Steeliac

Tag: coeliac restaurant review

  • The Rising Sun

    The Rising Sun

    The Rising Sun pub in Fulwood has launched a new menu and I was pleased to be invited to try it. The pub, owned by the local Abbeydale Brewery, had a refurb a couple of years ago, with an extension and full catering kitchen, which has allowed them to be quite creative with the menu.

    There are plenty of options marked as gluten free on the menu, with a couple of snacks and starters, over five main courses and a couple of puddings. The staff were knowledgeable about cross contamination, and they have a separate fryer for chips and gluten free food from the other fried items, so the chips are gluten free, although accidentally not marked as such on the menu.

    We started off with a Caprese salad, which looked very appealing with its coloured heirloom tomatoes, pea shoots and mozzarella. There was plenty of seasoning and not too much oil, so it tasted as lovely as it looked.

    Our other starter was cauliflower (and lentil) fritters, with a homemade mango and lime chutney. These were great – rather substantial and really nicely flavoured. I might have a bash at making these myself!

    For mains, carrying on the curried theme, I ordered masala spiced cod fillet, with braised lentils, pickled carrot and a coconut cream sauce. I thought this was excellent. The cod was cooked just right and the spicing was bob on for me. Bags of flavour, particularly with the additions of creamy sauce and the tangy carrot. 

    Our other main was a slow roast lamb belly with fresh peas, roasted baby carrots, confit new potatoes and a minted yoghurt. It’s very unusual to see peas in pods these days, and goes to show they’re using lovely fresh ingredients. I’ve not had lamb belly before, so this was interesting to try and we really enjoyed it.

    Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for a pud but there was a pineapple upside down cake and a lemon pavlova on offer, which is a bit different from what might normally find in a pub.

    Definitely worth a trip out to Fulwood. And it was great to see a whole load of local suppliers listed on the menu.

    The Rising Sun, 471 Fulwood Road, Sheffield S10 3QA

  • GF banana fritters at Hui Wei!

    GF banana fritters at Hui Wei!

    I was very, very excited to hear Hui Wei have started doing gluten free banana & pineapple fritters – what a treat. Their gluten free offer is going from strength to strength!

    We took the boys for a quick tea in the week so we could try them. We chose lychee ice cream with the banana fritters and mango & passion fruit with the pineapple. They were absolutely lovely.

  • Restaurant review: The Summerhouse

    Restaurant review: The Summerhouse

    ***Update 2021***
    Under new management and a decent gluten free offer has been reintroduced so I think this place is worth another visit. Updated review here

    ***Update February 2018***

    I went for a meal with my family in February and had a terrible experience from a gluten free point of view. Lack of understanding or care about gluten free food, although they do have items on the menu. I would treat this place with extreme caution. I have tried to get in touch with them to discuss but heard nothing back.

    Original post:

    I’ve been to The Summerhouse near Dore and Totley train station before but not got round to reviewing it. Mostly because I’ve failed to take any photos of the food and I may have had a glass or two of wine. But we’ve been back a few times because it’s lovely and has a nice atmosphere, and plenty of gluten free food to try. Price-wise, it’s between £4 to £7 for a starter, and £11 to £20 for main courses.

    On Saturday we took my parents and the kids for an early tea and a slightly early Father’s day meal. We booked at short notice and had to sit on a high table, but that was fine, apart from it being a bit tricky to push yourself in once you’re sitting down!

    Food is marked on the menu with an asterisk if it is gluten free or can be made so, so it’s easy to see what’s on offer straight away.

    We didn’t have to wait too long for our food to arrive, and while we waited, we tucked into some magnificent Chapel Down Bacchus English wine.

    For starter, I had a chicken and pancetta terrine with fig chutney, which came with some toasted gluten free bread and a rocket garnish. Very nice -the terrine had a good texture and the toast was quite decent.

    My mum had a rather fabulous starter, which was much more interesting than I was expecting: the trio of seafood shooters. These were really good. One was a little crayfish cocktail, I think there was a scallop, and the other was a mini portion of fish and chips, all served in shot glasses. We thought the mini fish and chips was a really novel idea.

    Looking at the menu, they may change what’s in the shooters, but I think we’d definitely give that a try again.

    My older boy (and this is going to sound very snobby, as he’s only 7) had mussels for a starter, which he loves, and gives me an opportunity to crack my hilarious lemon soup joke. Unfortunately, we weren’t advised of the current mussels recipe, which was that they were cooked in a spicy red thai curry broth!

