Liverpool
Lunch with family
Liverpool (To be read with a scouser accent!) is a UK city I hadn’t yet had the chance to explore. The drive is only three hours and change from Glasgow but I guess until now I never really had a reason to visit. My brother and his lovely family recently moved to that area of the country so when we were home for the holidays it was the perfect time to visit and explore Liverpool for the day.
Liverpool is of course famous for the Beatles so we had to drive down Penny Lane. It was also pretty impossible not to find a way of getting Beatles lyrics into the conversation at every possible opportunity through the day. A hugely famous band isn’t all Liverpool has to offer though. It’s a pretty town filled with a bunch of friendly people who have what is probably my favourite English accent. 🙂
So back to the gluten free eating part of the trip. My brother came across Leaf and noticed that they do gluten free options. Leaf (on Bold Street in the centre of town) is primarily a tea house but they have a good menu which indicates a few dishes as being gluten free (G) and those which have a gluten free alternative (GA).
I went for the Vegetable Thai Curry. It was served with rice and was very tasty and coconutty, not too different from the thai curry I make at home but it was nice to have someone else make it for me. Everyone else choose something gluten filled so no point in going into further detail there but they all found their meals to be really tasty. One thing I would say about this place is that some of the staff need to be a little better training on dealing with people ordering gluten free dishes. Whilst the woman who served us gave me confidence that my meal was prepared safely, the woman taking my order didn’t instill as much confidence. There are places at which I eat where I feel 100% comfortable that my meal is being prepared and cooked with the caution it deserves. Leaf was not one of these places but I still felt safe enough eating here and I had a lovely meal.
Liverpool has other gluten free goodies to offer but unfortunately on this trip we only had time to sample one of them. Funky Shake Bar ( at Albert Dock) which is a crazy, extravagant milkshake and candy place does a bunch of gluten free options. Their menu clearly labels which flavours and toppings are not gluten free. Awesome!
Prego, an Italian restaurant located at Liverpool One in the city offers gluten free pasta if customers call in advance to let them know.
Have you lived in or travelled to Liverpool, gluten free? If you’ve had a delicious, safe meal here please share your experiences in the comments below. Gluten free travellers are always on the lookout for more options!
Yummy gluten free curry
L tea house and bar
Richard Gottfried
Jan 15th, 2012Good post. When we visited Liverpool in early 2011 we had a great four-course meal at The James Munro Gastropub. We also had a good meal at a Tapas place called Lunya (near the Liverpool ONE shopping centre). It’d be interesting to see what you thought of Lunya, as the service was a bit erratic on our trip. They had a good selection of GF items, but I was served some GF food by mistake (this was changed when I mentioned it).
Irene Shepherd
Feb 10th, 2012Just back from a trip to Liverpool. Great gluten free options at the Piazza cafe at the Metropolitan Cathedral (known locally as Paddy’s Wigwam). Had a big bowl of scouse (very much like irish stew). Also a choice of cakes. Highly recommended.
Laura
Feb 10th, 2012Thanks for the info, Richard. I’ll definitely check out these places when I”m next in the city. A little scary that you were served glutenous food though! Was it something obvious like bread?
Yum..Irene, I’d love a big bowl of gluten free irish stew! I’ll be sure to try the Piazza cafe when I’m next visiting my family. Thanks for the info. 🙂
Lianne Ascough
Oct 7th, 2012Had a really great meal at the Red Hot World Buffet in Liverpool One!