Gluten Free in Tel Aviv

I'm just back from an excellent trip to see family and relax on the beach in Israel

Quite often on holiday it is hard to keep to the strict diet I stick to, so plenty of research was needed in advance

I used http://www.israelinsideout.com/Gluten-Free-Restaurants/gluten-free-restaurants-tel-aviv.html & http://www.celiac.org.il/ to do all my background reading as well as having my trusty Gluten Free Hebrew Card

It was very interesting to find that actually Israeli's understood Coeliac more often than trying to explain Gluten Free so I ended up just telling places I was Coeliac - it is always interesting to read peoples reactions and some looked very confused (confirming it was probably best not to eat there)

Supermarkets tended to have small gluten free sections but trying to read Hebrew is not my forte so I tried as much just to stick with the basics when shopping

So onto the restaurant reviews - and places to check out

Let's start central and just by the main beach in Tel Aviv - Dizengoff Street is home to lots of good places to eat...

Falafel Hipo - 70 Dizengoff
Gluten Free Lafa (a wrap specially made by the staff there) with some excellent falafel, houmus, tahini and Israeli salads gave you the real flavour of Israel and didn't leave you feeling left out (there are lots of falafel places in the centre) - worth a visit if you are going as it was superb

La Lasagna - 170 Dizengoff
An entirely gluten free menu to choose different pizzas and pastas, it has everything from ravioli, penne, fusilli and also plenty of pizza choices. As far as gluten free pasta goes it was nice but it was a bit like an average Italian restaurant here in England, as a Kosher place it also doesn't serve any meat

 

 

Lobi - 300 Dizengoff

This was by far the best meal we had in Tel Aviv, not listed as gluten free I spoke with the staff and they were able to show choices, adapt dishes and were very helpful. An excellent steak, followed by a Banana and cream crumble (minus the crumble but with caramelised bananas) this is a must eat place in Tel Aviv up by the Port

 

 

Bread Story - 86 Dizengoff

We stumbled across this place on a Friday night as most other places were full - I basically went in and asked if they could do a burger with no bun to find they served gluten free rolls and bread...it's nice for a lunchtime snack and obviously anywhere that sells fresh GF bread is good in my book

 

 

Moving further afield and on the recommendation of a fellow Coeliac we took a trip down to Old Jaffa 

 

Itzik Hagadol

Heading to Itzik Hagadol was an experience, all you can eat unlimited Israeli salads placed on your table with nice meat to compliment it, quite touristy, but worth the trip down to Jaffa. They have GF listings on the menu (but be careful the mixed grill is not GF even though it is not on the banned list) and are very aware of Coeliacs - pop down here and leave very full

 

 

Best of the rest

Giraffe is an excellent place to eat with plenty of gluten free options, though the gluten free menu is in Israeli so the waiting staff will have to explain what is and isn't

Cafe Aroma was ok but I still don't like having to pay an extra pound for a roll, and they basicall give you the ingredients and you have to make your own sandwiches

MeatBar serves steaks but is limited on dessert options

I was also turned away from several places that didn't know if they had gluten on the menu or simply said not suitable for Coeliacs on initial booking discussions

Hashdera 34 a buzzing bar and grill said salads only, which is like being a veggie at Nandos

Haifa Karmel Beach bars didn't have a clue about gluten free - but that's not a huge surprise as Haifa tends to be more locals than tourists


So that's Tel Aviv (with a small bit of Haifa thrown in) - remember do your research and I would say head to Lobi and Itzik Hagadol for gluten free feasts (especially the desserts at Lobi)

No more holidays planned for me for a while so let's hope more samples are sent through for me to share some more gluten free news

Udi-licious (well some of it)

Hey everyone

So the nice people at Udis (well they seem lovely) sent me some of their Gluten Free products to review

I have spent the last few weeks sampling and seeing what I think and now here we are

I'm still learning as a Gluten Free eater (and mine is for medical reasons rather than an Islington style diet fad) so the more to try the better to know which GF bread is good and which remains like tasting dry cardboard - you can find out more about what Coeliac disease is here

The package from Udis contained a little bit of everything (muffins, crisps, bagels, snacks and granola)

It is worth saying though that on all my supermarket trips the only Udis product I've actually been able to find in store have been the bagels and that was in a huge Tescos...most of the smaller stores don't stock them or any of the other products I was sent so it may be you need to online shop to get them or risk being disappointed if you rock up hoping for Gluten Free goodness...

