Tag Archives: gluten free

Kingfisher Fish & Chips Gluten-free Menu

1 Jul

Thanks to a tip off from Coeliac UK Plymouth group member Matt Gifford, I recently discovered that Kingfisher Fish & Chips in Chaddlewood Shopping Centre are now serving gluten free fish and chips every Monday.  With the uncertainty surrounding the sale of Eggbuckland Fish and Chip shop at the time this was very welcome news indeed.  Thankfully the Eggbuckland sale has now been completed and the new owners have confirmed that gluten free nights will continue on the first Monday of every month.

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There are a few other chip shops in Plymouth serving gluten free on various days or indeed daily in some cases: The Chip Stop in Stoke, Honicknowle Fish and Chip Shop, Francine’s in North Prospect and I believe Thank Cod it’s Fryday in Pennycross still serve gluten free too.  The Rock Fish restaurant on the Barbican are also serving gluten free.  I am not sure of the cross contamination controls at any of these restaurants though, so please do you own research if you are going to try them.  Please feel free to comment below if you have tried any of these or indeed own or work at one of them.

I’ve always liked Eggbuckland as their gluten free day is totally GF, so no need to worry about potential cross contamination.  However, with the sale process going through there hasn’t been a gluten free night there for a couple of months (they are back 1st July!), and after seeing a few tweets about Kingfisher after the initial heads up from Matt I decided to investigate a little further.  I noticed that Kingfisher have started to push gluten free quite hard via Twitter now, and I was impressed with the gluten free information on their website.

Kingfisher use a separate fryer which is cleaned prior to being used for GF and loaded with clean oil.  They also state “all other equipment is used solely for the purpose of gluten free to prevent cross contamination”.  Gluten free is served all day on Monday’s with no need for advance warning and is cooked fresh to order.  Batter is made on-site using their regular recipe with gluten free flour.  GF vinegar is also stocked, and no extra is charged for gluten free orders.  Having a wife who works in environmental marine policy I was also very impressed that Kingfisher are very proud of the fact all of the fish is caught sustainably, with the cod, haddock and hake being MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certified.  They were also finalists in the 2014 National Fish & Chip Awards.

So after reading all this I was sold.  I’d been tweeting owner Craig for a few weeks and let him know I was coming as I was eager to have a chat with him when I got there.  Ironically living by the sea I don’t eat fish so my choice from the gluten free menu was a little limited.  I’d previously mentioned to Craig on Twitter that it would be great to see a battered sausage on the menu, which he was very keen to look into.  The power of Twitter worked it’s magic and before we knew it Craig was in contact with a local company who are dropping off some sample gluten free sausages soon, so which this space.  It would have been good to try the batter, but I often went for chicken and chips in my pre-coeliac days so this was an easy choice.

While my food was being freshly cooked I was able to have a good chat with Craig.  They have been serving gluten free since January after several requests from customers and friends.  They have been working hard to make sure they have the correct procedures in place and increased menu options and are now happy that they can do things properly which is why they’ve started pushing this recently.  Craig actually thinks the gluten free batter gives a crisper result than the normal batter which is a good sign.  It was good to hear Craig’s enthusiasm for gluten free and his desire to make sure things are done properly.  Kingfisher obviously have some happy customers, and one punter that has been going there for 10 years witnessed our conversation and came up to tell us how great everything was!

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Onto the food.  No old school newspaper here, the food is served in a swanky Kingfisher box, and it was reassuring to see a gluten free sticker on top of mine as there were gluten filled fish and chips being cooked in other areas of the shop.  It was obvious that everything had been cooked freshly and it was still pipping hot by the time I had driven home.  The portion size was very large and at £5.75 for chicken and a large portion of chips I had no complaints about the price.  There was apparently lots of other gluten free customers tucking in yesterday too which is good to hear.

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The quality of the food was excellent and I’ll definitely be back again for more.  A friend whose family also tried Kingfisher for the first time yesterday told me on Facebook “We all agreed that it is the best gf fish and chips we have had“.  The only downside for me was that there was no gluten free curry sauce to dunk my chips in but I’m happy to report that Craig is going to look into this as well as the battered sausages.  So even though gluten was being served in the shop at the same time, I’m happy to report that the cross contamination controls in place were good enough and I suffered no ill affects, other than a severe case of over indulgence!

