Steeliac

Tag: coeliac sheffield

  • Return to Pho

    Return to Pho

    Pho is, without doubt, one of my favourite places to eat in Sheffield – I love the fresh, Vietnamese flavours and the fact that the vast majority of the menu is gluten free, with accreditation from Coeliac UK. I’ve already reviewed it, of course, but I’m unashamedly writing again because I was invited for a complimentary meal recently. I normally review places as a paying customer. That way, it’s an authentic experience to write about, and if somewhere’s not great, I just don’t post at all. But I wasn’t about to turn down a very rare offer of a complimentary meal and a reason to remind all you Sheffield gluten free folk to go there, so off we went!

    I started off with a spicy lychee margarita, which certainly had a chilli kick to it, and we enjoyed some crunchy prawn crackers and sweet chilli sauce. Then we picked some starters to share. There’s so much to chose from on the menu, with only the spring rolls off limits. We went with very flavoursome pork and lemongrass meatballs with peanut sauce, and prawn summer rolls with the classic sweet, sour and salty nuoc cham dipping sauce.

    A martini glass with a spicy lychee margarita, a piece of red chilli floating in it and a salted rim, on a restaurant table
    Pile of prawn crackers on a plate
    An oblong plate containing two skewers each with three pork and lemongrass meatballs at a jaunty angle, some pieces of mint and lettuce, and a small pot of peanut sauce
    An oblong plate with two summer rolls cut in half on top of some shredded lettuce. To the left, a small pot of nuoc cham dipping sauce

    I could actually have picked an entire meal just from the starters as there are so many lovely options. I’m a fan of the Crispy Vietnamese Pancakes and the beef wrapped in betel leaves, and if the boys had been with us, they’d have picked chicken wings.

    For my main course, I had wok fried noodles with chicken and prawns. This is the kind of stir fry I aspire to cook but never quite manage to achieve the depth of flavour: lemongrass and chilli with an umami base, plenty of peanuts, and a bit of nuoc cham dipping sauce as well. And a few greens alongside the chicken and prawns for good measure. Absolutely lovely.

    large oblong plate with a prawn and chicken noodle stir fry, a pile of beansprouts and a bowl of dipping sauce
    A large bowl of Pho soup, with a oblong plate on top containing a large wooden spoon and a big pile of herbs and beansprouts
    A large bowl of Pho soup with lots of meatballs bobbing around in it, and some herbs on the top

    My husband chose the beef combo pho. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese rice noodle soup, served in a massive bowl with a side (or rather top, as it comes on a board on top of the bowl) of beansprouts , chilli, lime and fresh herbs to add yourself. This one included three types of beef, steak, brisket and meatballs. You can see from the picture that the servings are huge!

    The pho broth is cooked in a massive vat in the dining room of the restaurant, so the aroma fills the room, which is marvellous. It manages to accomplish the feat of feeling like a big treat at the same time as being nourishing and healthy. It’s just really lovely food.

    I don’t think we’re blessed with that many places in the city centre that are brilliant for gluten free, so this place is a real gem!

    Pho
    6 Leopold Square, Leopold Street, Sheffield S1 2JG

  • 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

  • Gluten free meaty feast at Smoke BBQ

    Gluten free meaty feast at Smoke BBQ

    We recently went to a birthday meal at Smoke BBQ, which is at St Paul’s Place, very close to the Charles Street ‘Cheesegrater’ car park and near the Winter Gardens. (Incidentally, the Cheesegrater has just been voted the world’s number one quirky car park!)

    It’s your classic barbecue fayre, with lots of spiced, smoked meats on the menu, served with chips and a side. Not much in the way of vegetarian food, other than a bean chilli – but we went with a party of hungry carnivores, so it worked for us.

    Smoke has a separate gluten free menu, which, if you’ve read other reviews of mine, you’ll know puts it high up my list of places to go. It’s much more pleasant to choose your meal from a list of food you can have, rather than search for things on the main menu.

