GF in London and Paris - long (sorry)

[lbd]

Just got back from an 8-day trip to London and Paris. I had scoped out some GF places to try ahead of time, some of which I got to, but here's the rundown:

London: The hotel had breakfast, so that was easy. They had plenty of non-GF items - eggs, ham, potatoes, etc. For lunch, we went to Harrod's one day and picked out fresh fruit, some curried chicken salad, and ate at Kew Gardens. We went to a Jamaican restaurant (Cotton's) in Camden that night and had the best mojitos ever made. Also, it was easy to find GF food there - I had fish, plantains, veggies.

The next day we went to Jamie Oliver's restaurant in Hoxton called Fifteen. He trains youth here from disadvantaged areas to be chefs. This was a Christmas present from my husband - we made reservations about 3 months ago and they asked then if there were any allergies to be aware of. When we got there, the waitress was already prepared to tell me which menu items were GF. This is a full 5-course dinner. Almost all of the menu items were safe! This was probably one of the best dinners of my life. We started with a plank of wonderful sausages, olives (and foccacia for my daughter). Then a little apperitif of salmon, coconut, fresh herbs and cheese. Then, dinner started. I had a salad of scottish crab and fennel, followed by the second course of a peach risotto (yum). The other second course choices were all pastas. The main entree was a wonderful piece of pork - meltingly delicious. Every main entree was GF! Dessert was a honeycomb sorbet - oh my goodness! Topped off with the traditional British summer drink made with Pim's and fresh fruit and mint. If you get a chance, it is a splurge, but well worth it!

Paris was more of a challenge. There is literally bread everywhere! But they also love their veggies, fruit and meat, so I never had a problem getting plenty of food. The language barrier is a little difficult, but I know enough French to get by and they knew much more English. We ate at a great restaurant in the Latin Quarter called Le Timbre - the waitress spoke perfect English and was very knowledgeable about gluten. The food was cooked in a tiny kitchen right next to you, so you could see what was going into everything. It was absolutely delicious.

Breakfast was again provided by the hotel and included hardboiled and scrambled eggs and fruit, so no problem there. There were tons of salads available at every cafe - you do need to be careful about asking for no bread, since it is not mentioned on the menu every time. I got a warm goat cheese salad, and the cheese came out perched on foccacia bread. Dang! I have to say I took a chance and ate the cheese off the bread, but I don't get severe intestinal things, so it was hard to say if I had any gluten. I think I did get glutened later though when I tasted my daughter's galette potato dish. I am pretty sure it had a white sauce which I was not aware of until it was in my mouth - too late. Next day, I woke with a sore throat and now have a nasty cold - might be coincidence, but this is usually how I react with gluten - my immune system. I also slept horribly and had the first restless legs in a long time - both gluten symptoms for me. It was my own fault. You just have to be careful there and not take chances - they are not aware of gluten free at all. I wanted to eat at Des Si et Des Mets in Montmartre - an entirely GF restaurant, but we just didn't get there.

Finally, to top off a very long post (kind of like showing someone your trip pictures), I have to give a big thumbs down to United Airlines. I ordered GF meals in advance - had to ask for them on the plane each time. Going over, they were GF at least but really bad - chicken with rice for dinner with applesauce , and a crumbled rice cake and an applesauce (again) for a snack. Coming back - disastrous - the worst fish I ever ate with a wilted lettuce salad. It came with a dinner roll! Not GF!!! The roll was packaged but not marked GF and was identical to my daughter's non-GF roll. Then the snack came with two crumbled rice cakes with tomato and a sad piece of chicken in-between along with an apple (that was OK at least), but the topper was a candy bar called Grany which had wheat flour listed in the ingredients and was obviously mostly oats!!

Thank goodness I was aware - what if it had been a child with celiac? I give them a big FAIL. Otherwise the trip was quite successful and not really any more difficult to find GF food than here in the States.

Laurie

[sa2asl]

Thanks for the reviews! I was drooling just hearing about Jamie's restaurant, sounds heavenly! Sorry to hear about the airlines issues. Not fun. I had a flight attendant put cookies down on my tray when I turned my head for a minute. Then she made a joke about not liking cookies. People are just not educated. You're right, you have to be so careful and always read those ingredients.

Sounds like you had a great time, and fabulous food!
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- Sarah

"Celiac in the City" Stop by my site!

[rpf1007]

When I flew to the UK last summer (my first big trip gf)...I ordered gf food. I flew air canada. It was ok, but also suspect. There were a bunch of things that had no ingredients listed on them and I was way too worried to trust that things were right without reading the instructions for myself. I had horribly nasty fish too on the way back. I had brought a lot of snacks because I was scared they would forget the meal entirely (which they did not)...or that I wouldn't trust it (that was partially true) so I ended up being fine.
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Rachel