More gluten free menu's
Posted by: bini
10th Dec 2010 11:41am
After being disgnosed with celiacs disease I find it very frustrating that there is little out there to have a nice dinner out!
With so many people being diagnosed everyday it is a must that all restaurants have an alternative for us suffers.
We like to dine out to!
There are places to cater for us but somewhere andf somehow there must be a regulation that every restuarant have an alternative. I find myself staying at hoem and preparing my own meals.
How does everyone else feel about this situation?
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Comments 18
badassftw
If you are in West Australia Perth City and need help My Company is called Ratbags Catering Consultants and you can find all our details on HotFrog.
30 years in Hospitality and beleave me I do my research to find the answers to your questions
badassftw
As a Chef and as a Catering Consultant, all you have to do is ask the chefs prior to you going to said restaurant do you do gluten free meals and deserts and you will find that due to to the increase of people that do have Celiacs and Lactous problems If they are any good as a chef and have been keeping up to date you will be able to sit down and eat to your hearts content
gabriel115
I never thought about checking restaurant's menus online. Thanks for the tips.
Anonymous
Yes it can be very daunting and more of a hassle than pleasure to go out for dinner .Have you tried the "Just GF Cafe,Shop 3, 462 Port Rd, WEST HINDMARSH, SA, ? Beautiful food and they only make gluten free there :) How about the GF product selection in the shops? I find it so difficult as my whole family can't eat gluten and my 10 year old gets so bored with the choices available. However I found a site where I can pick from hundreds of goodies,so my son is happy :) just in case other ppl have the same problem ,this is the site: http://easyglutenfreeonline.com/our_products.html
Brides
I am pleasantly surprised at how many restaurants do have GF options however, more often than not the food is contaminated. They say it's gluten free but are often unaware of the basics. I had a waitress tell me the other day that their fries are GF. I said "Great! So you use a different fryer then? Just for the fries and other GF food?" and she was like a deer in headlights. Not her fault of course, but people in this industry need to be educated. Seriously!
cookeez
I am not a coeliac sufferer but my partner is.....we also find it hard to go out to eat but have found its best to phone ahead to find out if the restaurants do cater for coeliacs.
Most have said they dont because it is too costly to set up another area that is solely for this purpose
Noels1968
It's hard when you go to a "non Australian" restaurant and they don't speak English, so you can't ask if they have gluten free or not... but mum can now tell the difference between gluten free gravy (something about it being clear) and not gluten free gravy! So I can now take her to my favorite Chinese restaurant!
Ceci
There are a lot of things in those menus that are gluten free. The problem is that the staff don't know about it and they prefer to say play it safe, to avoid law suits, so they deny having any gluten free options.
What you need to look out for are, italian restaurants, because most of its food have gluten in it and any sauces or batter. If you can stay away from that, you'll be safe.
Ali
My sister has been a celiac for 14 years. Living in Melbourne does help, as it is at the moment leading the research in Celiac disease.
A lot of the time you can ring up a restaurant and talk to the chef about what foods you can and can't eat. Ask if they can modify the meal... Take out the pasta. Or you may be lucky and they will have a gluten free pasta that they have handy. With my family when we travel, we happen to bring some basics with us. Walking into a restaurant and saying 'I need a gluten free meal, I have some pasta here if needed' seems to help.
Otherwise take a look at the Celiac Societies website. They have a list of current restaurants that have gluten free menus. You never know, there may be one around the corner
gabriel115
I agree with you. I was dianosed with food allergies which means I need to stick to a gluten free diet. It means need to watch what I eat to avoid severe migraines. I sometimes like to eat at the shopping centre eattery, if I find something suitable. It becomes frustrating when you have limited choices.
Anonymous
That is why I eat out in indian restaurants all the time :) Most curries are gluten free..yumm
carocordo
It's slowly getting better. It's important to keep asking for what you need, eventually the restaurants will get the message. It's harder I think for people living in small country towns. If you build up connections though, you can get things organised.
LisaL79
I find it hard to take anyone with any type of allergy to resteraunts. My husband is allergic to tomato and having a tomato free healthy option is impossible! I agree with others, if they aren't willing to make a change then don't bother with them!
Good luck with your seach!
Rose
Well u are typically right there,but a lot of restaurants and cafe's here in Toowoomba are doing their best to cater for different diets,Pink peppercorn at the medici centre up here does have a selection of diet meals and the Park house restaurant will cook to their best ability what u ask them for ,so some are trying to cater to different diets,good luck with getting your cafe's to do so to.
claire_85
finding that more and more restaurants are aware of the issue, still not enough tho. most places i visit these days have the the GF options as well as Vegetarian (V), if trend is being set one day we can all eat freely where we wish and have variety to suit all.
amanda6393
I agree. I think more and more restaurants are slowly becoming aware of the need for GF menus/options. They need to get with the times.
When all else fails, I order a basic meat or plain salad with oil/balsamic dressing or stir fried vegetables with herbs/spices.
One thing I find handy is that a lot of restaurants have their menus online these days, so you can have a quick look ahead of time to see what your options are. If they don't seem to have any GF options, it might pay to ring and find out if they are willing to make something else for you on the night. If they're not willing to do that, then the restaurant's probably not worth going to anyway as they aren't offering a great service to customers.
Anonymous
I agree, I friend of mine has the exact same problem....
People just don't seem to care or cater for these needs unless it effects them.
Sad, but true,
Dona
I totally agree with you. I have the same problem and eat out very rarely because of this problem.
I think every restaurant should have a gluten free menu.
I recently had to go to a restaurant for a meal. It was a thai restaurant and I ended up having to have 2 tablespoons of boiled rice for my dinner because there was nothing on the menu without gluten.