Dakhin

Dec
22
By Laura

Huge dosa

Dakhin is a South Indian restaurant situated in the Merchant City area of Glasgow. Their menu is wide and varied, serving chicken, pork, prawn and vegetable dishes of varying flavours and spices. They also have some interesting sounding starters as well as slightly different side dishes, Dosas and Uttapams (crepes made with rice and lentils served with coconut chutney) as well as steamed rice. An impressive assortment of choices but what’s even better is that all dishes on the menu, except one, are gluten free, including the breads and sides as they are made of  rice and lentils. They have a good, varied range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks too.

On sitting down, I wanted to confirm that everything was gluten free. One of the waiters wasn’t sure at first but after checking with the chef he could confirm to me that everything but one dish was in fact gluten free. Woohoo! I had free range of the menu to choose whatever I wanted and I could even try what my friends were having. After ordering (I had the  BATATA KEERAI SOUNG, a potato and spinach dish cooked with sweet and sour flavours and coconut oil…mmmm) the waiter brought us a bowl of poppadum like crisps and 3 dipping sauces. He told us that this was also gluten free. All the food was delicious and the staff were very nice. I will definitely be going back for more gluten free south Indian treats. A great restaurant for any coeliacs travelling through Glasgow in search of delicious gluten free delights. It’s quite the challenge to find places to eat which are completely gluten free and therefore free from the threat of cross contamination so a place like this is quite the find!

South Indian cuisine in general tends to be naturally gluten free and safe for coeliacs. I’ve since found a bunch of similar restaurants in various cities and countries around the world! Yay for naturally gluten free curry!

Glasgow Restaurant Reviews 2 Comments

Mars Celebrations Gluten Free?

Dec
21
By Laura

Mars products

UPDATE: Jan, 2015

The MARS website isn’t the easiest to navigate. If you click on the Nutritional Information section, you can click on your favourite products. Once you choose a product, and size, you can then search under the “Allergens” tab and it will list the allergens found in your chosen product. I’m still waiting on a full gluten-free list from MARS UK.

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UPDATE: December 2012 - The new gluten free labelling law passed back in January of this year is great because it means that products can’t be labelled as gluten free unless they are in fact gluten free. Unfortunately this new law also means that we discover the truth about some companies previous gluten free claims. MARS are one of these companies. As of January this year MARS UK can no longer class any of their products as gluten free. :( Below is the email I got from them.

Hi Laura,

Thanks for asking about the gluten free status of our products.On 1 January 2012, a new law was introduced to cover how foods can be labelled with claims about gluten. As you may know, it’s not always possible to make food gluten-free, and until recently there was no legal definition of what ‘gluten-free’ meant. The majority of our factories are not grain-free and therefore the products made in them cannot be classed as ‘gluten-free’. Whilst we recognise that consumers like to have lists of suitable products for their diet, this legislation change means that we are no longer able to provide these.

Therefore, at Mars we always encourage consumers to read the ingredients list to be clear when a product contains any allergenic ingredients as part of the recipe or in trace amounts. For a gluten intolerance or allergy, such ingredients would be cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oats amongst others.

If you’re interested in MARS products in the USA you can read my MARS USA post!

2009: I’m sitting in my office on a chilly day. It’s almost Christmas and there are sweets and treats galore. A huge box of Mars Celebrations is beaming at me from across the room and I’m wondering whether or not I can have any of these. I know I can’t have Malteasers but what about the others? I emailed Mars to ask them for a list of their gluten free products. Let’s see if they get back to me with good news!

Continue reading Mars Celebrations Gluten Free? →

I want (gluten free) candy! Product Reviews 12 Comments

Gluten Free Prescription

Dec
16
By Laura

Today I picked up my first gluten free package courtesy of the NHS. 3 loaves of bread, 1 box of crackers, 2 boxes of crisp bread, 2 pizza bases, one packet of shortbread and 2 boxes of pasta.

When I was first diagnosed my doctor had mentioned that I would be able to get free gluten foods on prescription and had given me a couple of leaflets to send away for free samples packs. There seem to be a few different companies out there which do foods available on prescription but the main two are Glutafin and Juvela. I sent away for sample packs of both companies and was quite surprised at what I received. Glutafin sent a large box filled with bread, rolls, biscuits, crackers, pasta, pizza bases and cake and bread mixes as well as adverts, recipes, information and a notepad and pen. I expected the same from Juvela but from them I got a much smaller box but still containing bread, pasta, crackers, biscuits and bread mix. To be honest I couldn’t really tell the difference in taste between both of these company’s products so when I finally got around to ordering the choice came down to which prescription order form I could find first. After lots of searching through all of my gluten free leaflets and adverts, I found the Glutafin one.

