Last Friday was a fantastic evening, spent at Fired Arts, the craft cafe at Banner Cross on Ecclesall Road. A mum friend had booked it out for the evening and about 20 of us spent a few hours painting pots and doing decoupage. The best thing about it was that you can bring your own wine and nip out to any of the local establishments for food during the evening.
So there I was, glueing small bits of paper on cardboard letters with a glass of pinot, when one of my friends came back from the chippy up the road and announced the assortment of gluten free food on their menu. Having to that point had rather low expectations of the evening’s fayre, I pretty much dropped everything and marched up the street with two friends to check it out. And I’m very pleased to report I ended up with a freshly cooked portion of gluten free fish and chips!
Neptune’s is where the old Banner Chippy used to be. The inside has been done out very nicely, with clean white walls and black fish murals. It’s been open a few months under new ownership and the lovely lady behind the counter is also gluten free – hence the effort to provide GF options every day. They even posed for a photo, which was nice, as they were a bit busy.
On offer for coeliacs are fish, chips, calamari, king prawns, fish cake, onion rings, pea fritters, fish fingers and fried halloumi, so plenty to choose from! I went for good old fish and chips, and very lovely they were too. We only had to wait a few minutes for them to be cooked freshly, and it was well worth it. The batter on the fish was the best I’ve had gluten free, and I enjoyed every mouthful.
Well done Neptune’s. I very much hope you’ll keep gluten free on the menu. I’ll be back soon, to try out those pea fritters and onion rings…
Neptune’s
989 Ecclesall Road, S11 8TN
Steeliac 
* BEWARE *
I feel like I need to update this post.
I read with excitement and delight about Neptune and couldn’t wait to try it. After a couple of weeks of anticipation, I finally tried it tonight.
To say they call themselves ‘ Gluten Free Specialists ‘ I was shocked and disappointed at the lack of GF choice and the staff’s disconcerting lack of ingredient knowledge.
There are some GF options. Basically, Chips and any of the battered fish IF you specify this upon ordering.
THERE IS DEFINITELY NO Halloumi, Pea Fritters, Fish Fingers, Calamari or King Prawns.
I asked if the vinegar was GF and was met with a puzzled look ( Malted Barley is in most brown vinegar ). I was presented with the bottle and checked the ingredients. It is GF although I expect this due to economical reasons as opposed to GF awareness.
There is NO GF Gravy or Curry Sauce.
There is NO GF Bread
There are NO GF Meat Free Options and when I asked about this I was given a look of disgust.
I was ready to walk out at this point but had promised my kids a chippy tea. They ate the 2 GF portions of chips I had ordered despite having no intolerance to gluten.
I went home and prepared myself something else.
I suspect a change of ownership here.
I will not be going back.
I can get exactly the same limited options at most other chippies in the area and they don’t pretend to be ‘specialists’.
I just thought people should know this to prevent disappointment.
Thanks for writing this lovely and informative blog, keep up the good work.
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Hi Kev. Thanks for commenting and your kind words about my blog.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a bad experience after reading about Neptune’s on my blog. I’m not aware if they have had a change of management.
I did have a chippy tea from there on Friday just gone, but we did ring ahead to order. I know that you have to wait a bit if you walk in and order it, but that’s to be expected as I’m sure they sell mostly non-GF.
I gather they have recently changed their gravy to a gluten free brand and I had some on Friday, so I’m surprised to hear that wasn’t available today.
As for the menu, I’ve just had a look online and it does look like the meat free options have been taken off, which is a real shame. They don’t even seem to have kept them on the non-GF menu.
I will let Neptune’s know about your comments and hopefully they will get back to you.
Sorry you had a disappointing tea!
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I thought it’s also worth letting you know that Coeliac UK consider malt vinegar safe for Coeliacs, as the fermentation process reduces the gluten in the barley to safe levels: https://www.coeliac.org.uk/frequently-asked-questions/can-i-eat-barley-malt-vinegar/
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