizzle Cake – a personal favourite.)

There’s 10% off your first order – so get ordering now!

UPDATE: Unfortunately it seems the Bruschetta restaurant in Kingston has now closed down.

If you’re in the Surrey or south London area you absolutely must visit Bruschetta in Kingston upon Thames. This amazing gluten free Italian restaurant is run by the fabulous Julia and Daniele. And the best bit? The entire menu is gluten free. Yes, there is a ‘regular’ menu for those in your party who want to eat the wheaty stuff. But why would they? The gluten free menu is so packed full of delicious and authentic Italian dishes you can probably convert them for good.

Having visited last Saturday, I can thoroughly recommend the Pizz’Italia pizza with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, rocket and fresh ricotta. Seriously tasty. My friend had the Finocchiona pizza with mozzarella, tomato, artichokes heart, Italian fennel salami and parmesan. The pizzas are incredibly filling. But we still found room to share a slice of Julia’s chocolate cake. Delicious.

All the gluten free dishes are authentically Italian and prepared in a gluten free kitchen. For opening times and menus visit Bruschetta’s Facebook page (and become a fan!).

We visited the Allergy & Gluten Free Show at Olympia in London this morning. We guessed that Friday morning would be a better time to go than at the weekend but it was getting pretty busy even by the time we left.

There were lots of fantastic products on show and lots and lots of nibbles to try. And of course we had to say hi to our gluten free bread friends, Genius. How could we not after they’d invited us to a fantastic gluten free tea at Claridge’s.

The highlight for me was the product range from Look What We Found. Tasty meals, soups and sauces (I tried the Chilli Con Carne) that can be stored in the cupboard. No need to keep them in the fridge! I have bought a selection of 3 meals and 2 soups so will be doing a complete review of these at a later date.

Also great to see a stand from the guys at Estrella Damm. Their Daura gluten free beer (which tastes great even at 11am!) has won the World Beer Awards ‘World’s Best Gluten Free Beer’ for the last 2 years. And was a Freefrom Food Awards winner in 2010. We wish them luck in retaining their World Beer Awards status in a few months time!

Lastly, I have to mention 9Bar. These delicious mixed seed bars come in a variety of flavours and include hemp. Obviously rebranded from the previous Organic Hemp ‘9 Bar’ and brought right up to date these seed bars really do taste great. For the ‘possible’ reasoning behind the name please refer to the definitions at the Urban Dictionary.

So all in all a fab show and I encourage you to get down there this weekend if at all possible. And expect more posts and reviews on all the products we saw. And tasted!

Gluten free tea at Claridge's

Do you remember last week we told you we’d been invited to tea at Claridge’s courtesy of Genius gluten free bread? Well, we went on Monday and we have to say it was absolutely delicious.

We enjoyed smoked salmon with horseradish and dill; organic chicken with lemon remoulade; dorrington ham; and cucumber and rocket – all with the crusts cut off, natch. And they were all made with Genius gluten free bread which will now be available as part of Claridge’s afternoon tea. (Just ring in advance and let them know.)

Gluten free cakes and pastries

As if that wasn’t enough we then tucked into gluten free scones served with Devonshire clotted cream and strawberry preserve; fruit tartlets; and to-die-for chocolate ondulay cake. These were all to Lucinda’s recipes although not part of the Genius range (yet!).

Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne Genius Founder

We managed to grab a few words with Genius’s founder, the lovely Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, who told us the sales of gluten free sandwiches in Starbucks (made with Genius bread) were selling really well. In fact, non-gluten-free-people were buying them without even realising! And she told us about new products in the pipeline, namely brown and white rolls. We can’t wait. Of course, the next step is to roll (no pun intended) Genius gluten free bread out internationally.

On the way out we received gorgeous goodie bags containing a couple of loaves of Genius bread and Lucinda’s fabulous book How to Cook for Food Allergies: Understand Ingredients, Adapt Recipes with Confidence and Cook for an Exciting Allergy-Free Diet.

Not tried Genus gluten free bread yet? It’s now available in all major UK grocery stores.