Neal's Yard, Covent Garden

During our week off together Ina and I headed off to London for the day. I had a quick look on the Supp Board of the Gluten Free Message Board for places to eat in London. I came across a tiny post about a place called Neal's Yard, just off Covent Garden. The guy who posted it claimed they did gluten free breads and pies so we thought we'd go and check the place out.

The area seems to be a popular Vegan/Vegetarian hotspot. They do serve some meat dishes but I got the impression they didn't want you to order them!

When we arrived we were greeted with a psychedelic mixture of buildings with a seating area between them.




It has a lovely atmosphere and we sat outside to eat. In terms of food, the menu labels all gluten free items WF (for wheat free - but they assured me it was all gluten free too.)




There were about 6 different types of gluten free breads (based around Brazilian Cheese Breads) and a gluten free pie option. The main course of cheesy rice bake was also gluten free (although it was Tuesday's special - it may be different other days.) I chose Pumpkin and Polenta Pie and Chicken Bread and both were absolutely gorgeous.




They also had gluten free sweet muffins and other desserts, although we were far too full to sample them.

If you are ever in London, or even the general London area, I strongly recommend paying Neal's Yard a visit.

I walked around with a big smile on my face for the rest of the day saying "I had gluten free pie!" at frequent intervals!!

Ready...Steady...Cooked!

Well as promised I'm reporting back on my Ready...Steady...Cook! post.

I'm guessing a few of you reading it may have thought I was living a bit dangerously by doing this but it turned out really well.

For a start the couple whose house we went to have another coeliac friend who they have cooked for in the past and they were also really good at checking everything with me before using it.

If you can find a coeliac friend or some friends who are either clued up or willing to ask stuff I highly recommend this.

The main tips I have are to make sure you take gluten free versions of any store cupboard ingredients that usually contain gluten (eg stock cubes, soy sauce) and then put all the ingredients you are going to use (from all participating parties) on a worktop/table. You can then check everything is gluten free. That way even if you decide to add something later you only have to check one or two ingredients once the cooking is under way.

This might be better to do at the coeliac's house as that way designated chopping boards etc can be used.

Still very much recommended - some coeliacs seem to have a habit of not eating socially. I think this kind of thing is a great way to ensure you can still join in those dinner parties.

Although keeping it to three or four people max should ensure you can keep your eagle eyes on all preparation proceedings.

Ready...Steady...Cook!

I'm off to a dinner party with a difference tonight. Well I say a dinner party but its just me and Ina and another couple. Still the plan is for us to take the majority of the contents of our fridge and combine it with theirs (minus any gluten products they might have.) The menu will then be created, cooked and eaten.

Sounds fun hey?

I'll report back!

More Apologies

Apologies once again for my silence. I am now in the middle of third year uni exams and fairly stressed!

However I hope to have enough time to break from revision and dash over to Marios in Brownhills for GF fish and chips tonight.

Ah well back to the revision and I'll be back with you early next week!

Consultant Follow up

I went back to see Mr Wilson, gastroenterologist at City Hospital, Birmingham. Last time I saw him he said he was nearly 100% sure I was coeliac but if I wanted a definite diagnosis I would have to go on the gluten challenge and have a biopsy. I explained that, being in the middle of uni, I wasn't in a position to do this. He was happy with that decision and said I can go on the challenge and have the biopsy when I've finished uni. However he took some bloods to test for gluten antibodies anyway as I was still losing weight and he wondered if there was enough gluten in my diet to still be triggering a reaction.

The results of those tests were negative (not surprising seeing I've been on a gluten free diet for over a year!) so we're back to square one (ie waiting for an appropriate time in my life to have the biopsy.)

Never mind, I'm just going to keep to the gluten free diet, keep baking and keep posting here and get on with it!

Final Update on ShakeAway

I've had another reply from the lovely Rob at ShakeAway:

You’re right (of course!), those four flavours are not good for coeliacs. They were on the lists we keep by the tills, but for some reason the “”ng” symbols got missed on the hand-out menus.

Our menus are currently being re-printed, but I have changed the artwork so the following re-print will be right.

Thanks for that!

Rob @ ShakeAway

Just to confirm, the four flavours mentioned are:
Ferrero Rocher
Horlicks
Iced Gems
Liquorice Allsorts

These four flavours contain gluten and are NOT suitable for coeliacs.

So any Southerners out there (or brave Northerners daring to venture down south!) get yourselves to a ShakeAway for a real treat.

But be warned - you'll be spoilt for choice!!

Update on Shakeaway

I mentioned in my previous post that I'd emailed ShakeAway Milkshakes to query a few items on their menu. I thought you guys would like to see the reply:

Hi Ju,

Thanks for the email, and I’m glad, on the whole, we get a thumbs up for the efforts we make! It’s always quite difficult to keep up with the detail of ingredients when manufacturers often change their recipes, but we do try to help coeliacs, nut allergy people, dairy intolerant, etc.

I will arrange for Ferrero Rocher, Horlicks, Iced Gems and Liquorice Allsorts to be checked again. We’d then be able to make any necessary changes on our next Menu reprint.

Regarding Smarties on the Toppings section, we don’t label items again if they are in the main list – with labels for registered trade mark, vegan or not vegetarian and not gluten, it can get crowded! We therefore hope that Customers will take such information from the main list.

Incidentally, each shop has a separate list by the till (shown on request) which itemises the allergy items to collate them all together.

Thanks for this and I will get it looked at, and we hope to see you at ShakeAway again soon!

Rob

Nice to see them making an effort!