    He was quite heroic and managed to eat all the mussels except for the few that we pinched, but I was a bit shocked when I tried the sauce, as it was really quite spicy! Needless to say he left what remained of the sauce and he spent the next 10 minutes crunching ice cubes to cool his mouth down.

    My main course was sea bream with slow cooked fennel, roasted cherry tomatoes and roasted potatoes. I thought it was lovely. Fennel is a rare treat as I’m the only one in the house who likes it.

    The Summerhouse do have a children’s menu, which is pretty standard fayre. But I prefer to find a meal from the main menu and split it between them if there’s something they will both eat. I chose braised pork belly, which is served with a spare rib, a corn on the cob, chunky chips and some extremely crunchy crackling. The boys really enjoyed it, although small didn’t want to finish all the meat. This was a sizeable portion even split in half, and is also one of the gluten free options.

    I did take a photo, but only when they were part way through eating (it’s an unfortunate theme of most of  my photos of eating out). As it contained a well-chewed corn cob, I thought it probably didn’t deserve to be published!

    I was looking forward to having the trio of desserts for pudding, which I have had once before when the chef found 3 gluten free options for me. (It is marked on the menu as being gluten free.) But unfortunately, they only had one gluten free mini dessert on the list this time, so that was a bit disappointing. Still, we more than made up for it by having a round of fabulous espresso martinis to finish off the meal. And they even made me a decaff version.

    The boys did share the trio of desserts though, and loved them. We can’t end a family meal without them having chocolate all round their faces – it’s the sign of a good meal.

    As we were leaving, the place was starting to fill up for the evening sittings, with a small crowd of people starting their evenings off at the bar with a cocktail. It looked like it was going to be a fun night.

     

  • Restaurant review: The BBQ Collective 

    Restaurant review: The BBQ Collective 

    I was delighted to discover through Twitter that we have a new(ish) American BBQ restaurant in Sheffield serving a whole range of gluten free food. I am a big fan of smoked food so we hot-footed it down there on Sunday to give it a try.

    The BBQ Collective is run by a husband and wife team using traditional American BBQ methods. The company started out as a street food trader in West Hampstead but recently paired up with Ossett Brewery at The Hop in Sheffield at West One. So it’s a funky new place selling craft beers (including the gluten free Brewdog Vagabond pale ale) and BBQ – what’s not to love?

    I was very pleased to find a menu that was liberally sprinkled with GFs. All the BBQ meats are gluten free – these include pulled pork, spare ribs, beef ribs, sausages, chicken, salmon and various mixed platters. The southern fried chicken (I’m having that next time) can also be cooked GF, and there are a variety of tempting sides including Texas pit beans, smoked sweet potato, slaw and even the fries. (The fries aren’t yet marked GF on the menu – I’m told it still needs a few tweaks.)

    I chose a combination of pork spare ribs and pulled pork, with sides of pit beans and slaw. You can also see a sneaky hot link sausage in the picture that had crept on from somebody else’s tray.

    There were four home made sauces of varying heat (raging from mild to death) to drizzle on the meat. I’m a bit of a wimp and didn’t fancy the death, but I loved the Kansas City mild on my spare ribs.

    The food was great and the portions were massive. The ribs were very succulent and the pit beans nice and spicy. The buttermilk fried chicken that my five year old had was very popular with the crowd. My brother in law ordered the four meat sampler and it could have fed the entire family! To be fair, it’s probably for two to share.

    We clearly weren’t the first people to ask for a doggy bag as the staff were ready with a take out tray to load our (literally) spare ribs into. We were too full to eat them that evening, so we had them with a bit of scramble for breakfast the following day. Delicious.

    We’re looking forward to going back some time soon and I’m told by the joint owner, Mathurot, that smoked fruit and gluten free ice cream will be coming up on the dessert menu shortly. We may be tempted to go back to sample it.

    So – definitely worth giving this place a try. Just make sure you’re hungry!

    The BBQ Collective at The Hop
    Unit 14, West One Plaza, 1 Fitzwilliam Street S1 4JB

     

     

  • Ego: Restaurant review

    Ego: Restaurant review

    IMG_2843-0In the summer holidays, I went with my family to a restaurant called Ego in Lytham St Annes on the Fylde seaside. I don’t normally write about restaurants outside of Sheffield, but Ego is a small chain of ten restaurants, and it just so happens there is one right here on our doorstep, in Sheffield town centre. I’ve not been there yet, but I would definitely be inclined to after my experience in the Lytham restaurant.

