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Gluten Free Gluttony at Chambers Notte Street

9 Nov

Update: Chambers has now been renamed Restaurant 60, but is still owned and run by chef Graham Ledwith: http://www.chambersandthenotte.com

Well after a rant, helping you find supermarket treasure and even a recipe it’s time to get back to the main focus of Gluten Free by the Sea; Helping you find great quality local gluten free food.  You may remember me mentioning Chambers Restaurant in an earlier Eating Out Gluten Free in Plymouth post, and I’ve been keen to go back to do a full review.  Situated on the Barbican this restaurant offers good quality locally sourced products, and is extremely gluten free friendly.  A Living Social offer presented a good excuse to go back, and we managed to pick up two courses and a glass of wine each for £30.  Chambers are running another Living Social offer in the next couple months so keep an eye out for that.

As we were seated we stated that I was coeliac and the chef came over and ran through the menu with me.  Basically he was more than happy to adapt any of the dishes to be gluten free, other than the obvious ones that were in batter, breadcrumbs or pastry.  He apologised that there’d been a diary mix up and he hadn’t realised a coeliac was visiting, else he would have gone out and got gluten free bread in specially.  I did indeed get gluten free bread on my last visit, and I always think this is a great touch.  Anyway, there was more than enough food to keep me going!  I also asked the key question as to whether the chips were fried with gluten items, and was told mine would be fried in a separate pan as a matter of course.

For starters I went for the leak and potato soup, and my wife went for baked field mushrooms.  The soup was good, but slightly salty for my taste.  The only thing I could find any fault with at all during the meal.  Abby loved her mushrooms and was impressed with the number of vegetarian choices too.

I’d had steak on my previous visit, which was excellent, so I thought I’d go for chicken for the main to try something different.  I was about to order a chicken in a garlic and brandy cream sauce, when I spotted chicken wrapped in Parma ham and stuffed with chorizo and cream cheese on the specials board.  This sounded great but came with bacon mash rather than chips, which also sounded amazing.  However I had my heart set on chips and they kindly let me have the special served with chips instead.  This course was excellent, and was served with a beef jus and champagne drizzle which were both extremely tasty.  The chips were delicious and I loved the presentation.  Abby had a goats cheese Wellington and enjoyed this too.

Abby was too full for dessert, as was I to tell the truth.  But what sort of reviewer would I have been if I didn’t try the dessert for you?  I ordered the “Something Chocolate” which was a cone shaped set mousse, with plenty of raspberry and banana coulis drizzled on the plate.  Apparently all the coulis contain about 4% alcohol!  The dessert was rich and light, and had an amazing chocolate flavour.  I absolutely loved this and had no problems at all in polishing it off.  However, in my haste to demolish it I made a huge error and forgot to take a photo – oops!  Anyway, here is the empty plate to show you how much I enjoyed it 🙂

Overall the food was excellent as was the service.  The chef told us he has a nut allergy so was very appreciative of the needs of someone suffering from an allergy or intolerance.  In fact he had recently successfully catered for someone who was gluten free, dairy free and vegetarian.  With the Living Social voucher this meal was a bargain, but the normal prices are very reasonable for the quality of the food.  If you are based in Plymouth or even visiting, then I can highly recommend paying a visit to Chambers.

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At Last, Coeliacs Get a Pizza the Action!

16 Oct

Well come on, I work in the newspaper industry, you’ve got to give me the opportunity for at least one dodgy headline on here haven’t you?!  Anyway, if you are coeliac or following a gluten free diet then unless you’ve been living a sheltered life recently then you’ll have witnessed the wave of excitement in the last couple of weeks over three gluten free pizza announcements.  First of all Prezzo announced they would be serving gluten free pizza bases, have a look at the comments on this post for some great review comments from Elizabeth and Jessica.  This was closely followed by a Coeliac UK announcement that Pizza Hut would be following suit.  Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better it was announced the very same day that Domino’s would be serving gluten free pizza from November.

There was initially a lot of scepticism amongst the coeliac community as to whether this type of restaurant could really take cross contamination seriously enough to make these pizzas coeliac friendly.  However, it seems all three companies have worked closely with Coeliac UK and all have cross contamination controls in place.  Having looked on enviously at my social media feeds over the last week and seeing picture after picture after delicious looking pizza, I met up with fellow Plymouth gluten free blogger Sarah Ram to try the Pizza Hut offering.  Big congratulations to Sarah who passed her driving test just before we met for lunch!

I’d rung ahead to make sure the restaurant we were visiting had the gluten free bases, and also downloaded a voucher from Voucher Cloud giving any pizza plus salad for five pounds.  I had previously read that the salad bar was a bit of a cross contamination risk, so Sarah and I both avoided that and headed straight for the pizza.  Like we were there for the salad anyway!

