Category: gluten free beer

New GF offer at The Cricket, Totley

The Cricket Inn is a great pub right on the edge of the Peak District moorland in Totley. It’s got a wonderful outside space with loads of tables and, beyond the Cricket pitch, a beautiful backdrop of the landscape.

Over the last few years, the GF offer had dwindled but it’s back and it’s really good. We called in after taking the dog for a scamper in the hills on Sunday and we had a brilliant brunch of sharing plates.

Looking at the pictures, our selection was perhaps a little protein-heavy and not so balanced.

But how could I not order salt and pepper squid with sriracha mayo when it’s coeliac-safe?

And the beef tartare came with crispy shallots. I double checked these as crispy shallots are usually bought in and sometimes a giveaway that the chef isn’t as clued up as you’d hope. But not here – they make their own! So again, a must have for me.

The scallops were from the specials menu, and were served with caramelised apple puree, celeriac and tomato consommé. An unusual pairing to my experience but it was delicious.

And the Isle of Wight tomatoes with goat’s curd had a lovely, green dressing and balanced everything out a bit.

The food arrived quickly – the service was great – it was fairly quiet at 12ish so a good time to go before the Sunday lunch crowds appear and all the tables are booked.

Apart from the small plates, the menu includes a variety of gluten free mains ranging from classics like gammon and chips, fish and chips, and steak, to some more unusual dishes like pastrami duck breast with potato and leek pave, and rose harissa roast cauliflower.

Some of their signature menu items like their pies and burgers are not available gluten free unfortunately , but there’s still enough to choose from. And if you like your chips, there is a rather fine selection, all GF: chunky, dirty, rosemary or truffle and parmesan. Price-wise, the mains range from £18 – £26.

A quick peruse of the other menus indicates a pleasing selection of dessert options as well, with a crumble and a creme brulee available as well as the ubiquitous brownie and ice cream options. Sunday roasts, I’ve not fully investigated. As usual, they’re marked GFO, which means some elements won’t be available. I can report, however, that their side of cauliflower cheese IS gluten free, which is most encouraging. Drop a comment in if you know more… A gluten free Thornbridge session IPA is available in bottles.

The Cricket Inn
Penny Lane, Sheffield S17 3AZ

August 21, 2026
La Mama

Yesterday we went out for a sneaky Tuesday tea as the boys are away for a few days over half term. I wanted to try somewhere new, and my search led me to La Mama on Abbeydale Road on the west side of town. The restaurant seems to have been around for years, having multiple eating out awards over the last few years.

It’s a small tapas restaurant and bar, with Chilean and Spanish influence, so some of the dishes are a bit different to those in a regular Spanish tapas place.

I was very pleased to find the gluten free dishes were all marked clearly on the menu, which makes for a pleasant ordering experience, and there were plenty to choose from. You can have a look at the menu on their website. I was told the kitchen has a separate fryer for cooking gluten free items, which was reassuring.

We completely over ordered, with eight tapas between the two of us, but really six would have been plenty for a quick weeknight meal, as the portion sizes were generous.

We ordered a variety of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. Of the meat dishes, my favourites were Garbanzos con Chorizo, a chickpea stew with chorizo and Caldereta de Cordero, a delicious casseroled lamb. The fish was a beautifully cooked hake loin in a tomato and olive sauce.

We also had a baked aubergine, Berenjenas al Horno; and a really delicious green beans with paprika and pine nuts (which I’m going to try to recreate). And of course, some spiced La Mama potatoes.

It was all really good. The place was rather quiet, but then it was an early Tuesday evening in half term, and also the night of the Bake Off final. But I get the impression the place will have a really nice buzz about it on a weekend.

As well as a variety of cocktails, they serve Daura Damm Spanish gluten free beer – what more could you want? Next time we’ll go at the weekend and I will be testing out the Pisco Sour…

We didn’t linger, as I needed to get back to watch the Bake Off final before I could accidentally find out the winner!

