Eating Out: Prezzo

LOCATION: Braehead, Glasgow

My work is right next to Prezzo, with only a waist height glass wall separating our restaurants, so quite often staff from HBC order food from Prezzo on our breaks. After watching my friend Alex munch through a pizza the other day, I decided I would see if they had any gluten free bases and get one myself.

I took quite a big risk as I was busy and Alex spoke to the waitress for me. She checked that they had gluten free bases and ordered me one. When another staff member wanted a pizza five minutes later, the waitress asked Alex if that one was gluten free too. When the pizza arrived Alex checked that it was gluten free for me and brought it over.

My first impression was how small it was compared to my boyfriend’s regular one. It’s quite a substantial size difference. However it does taste really good. I found the base to be quite light and fluffy instead of the usual dense feeling of gluten free bases. And it didn’t make me ill so they must have good cross contamination control methods.

I probably wouldn’t ever choose to eat in Prezzo but at least I know they have an option for me now – when they have them in stock anyway!!

Eating Out: Pizza Hut

LOCATION: Braehead, Glasgow

I’d been looking forward to a gluten free Pizza Hut for days. Pizza Hut pizzas have always been a favourite and I was hoping that the new square gluten free base would be reminiscent of “The Edge” base that they used to do. Since the information about Pizza Hut’s gluten free bases was released last week, lots of questions have been raised about possible cross contamination problems but I think Pizza Hut are doing it right. According to Coeliac UK who have been working with Pizza Hut,  the bases stay separate from any gluten containing products, not just in the kitchen but in transit to the restaurant. The staff have been trained to thoroughly clean preparation areas and they have separate sauces for the gluten free bases as well as separate utensils and baking trays.

We asked the hostess on arrival if they had any bases (as we’d just had an incident in Prezzo where we’d ordered and then been told they didn’t have the gluten free bases) and she got quite excited and told us that yes, they did have some and that today was the launch day, which we knew already but didn’t say. She pointed out that the new menu’s also showed what other items on the menu were gluten free and left us to make our choices.

The gluten free base is advertised on the menu as a 9 inch square base. It says that it’s good for people looking to avoid eating wheat flour and for those who “love to try something different” which I thought was a bit unnecessary but oh well. My dad made a couple of jokes about how you would try it once but never again and we continued to read. The menu states that all of the toppings are gluten free and it costs the same for the gluten free base as it does for a regular one.

I personally find that gluten free products need a lot of flavour to get rid of the dry, stodgy taste so I ordered lots of tasty toppings – ham, pineapple and pepperoni. After a while, our server came over and told us that there was a problem with my pizza and they’d had to put a fresh one in for me, but my parent’s pizzas were ready. I told them just to start and waited patiently on my pizza. My pizza arrived soon after and I was so eager to taste it that I cut off a corner before I even remembered to take a picture to post here!

On first taste, it tastes like a normal Pizza Hut pizza which was a welcome taste after what feels like an age without them! I like my pizzas with more tomato than cheese and always feel that Pizza Hut gets the balance just right. Everyone’s experience will be slightly different depending on what toppings you order, but my pizza was absolutely delicious! It was definitely the best gluten free pizza I’ve ever eaten and a welcome change from the store bought ones. It’s thin and crispy without being the consistency of cardboard. It wasn’t until I was nearly finished that I started to be able to tell that the base was even gluten free!!

My only problem was that the base was quite large, and gluten free food fills me up more than normal food so I couldn’t finish the whole thing. But it was so good that it was worth the money. We asked the waiter what had been wrong with my first pizza, and he said that it had been made fine, but it fell off the baking tray when they were taking it out of the oven as the trays for the gluten free bases are completely flat whereas the normal ones have slightly curved edges to stop the pizzas sliding off. I don’t know whether it fell and was damaged, or just slipped a little and could have been contaminated, but I was pleased that they made me a fresh one and the manager even took it off the bill to apologise. The waiter was very clued up on coeliac disease and made me feel comfortable eating there. Apparently I was the first person in the Braehead restaurant to order one so I was happy to give them some good feedback.

I think they have really struck gold with this gluten free base. It’s delicious and it’s so nice to enjoy a tasty pizza for a change. It’s a massive step in the right direction, especially with all the cross contamination prevention methods. I feel completely safe eating at Pizza Hut and would definitely do so in the future. I would, however, like them to add more gluten free starters as the only options are the garlic prawns and the nachos. Gluten free potato wedges would be ideal! (Gluten free garlic bread is probably just too much to hope for!)

Share your Pizza Hut experiences below!

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Eating Out: SoHo on Miller Street

LOCATION: Glasgow City Centre

I’m trying to venture away from the standard chains, and look for more independent and local restaurants to eat at. I used Urbanspoon to search for gluten free friendly restaurants in Glasgow and there’s a huge choice. Since Italian food is my favourite, I decided to go for SoHo on Miller Street which was near the top of the list. Their website says that gluten free pasta is available and when I booked a table for my boyfriend and I, I made sure to put that I was a gluten free diner.