We were told all toppings were gluten free, but being the sceptic that I am I also asked to see the allergy list so we could check our order.  We both chose the Americano, which consisted off chicken, bacon, sweetcorn and BBQ sauce.  Could you really ask for a better combination!

The pizza was a nine inch square pizza.  It looked kind of small when it arrived, but I have to say it was very filling and I was very full by the time I finished.  The pizza itself is square to make it stand out, and gives you confidence that you’ve actually been given the correct pizza.  The gluten free pizzas are baked on their own square trays to minimise cross contamination risks, and a clean pizza cutter is delivered with your un-sliced pizza again to cut out another risk from the kitchen.

The base itself was very nice.  It wasn’t very crispy if this is how you like it, but this suited me.  The balance between topping and base was spot on and we both really enjoyed the pizza.  I remember Pizza Hut being very greasy when I used to be able to eat there, but there was no hint of grease on this pizza at all.  Actually my wife always used to complain about the grease, and I would not be surprised if she would prefer this base to the standard one.

The staff seemed very keen to help and I have seen this mentioned a few times by other people.  There seemed to be genuine interest on what we thought of the pizza, and they were keen to tell us about good feedback they’d received from other customers about it.  There seemed to be some genuine interest/excitement from the staff about the new option.  They were happy to take us through the allergy list, and I even troubled them to show us the dessert options even though we’d already told them we weren’t having any.  Pretty slim pickings in that respect.

I would definitely go back for another go, and it is great to have another readily available option when out and about.  It was also really nice just to sit in a pizza restaurant and feel a little bit normal for a change.  A luxury once taken for granted and now so precious.  I’d love to hear about your Pizza Hut experience.  Please comment below and let everyone know how you found it.  I look forward to hopefully bringing you Prezzo and Domino’s reviews in the near future.

Update 28/02/12: Pizza Hut have now extended their gluten free operations, and their gluten free pizza base is now also available from their 300 delivery outlets. More from Coeliac UK below:

http://www.coeliac.org.uk/node/249829
 

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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Gluten Free Plymouth News in Brief 30/09/12

30 Sep

Prezzo introduce GF pizza

One thing that coeliacs and people on a gluten free diet always seem to crave is a good old pizza.  I was happy to read this week that the Prezzo chain now have gluten free pizza available in all of their UK restaurants.  I was even happier to discover that tucked away in Royal William Yard we actually have a Prezzo in Plymouth.  I see that Coeliac UK have commented on the story linked above, so hopefully Prezzo have done their homework with regards cross contamination issues.  Has anybody tried the Prezzo GF pizza yet?  Please comment below with your verdict if you have.

Le Bistrot Pierre to open

There is also news of another bistro opening at Royal William Yard in the form of Le Bistrot Pierre.  The restaurant will offer French dishes, and more importantly seem to take gluten free extremely seriously.  There is an impressive gluten free page on their website, and the food sounds delicious with a good range of gluten free choices.  I’m looking forward to trying this one when it opens in Februrary 2013.  Again good to see they have been working closely with Coeliac UK.  Royal William Yard is fast becoming a gluten free hot spot.  Le Bistrot Pierre will join the River Cottage Canteen and the soon to open Las Iguanas as offering great gluten free options at RWY.  Combined with the Prezzo news above I think I’d quite like to move there!

La Tasca closes

Not all good news on the Plymouth gluten free eating out front unfortunately.  News recently that La Tasca has now closed with the loss of thirteen jobs.  Offering Spanish Tapas with clearly marked gluten free options on the menu and even gluten free beer, this was on my to do list but I never made it to try.  There are many other branches throughout the country though, and it’s always good to be aware of gluten free friendly chains when eating away in strange places.

Plymouth Greengrocer adds more lines

Julie and Mark at Plymouth Greengrocer are continuing their amazing work supporting the gluten free community in Plymouth.  They seem to be adding more gluten free products weekly now and if you are living gluten free in Plymouth I highly recommend you pay them a visit.  Recently announced new products from the Foodamentalists are now in store, and the shelves are now brimming with the coeliac community’s favourite Pom Bear crisps.  This week has seen the addition of delicious GF cupcakes from a Piece of Cake Bakery, products from the Warburtons gluten free range and gluten free sausages and sausage meet from the local Paul Bray & Son Butchers.  Also recently added are gluten free brownies from Peck & Strong, and I am pleased to hear that hot chocolate stirrers from my friends at Sweet Devotion are soon to arrive on the shelves.  A fantastic range of gluten free products now available so make sure you stop by and take the chance to support many local businesses.

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