La Mama, 238 Abbeydale Road, Sheffield S7 1FL

October 31, 2018
New menu at the Devonshire Cat

I haven’t been in the Devonshire Cat for years. It’s a real ale pub on Wellington Street in the city centre’s Devonshire Quarter, operated by the local Abbeydale Brewery. It had quite a big refurb in 2014, so it has a fresh, modern look. The Dev Cat has just launched a new food menu with a gluten free offer, and I was delighted to be invited to go and sample it and give some feedback.

As with many places making an effort with ‘free from’ food, the manager is coeliac, which is reassuring when it comes to their understanding of the diet and cross contamination.

The new menu has three gluten free starters and four gluten free mains on the menu, so there are a few things to choose from. There are a few sides that may also be gluten free (salad, mash, new potatoes) but aren’t marked as such on the menu. Unfortunately, the chips aren’t gluten free, but thankfully the serving staff clearly understood they aren’t, which does make ordering easier.

The first starter we tried was lightly spiced pork meatballs with spinach and smoked cheese sauce. This was really nice. It was a generous serving of meatballs with a slightly crisped outside and a soft inside. The sauce was lovely and smooth, with a slight hint of smokiness.

We also had a savoury walnut and sesame seed cluster bar, with spicy popcorn and sweet chilli sauce. This vegan dish was really inventive, and something I’ve never come across before. Quite often, the vegan/vegetarian choices can be a bit of an afterthought, but clearly not on this menu. The nut and seed bar went really well with the chilli sauce and the spicy popcorn was inspired. We really enjoyed the texture and flavour combinations.

My main course was pan fried lamb chops, which were served with hasselback potatoes, creamed leeks, a minced lamb & apricot stufed tomato and a red wine and mint sauce. This was a nicely thought out dish, with a variety of accompaniments; the stuffed tomato was a nice touch, and the meat was cooked really well.

The GF offer includes an interesting sounding warm kale salad, with sun-dried tomato, sweet potato, black olive and toasted pine nuts (also vegan, and can be a starter or a main course). There’s also a pan fried pork chop that comes with gluten free black pudding as well as a gluten free pale ale sauce.

Incidentally, the bar also has at least one gluten free keg and cask available, in addition to a number of bottles. It is featured on Sheffield’s new Gluten Free Pint website.

So, if it wasn’t somewhere you’d thought of going, the Dev Cat is definitely worth a try for gluten free food and ale. I’m definitely going back to try that warm kale salad.

Devonshire Cat, 49 Wellington Street, Devonshire Green, Sheffield S1 4HG

March 21, 2018
Gluten Free Pint

There’s an ace new blog on the block, run by Sheffielder @glutenfreepint. GFP is selflessly researching all the gluten free beers found in Sheffield to create a guide for nights out. Have a look at the neat website, www.glutenfreepint.com. Not being a beer drinker (gin and wine for me), I have never been able to fulfil this niche, so I’m really pleased this is being done. Sheffield is going to have one of the best documented gluten free offers in the country!

Getting into the festive spirit, GFP has recently launched a blog to count down “Twelve Gluten Free beers of Christmas”. The aim is to promote the best gluten free beers and where to find them in Sheffield. You can follow this on Twitter by seeking out @glutenfreepint or use the hashtag #12GlutenFreeBeersOfChristmas.

Today is Day 6, and the beer of choice is Vagabond by craft beer maker, Brewdog:

Other beers featured in the last week include Sheffield company Brew Foundation’s Free Beer and another local, Against The Grain by Wold Top, a brewery based outside Driffield in East Yorkshire.

The website has what looks like a comprehensive list of local pubs and the beers they have available. GFP tells me The Devonshire Cat and Sheffield Tap have the most choice, so are well worth a visit, with Kelham Island’s Bar Stewards in third place. Also, all Thornbridge and True North pubs have the Manchester beer First Chop, which comes in rather funky looking bottles. I had no idea there were so many options!

Just a note that most of the beers mentioned on GlutenFreePint are bottles with a gluten content of less than 20ppm as per the law on gluten free labelling, but there are a few available on cask. Coeliacs need to be really careful about cross contamination of gluten free beer that isn’t on a dedicated gluten free line, so you would need to ask about this. Apparently, the Dev Cat has a dedicated GF cask and keg line, but if you’re not sure, stick to the bottles.

December 6, 2017