The gluten free prescription is a list of products including a variety of breads, rolls, biscuits, crisp breads, crackers, pizza bases, pastas and bread mixes. Each product has a a value attached to it and customers can choose a number of these products up to a certain value. (17 for an average person I think) Most of the products have a value of 1 except pasta which is 2 so you can get quite a lot in one prescription. It is a wee bit confusing when ticking what you want though because the form doesn’t actually list what every product is worth but rather just gives examples of what you could order with the values of these products so I was left partially guessing what my allowance would cover. The prescription I picked up from my GP had most but not all of the things I had ticked on the form so I’m guessing I ticked too many things…oh well, it all looks pretty good and they gave me everything I most wanted anyway.

How to get your prescription: Complete a gluten free prescription form by ticking the products you require (Companies will send one with your free sample pack), hand your prescription in to your GP surgery to be signed by your doctor, pick up your signed prescription and hand in into your local pharmacy, pick up your free gluten free foods once ready. (mine was ready for pick-up the following day)

Lifestyle 6 Comments

Gluten Free Reykjavik

Dec
06
By Laura
Reykjavik

Reykjavik

I spent a fantastic few days in Reykjavik this winter and didn’t have any problems finding lots of gluten free things to eat 🙂

The hotel we were staying at provided breakfast but it consisted, as I had predicted, of bread, ham and cheese slices, corn flakes and muesli so nothing that I would be able to have. Luckily, I had come well prepared with a bag of my favourite gluten free, organic corn flakes so each morning I would pour my own bowl of cereal with the milk provided.

Continue reading Gluten Free Reykjavik →

Europe Travel Adventures 6 Comments

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Dinner

Nov
26
By Laura

Gluten Free Thanksgiving dinner

Today is Thanksgiving (The American one) and I decided to surprise my boyfriend with a tasty Thanksgiving meal on his country’s special day…all gluten free off course! I bought some turkey breast fillets, which I cooked in the oven with mixed herbs,  baby potatoes, gluten free stuffing and cranberry sauce.

I was yet to try gluten free stuffing so I bought Kelkin’s gluten free stuffing mix to try. I thought stuffing was basically breadcrumbs and some mixture of herbs and spices so I was pretty surprised when I opened the box of stuffing to find rice flakes! I eat Kelkin’s gluten free porridge for breakfast most mornings and I love it (especially with fruit and cinnamon) but I didn’t imagine that the stuffing I would be eating for Thanksgiving would be almost the same thing, expect with a variety of herbs and spices.

Cooking the stuffing involved putting 100 grams of it into a oven friendly dish, covering it with 660 mls of boiling water and leaving it to soak for 15 minutes. I then put it in the oven for 20 minutes. It looked like the porridge I have for breakfast and the consistency was just like the porridge I have for breakfast but it tasted pretty good…especially with spoonfuls of turkey and cranberry sauce!

My first gluten free Thanksgiving dinner was a success and my American loved it 🙂

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Gluten Free coffee shop snacks

Nov
25
By Laura

I’m not a big fan of coffee but still enjoy ‘going out for a coffee’ and a chat or in my case going out for a fruity drink and a chat 🙂 Whether I’m meeeting my boyfriend, friends, mum or dad I sometimes think it would be nice to nibble a wee cookie or cake with my drink but these days, as a coeliac, it is a lot more difficult to find somewhere that this is a possibility. The last few times I’ve gone out I’ve taken my own seed and nut bar or flavoured rice cakes with me to avoid my little green monster showing his head as my mum delves into her gluten filled yet delicious looking muffin.  So far I’ve found a few places that do have gluten free options and a few others that don’t…if anyone out there has been to a coffee shop that sells tasty gluten free treats then let me know and I’ll add your findings to my list so that other coeliacs can enjoy a gluten free snack along with their coffee! The following relates to coffee shops in the UK and more specifically, Glasgow

Starbucks: sell a gluten free chocolate brownie and a gluten free luxury christmas cake (at christmas time).

Costa Coffee: sell a gluten free brownie. Concerns? Check out the discussion below.

Bean Scene: do not currently sell any gluten free snacks.

