Supper In Palermo
The hotel recommended a restaurant round the corner called Gagini.
The food, staff and atmosphere were all excellent and of course gluten-free.
The starter was particularly good as it was three types of seafood blended with salt from Trapani on Salina and spices. I’ve actually been to that island in the Aoelian Islands.
Gluten Free Bread In Carluccio’s
On Friday night after the film, I had a quick supper in Carluccio’s in Islington, where the manager informed me that they now had gluten-free bread.
As I was in a hurry and only having a salad, I didn’t partake.
But this morning, I went back for breakfast on my way to football at Ipswich and had an eggs florentine with gluten-free bread.
Carluccio’s Gluten-Free Eggs Florentine
It was so much better, than one without, as the bread was ideal for soaking up the yolk of the egg.
The bread incidentally is Yes You Can, who would appear to be an Australian company, who don’t have a UK web-site. My only problem, could be that the bread is manufactured in Norwich.
Are we starting to see a tipping point, where no professional cafe or restaurant doesn’t offer gluten-free bread? After all, I found that this was very much the case in my visit to Stockholm a couple of months ago.
I did hear that new menus are being printed in Carluccio’s, but certainly Islington has jumped in to offering the new bread. I’ll try a couple of others in the next week or so.
Lunch In Copenhagen
I had lunch in Copenhagen, by a canal that was lined with restaurants.
A Restaurant-Lined Canal
The food was good, but it was probably served at the slowest pace I’d ever received. I was so bored at one point, that I took to taking a photo of the chair opposite.
An Unsuitable Chair
Why do you put such a chair in a restaurant? It’s impossible to put your coat over the back of it, so I used the chair next to me for my coat. So they might have lost a cover because of the unsuitable chairs.
In the end, this restaurant ruined my afternoon, as they were so slow on service, I didn’t have time to visit the Jewish Museum in Copenhagen. I’ve always been fascinated, as was my father, about how the Danes got most of their Jews out of the country to Sweden, after the Nazi invasion.
At least though I ate well! Albeit very slowly!
My First Real Fish And Chips In Thirty Years
I’ve never been a great one for greasy fish and chips in newspaper and my late wife, C, wasn’t either. Although, when we lived in St. John’s Wood, we did occasionally get a takeaway from Sea Shell in Lisson Grove. But even in the 1960s, that was of a different quality to for example the chip shop. I remember in East Barnet close to my mother-in-law’s.
Yesterday I read in Giles Coren’s restaurant review in The Times of The Fish and Chip Shop in Upper Street, Islington. I passed it yesterday whilst shopping, popped in and found they could do gluten-free fish and chips. So later in the day, I returned with my son for supper.
The Fish And Chip Shop, Islington
I had plaice in a gluten-free batter and my son had a fish curry. We both found the food excellent and I finished off with an ice cream, the quality and flavour of which, probably betrayed the usual source of most good ice cream in restaurants in the northern and central parts of London; Marine Ices in Camden Town.
The one problem with the restaurant was that we were a bit cramped on the bar, so if you’re thinking of going, book early. My son and I usually decide to go for a meal, perhaps an hour or so before, so we tend to end up in somewhere like Carluccio’s, Pizza Express or Côte, where booking is optional early in the evening or at lunchtime.
On the other hand, as it is very convenient for me, with the 30 bus stop opposite, it’s one of those restaurants, where if I need supper because my fridge is empty or the cooking has gone wrong, I’ll go and sit on the bar and partake of a plaice and chips. As Giles Coren said in his review, the chips are nice, proper, potatoey English chip shop chips.
Eating out in my local area has just got better!
A Restaurant I Won’t Visit
As they seem to encourage smoking dollies to parade outside, I don’t think I’ll visit this restaurant.
A Restaurant I Won’t Visit
She put me off so much, I didn’t even look at the menu, but just walked by out of the smoke.
How To Do Service
Yesterday, I went to Carluccio’s in Upper Street, Islington, as I needed a good lunch, as I was going to a reception in the evening, where I felt gluten-free food, would be non-existent.
Admittedly, I’m known well there,, as I go probably two or three times a week, but I was ushered quickly by the manager, to an out-of-the-way corner table, where I can sit and do my sudoku, without bothering anybody. He had the gluten-free menu at the ready too. Not that I need it these days, as I could probably repeat it by heart.
I do like saltimbocca and as they had a pork one on the specials menu, I asked if they could do a gluten-free one. The answer was yes and the waitress didn’t even check, as she said, they’d done one the day before for another customer.
But unfortunately, the pork saltimbocca had been popular, so she came back and asked, if I would like a chicken one. I said yes and this is the what I had for my lunch.
Carluccio’s Chicken Saltimbocca
It was very good and it kept me going all day, especially as the reception was gluten-free free.
I think I can draw a big conclusion from this incident and other experiences lately. In general, service and the provision of gluten-free food is getting better in restaurant chains, with possibly the exception of All Bar One.
A Very Bad Meal!
Today, I had lunch with a friend. Perhaps, though to say I had lunch is a bit much, as although my friend had s0me very tasty-looking crab cakes, I had nothing to go with my glass of wine.
C and I used to eat in All Bar One about four or five times a year and although, what I ate was generally a bit plain, it filled a hole.
My friend and I tried one of their bars today and the recipe has been totally glutenised, with things like salsa everywhere. All I was offered was a plain burger or a plain gammon with egg. The chips are now covered in wheat to make them crisper, whereas six or seven years ago they were fine. Or at least, I never had a reaction!
Perhaps the waitress got it all wrong and there was something else I could have had, but I doubt I’ll be going to All Bar One again, except perhaps for a drink. After all with Pizza Express being very gluten-free-friendly, I won’t need to go to All Bar One again.
So I went home hungry and made myself a delicious sandwich.
La Tavola In Geneva
I arrived in my hotel about 19:00 on the Friday and despite the excellent meal in Jamie’s Italian at Gatwick, I was peckish. The hotel recommended two local Italian restaurants, which meant I didn’t have to walk, as it was raining hard. The first was full, so I settled on the second and after a bit of negotiation, I got a table at 21:00. It was called La Tavola and here are a few pictures.
The first course was vitello tonnato, which is one of my favourites and properly made it is gluten-free. The second was salmon, leeks and mash potato. It looked slightly unappetising, but like the vitello tonnato, it was excellent.
I would certainly return to La Tavola again. One point was that being Italian, they knew their gluten-free well. My pronounciation too of celiachia is getting better each year.
I sometimes believe that most Italians believe that good food is the healer of all ills.
I don’t think, I’ve had a bad meal, either in Italy or cooked by Italians, for some years. The only one that stands out for awfulness, was one in Housto, about thirty years ago.
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 Bus Stop With A Carluccio’s
The Carluccio’s in Upper Street, Islington, is a uniquely convenient restaurant.
A Bus Stop With A Carluccio’s
Today, I had to get a snack lunch and then go on to Kings Cross station to pick up some rail tickets for my trip to Burnley for the last day of the football season.
So I got a 30 bus to this bus stop, had my lunch at Carluccio’s and then after lunch got on another 30 bus to the station. It really, is a conveniently placed restaurant, at one of those mini-bus interchanges, you get all over London. And Carluccio’s is not the only restaurant in walking distance of this bus stop.
I do think sometimes, that those who open restaurants forget about the buses and don’t think to place their hostelries, where passengers change buses. I can think of a couple of bus interchanges, where the cafe offerings are distinctly poor.
The Anonymous Widower 