So here's what I got and what I thought (drumroll please)

Cinnamon and Raisin Bagels
By far the best GF product in terms of closeness to bread that I have tasted - lovely with butter and strawberry jam - and equally as good with some pate on top - will deffo be going to buy some more and keep in the freezer - at £2.30 for 4 it's also quite good value considering the cost of GF bread products

Mixed Muffins
Again a really nice soft and moist muffin so the texture worked - one choc chip and one toffee muffin were both eaten fairly quickly - would recommend for those of you who are craving the sweeter stuff! At £1.90 a pop it's quite good value as well but I've yet to find them 'in-store'


Strawberry Breakfast Bars
These were really nice and tasted identical to the Nutrigrain bars that are around (but obviously are gluten free) - these seem to be one of the few products that Sainsburys sell and at £3 for the pack they are the quick breakfast alternative

Bagel Chips - Sugar & Cinnamon
My first thought when I saw these were - wow how American then I tasted them, then I ate some more, then I nearly finished them all off in one go...they're good but more for the flavours attached to them as the were quite hard but hey I ate and ate them so they must be doing the job - the only issue, not currently available in any supermarket according to their websites

Ancient Grain Crisps (Cheese & Jalapeno)
So the name of Ancient Grain didn't fill me with the urge to get straight into them but once you eat the crisps you find they are functional - the reason I say that is there's nothing wrong with them, if they were in the house you would eat them but for the same price as say some of the Kettle Chips packs (which also are GF) you would go for the other brand

I still have some granolas to sample

Overall for taste (and sugar rush) Udis gets a thumbs up, especially the Bagels & Muffins 
For ease of availability not such a big thumbs up as I'm not sure I would go so far out of my way to get them

Having looked at the rest of the UK range available I'd hope to try the rolls and bread (I'm still yet to find a really nice GF bread that isn't homemade) & the Peanut Butter Cookies

As with any American company (where the GF scene is much larger) there's some awesome products stateside that I would hope to become available here in the UK - from Tortilla wraps to Pepperoni Pizza to Snickerdoodle (!!) Cookies

Anyway thanks for reading and hope you too enjoy the products available

Any hints and tips then let me know

Until next time...

Richard

Gluten Free in Istanbul...Five Top Tips

Hi all,

So a few months ago I found out that I am a Coeliac which in a nutshell means no gluten

Last week I took my first holiday since finding out this dietary requirement and so I figured I would share some of the things I learnt

This bad boy came in very useful and is highly recommended for visiting overseas...

So what did Istanbul hold for me...

Tip One - They don't really understand what you mean unless you have the card...I was told a few times that things were ok no gluten only to take one look and have to explain that things like breadsticks do have gluten in them...

Tip Two - You MUST visit the Neyzade Restaurant www.neyzaderestaurant.com - this place made Gluten Free bread fresh for you - waiters made you feel welcome and were able to say exactly what you could and couldn't eat as well as explaining how they would modify dishes to fit a gluten free diet! The food was excellent, it's a lovely restaurant with brilliant service and it's great value for money

Tip Three - If in doubt stick to Shish Kebab Meat...be careful here as many of the mincemeat kebabs are claimed to be pure mincemeat (no breadcrumbs) but once you delve deeper you can realise they are loaded with them - I found out the hard way that claims of 'don't worry just mincemeat' aren't always true

Tip Four - Depending on your view on Corn Starch (and some do differ) Turkish Delight can be eaten in certain places...after showing the card in many places they said no you couldn't have Turkish Delight but upon further discussion at a nice little place just by the Sultanhamet Tram stop they showed that you can have the Turkish Delight in Hafiz Mustafa store, and it's really good

Tip Five - Just try not to get too jealous of others desserts...deep fried ice cream, baked rice pudding, baklava, crepes - you name it you can't have it! It's good to know going in that you are pretty much limited to just fruit or ice cream for desserts and you can avoid instant food jealousy!

So those are my tips for Gluten Free in Istanbul - hope they help

Cheers

Richard