    I opted for the brisket pit plate, as somebody had previously enjoyed it. This had smoked brisket and burnt ends (which is much tastier than it sounds) with chips and I chose a side of pickled slaw, which I went halves on with a friend who ordered sweet potato mash. There are plenty of choices, including steak, pork belly, chicken, pulled pork, and an assortment of sides including corn on the cob and greens, as a token gesture to vegetables!

    I really enjoyed my meal, which had bags of flavour and great textures to the meat. However, the serving style is a bit trendy: food on a metal tray and my red wine came in tumbler. So if that’s the sort of thing that annoys, this might not be the place for you!

    We were too full for desserts, so I don’t know what’s on offer, although they are referred to on the gluten free menu. Children’s portions are also available, although you need to speak to the server about these.

    Smoke BBQ, St Paul’s Place, Sheffield S1 2NB

  • Bistrot Pierre

    Bistrot Pierre

    We recently went for a night away in Harrogate, which was fabulous. In advance of the trip, we’d done a fair bit of planning on where to eat, as you do.

    For lunch, we went to the marvellous Filmore and Union, which we don’t have in Sheffield. More on that in another post, but suffice to say, I hope they branch out to this part of the country…

    For tea, we’d booked a table in quite a funky bar that had a gluten free menu, but when we got there, the gluten free offering (and the food in general) was just a bit too ‘pub grub’ for the sophisticated evening out without the kids we had planned. So we ummed and ahhed a bit about where to go, and rang a couple of places up that looked interesting. In the end, we managed to get a table at Bistrot Pierre, which we knew it would be nice as we’ve been to the one in Sheffield, and they were able to find us a table at short notice.

    So I’m writing about it because although it wasn’t our first choice, we had a lovely meal and some great wine. And it made me think that I should re-acknowledge the Sheffield restaurant on the blog.

    I had confit duck for main course, which was delicious. It didn’t really look anything like the terrible photo below, but I’d had one or two glasses of wine by this point and only remembered to take the photo when I was half way through the main course. So this is the best I could do without it looking half eaten!

    For starters, we shared crisply calamari (because it’s a rare GF offering) and a goat’s cheese and beetroot salad. Both lovely, and obviously scoffed without taking a photo.

    The menus can be found online here. Gluten free dishes are clearly marked on the menus, and there is a reasonable amount of choice. My only negative would be that they should really up their game on the gluten free bread. Toasted white sliced doesn’t really cut it these days, when there’s so many interesting varieties of bread on the market.

    Bistrot Pierre, 835b-837 Ecclesall Road, Sheffield S11 8TH

  • Gluten free pizza at Proove

    ***Update*** I’ve had a few comments posted about concerns with cross contamination at Proove, so please beware. Maybe worth a phonecall before you go.

    Thanks to Emily Lovewell for this review of Proove, in Broomhill:

    We tend to stick to restaurants we know can provide gluten free options for children and when my son asks for pizza we usually go for Pizza Express as they have always been reliable. In January when the request was made for pizza we decided to see if there was anywhere else. I looked on Trip Advisor and found that a restaurant called Proove in Broomhill have gluten free pizzas. I telephoned to book and asked if they provide children’s gluten free pizza and was assured that they do. When we got there we could order gluten free dough bites and gluten free children’s pizza with our son able to choose 2 toppings. When the pizza came out I did double check that it was gluten free as it was fluffy with air bubbles and really light. It was gluten free and my son loved it. We will definitely be going back!

    We called at Proove on spec last week on a rare child-free evening, and it was buzzing – so much that we couldn’t get a table. And that makes me even more keen to try again! My advice would definitely be to book a table.

    Proove, 261 Fulwood Road, Broomhill, Sheffield S10 3BD

  • Gluten Free Pint

    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!

    Screen Shot 2017-12-06 at 21.21.27

    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 .

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

    Screen Shot 2017-12-06 at 21.46.05.png

    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.