VISITING LONDON, UK
Most major
supermarkets now have a "free from" range - Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Waitrose. Their ranges tend to stock breads, biscuits, crackers, cereal etc.
Marks and Spencers also have a great GF range. There is a M&S on Oxford Street as well as a smaller one outside Covent Garden tube station.
There is a shop called
Whole Foods Market on Kensington High Street who do lots of gluten free things too - quite expensive!
There is also a smaller one just behind Piccadilly Circus. They have GF breads, cakes etc, but also a little salad bar where you can fill a box with ingredients to take-away, or you can take it upstairs where they have a few tables and chairs dotted between the aisles of shopping!!
http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/store-locations/?storeabbr=SOH#map_top
http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/store-locations/?storeabbr=HSK#map_top
There's a great little salad place called
Vital Ingredient, where you can chose your base (ie lettuce) and then add different things at the counter, they are a take-away place and are open Mon-Fridays only. I've not been to one for years (as they aren't open at weekends) but I really enjoyed the salad I had there years ago. i think they do soups now too - not sure if they are GF though.
There is one in Soho and one not too far from Piccadilly Circus
http://www.vitalingredient.co.uk/?show=find_us
Bottom left of home page you can download a pdf menu.
http://www.vitalingredient.co.uk/upload/pdf_menu.pdf
As for eating out:
I've recently enjoyed a Saturday lunch at
Carluccios. A large Italian chain.
I visited their Spitalfields branch (near Liverpool St station) and was torn between 3 amazing sounding dishes from their vast GF menu.
"Should I go with the Risotto of the day (which was seasonal asparagus), pasta or salad" ..... I enjoyed a yummy salad "Peperoni e caprino" which included goats cheese, roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes and pine nuts. For just £8.25.
http://www.carluccios.com/
La Tasca (Spanish Tapas restaurants), does GF dishes. Each little dish is about £4+ and depending how hungry you are (!) you could get between 3-6 each! It's a nice way to eat - sharing little bowls of food between friends.
Check out their menu page (Gluten free items are marked)
http://www.latasca.co.uk/
Nandos (Portuguese chicken restaurant). They have a lot of branches, and if you ask for the dietary folder they have a ring binder behind the counter so you can check if each item is gluten free (the menu isn't marked so you must ask the server what is gluten free), and if anyone is having bread make sure you tell them to keep your food items separate, as once they put EVERYTHING we ordered on a big platter, which meant Mr H's garlic bread was next to my food - they gave us a new one! I know currently their chicken (all spices), spicy rice, chips (NOT peri peri chips) are GF. But best check in case things have changed. Also Heinz tomato sauce you pick up at the cutlery station is gluten free.
http://www.nandos.co.uk/
There is a LOVELY Indian restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue called
Mela ..... here, just ask the waiter which items are gluten free. I LOVE this place!
Also, if you go early evening (about 6pm), they do a pre-theatre menu, which is basically a set menu (with just a handful of items to chose from) but it's really reasonably priced - I think London restaurants offer Pre-Theatre Menus, to attract people in before they see a show, when the restaurants have only just opened and would normally not have customers.
We dined once on their Pre-Theatre menu and they just did me different GF options. The menu is not marked, so you must ask what is safe for you to eat.
They also offer Indian Cookery Classes - I am off to one in the next week - can't wait!
Mela, 152-156 Shaftesbury Avenue.
http://www.melarestaurant.co.uk/
For really good Italian ice cream (but there are no toilets in the cafe), try
Scoop which is a 2 min walk from Covent Garden.
Scoop, 40 Shorts Garden,
http://www.scoopgelato.com/flavours.html
Also, just around the corner from here, is an Italian Restaurant who do Gluten Free pasta! We went there once for my birthday - it was a bit expensive but yummy.
Da Mario Restaurant, 63 Endell street
http://www.da-mario.co.uk/
There is a little muffin shop just off the main Covent Garden market square, who do gluten free, and sugar free muffins. i went there once - they were OK....not fantastic, but good if you're hungry.
Muffinskis, 5 Kings Street
http://www.muffinskis.co.uk/History/history.htm
Also some of the major coffee chains now stock gluten free cakes.
Starbucks do choc brownies (ask for a wrapped one if you don't want to risk contamination).
Costa and
Caffe Nero's should also still do GF choc brownies. In June 2012, I discovered that Costa also now do GF mini Bakewell Tarts and fruit cake too.
There are a few other places on these websites which I haven't tried...
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/restaurants/gluten-free-restaurants-in-london-recommended-london-277.html
http://www.urbanspoon.com/t/52/1/London/Gluten-Free-Friendly-restaurants
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/GoListDetail-i18904-Gluten_Free_London.html
http://golondon.about.com/od/eatingdrinking/tp/Gluten-Free-London.htm