Marks & Spencer: sell a gluten free chocolate muffin

Glasgow Restaurant Reviews 26 Comments

Cadbury’s Roses

Nov
25
By Laura

UPDATE DECEMBER 2012: For the most up-to-date information on Cadbury’s products in the UK, including Roses, check out my Cadbury UK post. Spoiler alert – Roses are on the gluten free list! 🙂

I was at a work meeting this morning and a colleague kindly gave me a cadbury’s rose chocolate to have with my tea. How strange, I thought, that this innocent gesture requires research into the gluten content of this tiny chocolate before I can eat it! So…I googled ‘Cadbury’s roses gluten free’ and came up with a couple of answers…

Coeliac UK provide a list of ‘gluten free’  cadbury’s products. This list was as of July 2009 so whilst things may have changed since then, this was only compiled 4 months ago and is their most recent list. This list says that Roses 150g, 220g, 400g, 700g and 975g are all gluten free as are the Roses mini carton, luxury collection, truffles selection and pouch. It appears that all Cadbury’s roses are safe!

This sounded too good to be true so I looked at cadbury’s own site. I first came across information from 2007 which lists some roses as ‘gluten free’ and others containing ‘trace amounts’. This also didn’t appear to be a complete list of all roses and as I wasn’t sure which chocolate I had been given I wanted more information. More googling and finally I found more up to date information from Cadbury’s …. http://www.cadbury.co.uk/home/Pages/home.aspx

If you click on ‘Nutrition’ at the bottom of the page’ then search for ‘Gluten Absent(suitable for Coeliacs)’ you will get a list of products which are safe for us. I was happy to discover that the gluten free status of roses matches the Coeliac UK list…it looks as though Coeliacs can nibble away safely at Cadbury’s roses…in moderation of course 😉

I want (gluten free) candy! Product Reviews Seasonal Gluten Free Treats Leave a comment

Gluten Free Thorntons

Nov
21
By Laura

Thorntons Ice Cream

I was very happy to discover that Thorntons, a chocolate store which can be found all over the UK, has a huge selection of gluten free chocolates and other tasty treats! Great news for gluten free travellers living in or headed to the UK!

Continue reading Gluten Free Thorntons →

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Reykjavik research

Nov
17
By Laura

I’m heading off to Iceland in just over a week so I’ve been looking into what I can find out about Reykjavik and any gluten free options that may be awaiting me! So far I haven’t been able to find much….When I travel I love eating out so my first port of call was to do some research into any restaurants in Reykjavik that offer gluten free options. I came across  http://www.celiachandbook.com/index.html which provides a list of restaurants in lots of different cities that have been found to cater for the gluten free of us. For Reykjavik, the list is pretty short so hopefully I’ll be able to help them out with a few ideas after this trip. For now though Indian Mango (http://www.indianmango.is/ENGLISH/) is somewhere I’m definitely going to have to try! The menu on their site says that all of their main dishes are gluten free…Too good to be true right? and everything sounds delicioso too!! Stay tuned to find out….

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The Curry Leaf

Nov
16
By Laura

The Curry Leaf is an Indian tapas resturant in the west end of Glasgow and yesterday I thought I’d give them a call to see what their gluten free options are like. When the man answered the phone, I explained that I was interested in eating at their restaurant and was wondering about which of the items on their menu were gluten free. The man started to explain what kind of food and drink they offered. I thought he might not have heard me correctly so re-explained what I was looking to find out. Again he began to explain their menu and told me they were doing a special offer at the moment. For a third time I asked him ‘but what gluten free options do you have?’ and at this point he transferred me onto a colleague.

The woman I was now speaking to understood what I was asking and said she would ask the chef. While I was waiting for her to return I could hear the first man asking his colleague what I had asked. She explained and I heard him saying ‘What’s gluten, like nuts and stuff?’ At this point there was no way I’d be eating at this restaurant but thought I may aswell wait to hear what the chef had to say. When the woman came back to the phone she said that she had asked the chef but that he didn’t know which things contained gluten. She said they could probably make any of the menu items gluten free. This as you might imagine did not fill me with confidence! I thanked the woman for her help but said that I wouldn’t want to risk eating there. She told me she thought I might say that.

If any Coeliacs have eaten here and haven’t had any problems with glutenation then please let me know…Their menu looked pretty tasty but I wasn’t going to risk it when the chef himself didn’t know about the gluten content of the meals he was producing!

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