Last month myself and my wife, Abby, made a trip up to London to show my father-in-law the sites as he made his first trip over to the UK. I hadn’t really planned on blogging about my eating out experiences, but on reflection my previous London post is starting to get a little out of date. So here is a brief mention for some of the eating out experiences we had on our most recent visit, along with a few suggestions from the past that are still very much relevant.
Honest Burger: In my days before coeliac diagnosis I always loved a burger, but it wasn’t until I visited Honest Burger in London a few years ago that I was finally able to enjoy a burger in a gluten free bun for the first time. These burgers are simply sensational, served nicely pink unless you ask for it otherwise, along with amazing rosemary salted fries. Whenever I am in London this is the first place I visit, and I am never disappointed. Gluten free beer and onion rings are also served. On this visit we took a trip to the Kings Cross branch, which is quite a bit larger than some of the original venues and so has reduced waiting times: http://www.honestburgers.co.uk/
Mestizo: Being married to an American means that Mexican is a regular in our household. Mexican options in Plymouth are thin on the ground so we are always excited to make the most of London’s increased options. We’ve now visited Mestizo a couple of times and the food has been excellent on both occasions. The restaurant offers a separate gluten and wheat free menu, not to mention Europe’s largest tequila bar. I can heartily recommend the Enchiladas Cancun, really delicious! Abby loves this place as it is also home to the elusive vegetarian mole sauce: http://london.mestizomx.com/
Wahaca: Another Mexican restaurant, which also offers a gluten free menu. The food here is billed as “street food” and in that respect the style of food is different to Mestizo, but just as tasty and we love Wahaca too! Be aware that some of the items on the gluten free menu are cooked in fryers with other gluten free items and so are not suitable for coeliacs. These items are marked as such on the gluten free menu, and there are plenty of other options such as tasty taquitos. The food is very good value and it has been known for us to spend more on margaritas on a few (every) occasion we have been there: http://www.wahaca.co.uk/
Vozars: This is a completely gluten free restaurant based on the site of the former WAGFree bakery in Brixton. The restaurant is inspired by the gluten free Celia lager and this is available in abundance! The food here was fantastic and I can’t speak highly enough about my meal. I demolished a venison burger, served with chunky wedges and garlic mayo. Everything had so much flavour that I can still taste it now! I will definitely be going back here on our next visit to London. Desserts are provided by WAGFree so plenty of choice in this respect too: http://vozars.co.uk/ UPDATE: Sadly Vozars has now closed
Otto Pizza: Obviously gluten free pizza isn’t as hard to come by as it once was, but Otto Pizza was the first place I managed to eat gluten free pizza out after being diagnosed. This is a very different kind of pizza experience to the norm though, with Otto serving a deep dish cornmeal crust pizza that I’ve not seen anywhere else in the UK. Indeed my wife rates this as the best pizza she’s tried in this country. The gluten free pizzas are very good and there are some great topping choices. There’s also Celia Lager served to wash it down: http://www.ottopizza.co.uk/ UPDATE: Sadly Otto has now closed
Leon: Leon is always a great place to grab a quick gluten free lunch or breakfast when out and about in London. There are numerous branches spread across the capital that give the chance to grab some healthier fast food with plenty of gluten free choices. There’s also some very tasty baked fries and cakes available so no need to be too healthy! The still lemonade is also delicious: http://leonrestaurants.co.uk/
Pod: Another quick and easy fast food choice with gluten free options. There are lots of Pods to eat in around London, and it is worth noting that they sell bacon sandwiches on Genius gluten free bread which is why I quite often stop in for breakfast: http://www.podfood.co.uk/
Rossopomodoro: I’d heard good things about the pizza at Rossopomodro so we visited last time we were up in London. However, I did not heed the warning to call ahead and make sure they have gluten free dough in and they were out. You can read a review of the GF pizza from @itsgottobegf here. Other GF choices were limited but the staff were helpful and I did have grilled chicken and Mediterranean vegetables in a balsamic dressing which was very nice: http://rossopomodoro.co.uk/nogluten/
Namaaste Kitchen: I’m very much a fan of Indian food, so when I was told award winning Indian restaurant Namaaste Kitchen had a separate gluten free menu I was keen to visit. I went for the tandoori chicken which was absolutely delicious. The only downside was the lack of cider served in the restaurant: http://www.namaastekitchen.co.uk/
A few others that I’ve yet to try but have been recommended to me more than once, so I’m adding them here so I don’t forget them:
Elliot’s Café: http://www.elliotscafe.com/
Dishoom: www.dishoom.com
Nopi: http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/locations
Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea
Gluten Free By The Sea 
Great list Kevin, it’s made me hungry! Looking forward to trying some of these. I would also suggest Cotto which does great gluten free Italian food (http://www.italiancotto.co.uk/), Maoz for some very tasty falafel (http://www.maozuk.co.uk/) and Itsu which has a number of gluten free items for on the go (http://www.itsu.com/).
Honest burger is mine and my boyfriends all time favourite, we are constantly there! It’s fantastic! They now do Gluten Free onion rings, which are incredible! Love love love love it!
Honest burger is mine and my boyfriends all time favourite, you literally can’t stop us from going! Every time were out in London, we think about going somewhere else…then think, what is the point. They now do Gluten Free onion rings, which are incredible! Love love love it!
Hi what an interesting post! suddenly too late for use. We’ve been visiting London the first weekend of may. We’re half coeliacs (my husband is coeliac but i’m not..) and we ate at elliot’s cafe. It’s fantastic and i recommend it. Definetively it’s a restaurant that we will visit when we come back to london.
You can read my review here :
http://operacionfartumbi.blogspot.com/2014/06/critica-de-restaurantes-elliots-london-cafe.html
La Polenteria at 64 Old Compton Street, Soho is worth a look too.
There’s also a range of Whole Foods Market shops with a good selection of gluten free items in the capital.
If you can’t make it to Vozars in Brixton (which is a must visit for coeliacs) you can get some of the WAGfree cakes in Selfridges on Oxford Street. The black forest gateaux is delicious.