When we arrived at SoHo, the waitress took my name and then said to the manager that we were here who asked us which one of us was eating gluten free. He told me that I could have pasta, but they are still looking in to gluten free pizza bases. He also said that although he was giving us the pre-theatre menu, if I wanted something different they’d be happy to still give me the pre-theatre price which I thought was a pretty good deal since the pre-theatre is obviously more limited. The waitress was lovely and asked me one of the stereotypical gluten free questions – “can you eat potatoes?” so she obviously wasn’t too clued up on the full details of Coeliac but she was helpful and understood what I wanted.

I played it safe by ordering parma ham and melon as a starter. For my main course I had Rigatoni Picante – on the menu as “pasta tubes in pepperoni, cream and tomato sauce”. The food was lovely and my only criticism would be that the pasta was typically under cooked like in most restaurants attempting gluten free pasta. The sauce had fantastic flavour and my boyfriend even tried it and enjoyed it. The only dessert on the pre-theatre menu that I could have was the ice cream, but it was a massive bowl which made up for the lack of choice.

It was a really busy Saturday night so we felt we didn’t get as good service as you might if you went in for lunch on a weekday, but we work in hospitality so we understand how difficult it is. The waitress did come over for a chat after we’d paid which was nice. She spent about 5 minutes chatting to us when she was clearly rushed off her feet.

If you’re out and about in the Glasgow area then I definitely recommend SoHo. The atmosphere is great, the food is great, the drinks are great, and it’s all decently priced. For your non-gluten free eaters, they have a fantastic pizza range and they did look absolutely delicious. Hopefully they’ll be doing some gluten free pizza in the future!

Check out the SoHo website HERE.

Eating Out: TGI Friday’s x2

LOCATION: Westfield Stratford City, London

You all know that I didn’t have the best TGI’s experience the last time I blogged about them. I was given onion rings when I’d asked for rice, received no apology and I’m 99% sure they just gave me it all back on the same plate.

We decided to give it another try when we were in London last month. The waiter was really helpful and even said that his uncle has coeliac so he understood the importance of the diet. I asked if I could order two items from the kids menu since it’s got much better choice and it’s a lot cheaper! So I ordered chicken tenders and a hotdog with no bun, both with chips and corn on the cob, and continued enjoying my cocktail (let’s not lie, the best reason to go to TGI’s is for the cocktail menu.)

A different waitress brought the food over, and laughed when she put my food down in front of me. I didn’t think that was very professional, she clearly thought it was funny that I was 21 and eating off the kids menu. After she left, I looked down and realised that my chicken tenders – which was advertised on the gluten free menu as “chargrilled chicken breast” – was in breadcrumbs. When the waiter came to check on us I pointed this out. He apologised and went back to the kitchen, reappearing less than a minute later with the correct item. We think that the waitress just picked up the wrong plate since the waiter was able to bring the right one back so quickly.

Everything was going well, I’d eaten my chicken and my hotdog, and was almost finished the chips that were on the same plate as the hotdog, when I picked up a chip and noticed a big lump of breadcrumbs underneath the chips. Major danger signs started flashing. When the waiter came to get our plates, we made it clear that we weren’t complaining, but that I was probably going to be ill from the food and that the chefs needed to be more careful in future. If you’re advertising that your food is gluten free, then you need to take all the precautions to make sure it is.

The waiter was really apologetic, and went to speak to the kitchen about it. He took my food off the bill but we’re still unlikely to ever eat at TGI’s again. Twice I have been given the wrong item on my plate and then contaminated due to carelessness. I’m not willing to risk it any more. Maybe their staff just needs better training on gluten free dining but until things change I won’t be back.

Eating Out: Jamie’s Italian

LOCATION: Westfield Stratford City, London

On our mission to find somewhere for dinner in Westfield we had popped in to Jamie’s to ask if they did gluten free pasta. They did! Hooray! Although we went elsewhere that night, we did decide to eat lunch in Jamie’s Italian the following day.

After being seated, I asked the waiter what was available and he said they had gluten free fusilli pasta and I could have it with any of the sauces. But again, the fries weren’t gluten free because of the cooking method. I chose to go for my standard Italian restaurant food – bolognese!

It was supposed to be served with tagliatelle, but I got it with the gluten free fusilli. It was without a doubt the nicest bolognese I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant. I like my pasta with a lot of sauce and this was perfect. Not only was it delicious, the gluten free pasta was cooked to perfection – something I’m finding a lot of restaurants seem to have difficulty with. My mum had the free range chicken – grilled garlic & rosemary chicken with a tomato, olive, chilli & caper sauce – which I tried and was also delicious. The waiter was really helpful, running back to the kitchen to ask if the chicken was gluten free so that I could try it.

The waiter also pointed out the items on the dessert menu that I could have. I had the “Minty Lemon Granita” which according to the online menu comes with biscotti and ice cream…but I didn’t get either of those with it! It’s basically crushed ice with some mint and some limoncello. Delicious!

I’d eat at Jamie’s again. I know there’s one in Glasgow and I can’t wait to try it. The staff are really helpful and the food is great! Next time I might ask if I can have chicken with a side of pasta since I can’t have the fries.