    Ego is a bright and modern Mediterranean restaurant, serving a mixture of tapas, tagines, steaks, pasta, risotto and more. That may sound like a bit of a mish-mash, but it’s nicely done, and for a coeliac, it means plenty of choice! (In times BC*, I might normally have gone for a place that focuses on one type of cuisine, but in the AD** years, I am considerably less fussy about that type of thing!)

    First things first – Ego have a gluten free menu! So we’re already off to a great start as there’s no trawling through the ring binder of doom, and no major conversations other than to confirm that mother and I are actually coeliac, and not just faddy eaters. Even better, they publish their current menus on their website, so you can even look before you go. (I am liking the look of the lamb kofta and the Andalucian pork fillet on their autumn GF menu.)

    But back to August, for my starter, I had a delicious and very pretty confit duck salad with pomegranate and a soy and lime dressing. This was full of flavour and I could have eaten it again. For mains, I had their Moroccan lamb tagine, which I think is a signature dish. That was delightful, with very tender slow-cooked lamb and aromatic spices. Unfortunately, we may have had a glass or two of prosecco, so despite my good intentions, I completely failed to take any photos of the first and second courses. (What kind of second rate food blog is this!?)

    For pudding, I shared a mixed berry and ginger Eton mess with my mum – and I did manage a photo. It was a bit on the sweet side for me, but it was the birthday girl’s choice, and it was attractive and full of fruit and ginger.

    A triumph, with competent gluten free cooking and a nice and easy restaurant experience. Definitely to be recommended. Prices are about £6-7 for starters and £13-19 for main courses.

    * Before Coeliac
    ** After Diagnosis

  • The Angel at Holmesfield: Restaurant review

    The Angel at Holmesfield: Restaurant review

    IMG_2798The Angel is somewhere I’ve known about for a while and not visited, probably because it’s on the outskirts of Sheffield. Actually, it’s in Derbyshire, but this place is worth the drive out if you’re coeliac. It’s a traditional looking pub in Holmesfield, about 30 mins drive from the very centre of Sheffield. It has a bar area and a restaurant with a small conservatory. But it’s not just any old pub – they actually specialise in cooking gluten free food!

    We found a good reason to go to the Angel on a Monday lunchtime in the school holidays before taking the kids to see Minions at the cinema in Chesterfield. Top tip there, Sheffielders – if you live on the west side of Sheffield, Chesterfield cinema is smaller and nicer than the Sheffield cinemas in my opinion, and usually easier to park. Anyway, I digress – back to the Angel…

    The fabulous thing about this place is that most of the meals on the menu are gluten free. So unusually, I had a really great choice of food. The gluten free dishes are all marked on the menus, which avoids the tedious browsing of an allergen folder, and makes for a pleasant ordering experience.

    IMG_2804We only had time for one course, so I opted for seared duck with a shredded duck and spring onion hash and a 5 spice sauce from the specials board. Exactly the sort of thing I can’t normally have. The duck was well cooked and still slightly pink inside, although I would have gone for a slightly crispier skin. The hash cake was a generous size and crispy on the outside but lovely and soft inside. It came with a little side dish of vegetables and a nicely flavoured sauce. All in all, it was divine, particularly as I’d not had to have a conversation about gluten free food and didn’t have to worry about whether the chef understood.

    IMG_2803Hubby ordered a beef and mushroom pie off the main menu, which came with gluten free pastry. This was a bonus as I was able to give it a try too. Hubby thought the pastry was very good gluten free pastry, although he could tell it was gluten free as it was very short – but I think that’s a fact of life with GF pastry. There was plenty of meat in the pie and the mash was very smooth.

    We ordered the seafood chowder from the light lunch menu for my two boys. This came with regular bread (no need to inflict GF bread on them if I don’t have to!) but they would, of course, have provided gluten free bread if we’d asked for it. The chowder was fab too – choc full of potato, prawns, fish, peas and mussels. One of my boys isn’t keen on mussels, and I was pleased when the waitress offered to make one chowder without any in – a good indication that things are being cooked freshly. They scoffed the lot.

    IMG_2806We didn’t have time for pudding, but there were again plenty of gluten free options, such as sticky toffee pudding, pecan and chocolate brownie and apple and berry crumble, amongst others. Gluten free pudding? Choice? Pinch me!

    All in all, this was a rather unexpectedly special trip to the pub. It felt like before I was (diagnosed) coeliac, when I could order without worrying and try other people’s food. Combined with attentive service and friendly staff – what a gem. The Angel was lovely for lunch, but I think it would also be great for an evening meal out.

    Go there – it’s ace. And it certainly lived up to its name.