Bella Italia

I saw on the Glten Free Message Board that the Bella Italia chain www.bellaitalia.co.uk offer gluten free pasta and pizza. They are a chain restaurant and have a large number of branches including several in central London. I rang and checked first and booked. We went to the restaurant near Leicester Square as we'd been to the British Museum (very poor for gluten free snacks). We ordered a gf spaghetti bolognaise for Niall. Fortunately the pasta was quill shaped which is easier for an 8 year old to deal with in public. He ws really pleased to get pasta in a restaurant that was no fuss. The rest of the family enjoyed their meal and it was reasonably priced too. So overall, a success!

France (again)

Just got back from 2 weeks in the Dordogne in a mobile home. We had no real GF problems at all. Predominantly self catering does make life easier, there is no doubt and this is familiar to many GF families. We used a roof box on the car and took a fair amount of groceries with us (breakfast cereal and that sort of stuff) We also used an electric coolbox which managed to keep GF fresh bread frozen until we could put it in the freezer when we reached our destination. This worked really well. We also put in some Sainsbury Pork and apple sausages (I think). They were the best GF sausages from a supermarket that I have tried.

We did eat out very successfully in Le Bugue and Sarlat with restaurant staff seeming to understand the GF issue. Niall had steak hache and also a couple of very French omelettes.

On the shopping front we had a very good choice of fresh local produce and a modest shift in the Euro exchange rate even softened the cost. (France is still really expensive compared with a couple of years ago.

We sacrificed the family principles and had a McDonalds on the way back with the staff being really helpful and putting the burger inside a Marks and Sparks roll provided by us.

Another good trip and now back to the grindstone!

Restaurants - Leon and Las Iguanas

We've tried a couple of new restaurants recently. The first was Leons situated at Bluewater (and elsewhere) http://www.leonrestaurants.co.uk/ The menu clearly states what is gluten free and there is a relatively wide choice including main courses and deserts. Worth a try!

The second one is Las Iguanas next to the Festival Hall on London's South Bank. (Again part of a chain so lots of different locations) http://www.iguanas.co.uk/ The menu is clear on the GF options and offers a reasonable variety of choice.

Have a look at the web sites and see what you think. Both worked well for us.

Marks and Spencer Break and Cake

We've all been terribly busy so I haven't updated this for too long. There has been a lot going on in the gluten free world!

Last week we tried Marks and Spencer gluten free fresh bread and burger rolls. Niall thought they were the best breads that he had tried so we fully recommend them. It was a family barbeque so we all tried the Marks and Spencer gluten free chocolate cake. This was really rich and nobody would have known it was gluten free.

Just as a matter of information, we also had Marks chorizo and also pork and bramley sausages both of which were great and also gluten free.