Excellent Gluten Free Cake At The ViewTube
I went to the ViewTube today, for a tea and cake.
Excellent Gluten Free Cake At The ViewTube
It was actually mandarin and chocolate cake, but if you didn’t like that, then there was another different flavour.
The View From Hay’s Galleria
I’d gone south from the Angel to London Bridge station, with the aim of walking along the River Thames to see Tower Bridge.
To get to the bridge, I took one of the exits onto Tooley Street, crossed the road and walked through the Hay’s Galleria. I took these pictures.
This is one of the best ways to get onto the walk beside the Thames. There are also a couple of restaurants and cafes, in and by the Galleria, if you want to eat or drink.
Gluten-Free Pizza At Pizza Express
For many years, Sunday afternoons and evenings for C and myself had a rhymn. We would go to the cinema at either the Cambridge Picturehouse or the Cineworld and then we’d go for a pizza in Pizza Express, often at the Pitt Club, where I always had a Capricciosa. This pattern stopped in the early 2000s, when I was diagnosed as a coeliac, so sometimes I would have a salad Niçoise, or more likely we’d go to an Indian restaurant.
But all that has now changed, in that Pizza Express have produced a new very coeliac-friendly menu. This is the gluten-free page.
Last night, I went with two friends to the newly-refurbished Pizza Express at The Angel in Islington. We sat upstairs and for an avid street watcher like myself, it is a great place to sit.
I started with a bottle of my favourite long drink; Aspall Cyder.
Aspall Cyder At Pizza Express
They also have Green’s gluten-free beer, but I do prefer my Celia, when it comes to beer. The cyder is better than both with pizza.
I also had a Capricciosa, for the first time in perhaps ten years.
Gluten-Free Pizza At Pizza Express
It tasted just like it did all of those years ago.
I think a personal tradition of a film followed by pizza is going to be revived. all I need now is an attractive lady with whom to enjoy the experience.
I think too, you can’t accuse Pizza Express of being backward about going forward.
Advertising In Stereo
These two signs were outside.
My only problem, is that near me, there isn’t a Pizza Express with the quality of building of the Pitt Club in Cambridge.
I have a feeling that in a few years time, this will rate as one of the most significant events in dining out for coeliacs in the UK.
I wasn’t diagnosed as a child, but it must be very difficult, for both a coeliac child and their parents, when say at a birthday party, they get invited to a family restaurant. Now they can at least eat pizza.
I think it is going to start a ripple in the various chains of restaurants, as they’ll have to follow suit. After all, Carluccio’s and Jamie’s Italian, already operate a sensible policy on gluten-free food, and I suspect others do.
It’ll certainly make things much easier for me on my travels. It’s already happened in Ipswich, in that the town has two Pizza Express restaurants. It’s just a pity, neither is close to Portman Road.
This will probably mean that the UK, will become one of the most coeliac-friendly countries for coeliacs to visit.
Checking On Pizza Express
I walked past the Pizza Express in Islington this morning and looked at the menu outside to see about the gluten-free offering.
The Menu Outside Pizza Express, Islington
Note the gluten-free beer, although I think, I would prefer the Aspall Cyder.
The gluten-free statement is strong and comes with a NGCI symbol. This apparently means No Gluten Containing Ingredients. This is an accreditation from Coeliac-UK. Read about it here.
As it was early and the place was empty of customers, I went inside and talked to one of the staff. She showed me the serving area and allowed me to take this picture.
Cake at Pizza Express
Note the “contains gluten” sticker.
The whole system they have put in seems to be very professional and as fail-safe as you can make it.
The lady I spoke to, said that all restaurants will be offering exactly the same menu.
It Was Fish Pie Tonight
As I hadn’t cooked pone for some time, I decided to cook one of my version of Jamie’s Oliver’s Fish Pie.
It Was Fish Pie Tonight
I could have perhaps put a few more potatoes on top, but otherwise it was good.
My other worry, is that how long will the remainder keep in the fridge!
Pizza Express’s Professional Approach To Gluten-Free
If they’ve got it right, which I suspect they have as it’s a big pitch, Pizza Express have taken a bold approach to adding gluten-free to their menus. You open their web site and on the right is a large block labelled GLUTEN FREE. Click it and you learn that they talk about 100% taste, risotto, brownies and even gluten-free Pilsner. They even reverse the usual dishes you can have to ones you should avoid.
They also say that their approach has been endorsed by Coeliac-UK.
I shall definitely be trying them out in the next few days.
At least it gives me somewhere to have lunch in Ipswich, when I watch the football!
A German Barbecue
I saw this tent by Exmouth Market.
A German Barbecue
After my experiences in Munich lately, I went to investigate and he could have fed me something tasty and gluten-free.
But he was from Cologne!
The Plight Of The Bees
It would appear that bees are not doing well. Over the years, I’ve known a few people who kept bees and we even had a Primary School teacher called Adams, who was a bee enthusiast and sometime keeper. My physio at the Angel, was even given a jar of Stamford Hill honey from an Orthodox Jewish client. Read why honey is kosher here.
I like my honey and I would miss it, if it disappeared, so I’m watching the arguments on whether neonicotinoids should be banned. Many of the arguments are outlined is this article from the BBC in Scotland, about whether if a ban is brought in, Scotland should delay implementation.
It is the classic argument, where commercial interests, which in this case are farmers and pesticide manufacturers are arguing against the emotions of various lobby groups.
We seem to be getting a lot of arguments like this these days, with fracking, nuclear power, waste incinerators and HS2 producing similar stands-off.
With the bees and neonicotinoids, there is a solution and that is research, performed scientifically over a period of years. But I suspect both sides of the argument, would probably not want to wait for any conclusions and then if it was against their views, they wouldn’t accept it anyway.
Janice Turner in the Times last week, published an article entitled, Hectoring won’t persuade the MMR-deniers. The title alone says it all, about those who are against MMR.
So this argument about bees and neonicotinoids, will buzz on for years.
An Eat-Travel-Watch-Return Trip
I mentioned this in the previous post about next season and increasingly, I’m finding that this is the way I go to football matches.
I eat first, often at the London station, like Kings Cross or Waterloo, but sometimes like yesterday for the trip to Portman Road at home, which is a about twenty minutes from Liverpool Street station.
I then travel out in First Class, so I get a comfortable trip, getting to the match just before kick-off.
Afterwards, I usually take the first train back.
The Anonymous Widower 