You can find Kingfisher at: Chaddlewood Shopping Centre, Glen Road, Plympton, Plymouth, PL7 2XS.  For more information see their website, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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Guest Post: A week as a vegetarian coeliac

19 May

My lovely wife Abby went gluten free for Coeliac Awarness Week to show support, here is her guest post on the experience:

AbbyYesterday marked the last day of Coeliac UK’s Awareness Week. Although I don’t have coeliac disease myself, since Kev’s diagnosis three years ago I am now an expert on all things coeliac and gluten free, and I’ve become an outspoken advocate for the rights of coeliacs to enjoy eating good food, both in restaurants and at home. Thousands of people use Awareness Week to raise the profile of coeliac disease by not eating gluten for seven days in support of sufferers of the disease. My participation in Awareness Week adds another restriction to my already restricted diet – for strong environmental and ethical reasons I am a vegetarian (no fish) of almost 25 years. Before Kev’s diagnosis he never ate meat in our house, an act of support which I truly appreciated. Unfortunately, I can’t show this solidarity when it comes to gluten because, as a vegetarian, protein is a top concern and most meat substitute products, such as Quorn or Linda McCartney products, contain or are contaminated with gluten. To ensure we both get protein, Kev and I often cook two versions of the same meal – one with real meat and one with Quorn. During Awareness Week this was not an option so last weekend Kev and I carefully planned out our meal plan for the upcoming Awareness Week.

As you know from Gluten Free by the Sea Mexican food is a staple in our house so we ate black beans (refried and as chilli) several times during Awareness Week. We also went to the Plymouth Coeliac UK Support Group dinner at JD’s Grill – I know Kev raves about JD’s all the time but it’s because the place is great for coeliacs and they have a good veggie menu too. The set menu for Awareness Week had two veggie options for starters and a veggie burger for the main course (plus a delicious sweet-potato-fries-with-vanilla-ice-cream dessert). OK, that was an easy version of eating out since it was pre-arranged, but last year I found myself in Padstow during Awareness Week and basically just walked around asking restaurants what they could do for a vegetarian coeliac until one chef offered to make me gf pasta with fresh wild mushrooms. Actually, that was only the second restaurant I approached so it pays to ask questions.

The majority of our food during the week was home cooked, but we did try two ready-made products: Clive’s Pies and a veggie lasagne and a burrito from Amy’s Kitchen. I’ve loved Clive’s Pies since I first tried them two years ago and it was convenient to have a ready-made gf and veggie product in our freezer to throw in the oven for dinner when I got home late one night. The only downside was that we had to walk into town to purchase them at Holland and Barrett – I wish they were more widely available. As for the Amy’s products, I don’t normally like ready meals, but it turned out Amy’s frozen meals are not like normal ready meals! There was no grease, they weren’t over salted and they tasted great. I was really impressed.

Overall it was fine being a veggie coeliac during Awareness Week since 1) we cook most of our own food, 2) I’m assertive and not afraid to order off-menu while eating out, 3) as a vegetarian I’m an avid label-reader, and 4) I was in the UK. I am on the road for work much of the time and the vegetarian coeliac abroad experience would have been much harder, particularly in China or Japan where veggie food is confusing due to the language barrier and lack of understanding about the concept. The best part of Awareness Week was not having to worry about my gluten-containing food contaminating the gluten free food in our kitchen – I normally have to wash my hands constantly while cooking to avoid cross contaminating Kev’s food. I also don’t know what I would have done had we had a barbeque – I love halloumi and veggie skewers but it’s not the same as a veggie burger or veggie sausage (don’t worry – we have a gluten free meat barbeque and a separate barbeque for veggie products and gluten). If Quorn had some gluten free options vegetarian coeliacs would have a lot more choice for protein and I could eat gluten free at home all the time.

Abby – @anaturalstate

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The Ladybird Bakery – Gluten Free Goodies

18 May

Update: Ladybird have now moved into larger premises at Franfurt Gate.  Click here to see pics

I recently heard about a new gluten free company based in Plymouth called The Ladybird Bakery.  Thanks to Julie Petvin at Talking Good Food for the tip off.  Naturally excited to hear about a new Plymouth based gluten free company, I introduced myself via their Facebook page and we exchanged emails so I could find out a little more about them.  The good news was that Ladybird were due to appear at the Sutton Harbour Local Produce Market a couple of days later, so Abby and I braved the elements to go down and have a chat and pick up some gluten free goodies.

Sarah left, and Donna right of Ladybird Bakery

Sarah left, and Donna right of Ladybird Bakery

The pouring rain meant customers were in short supply whilst we were there, but it gave us a chance to have a long chat with the Ladybird team Sarah and Donna.  Donna are Sarah are mother and daughter and were both really lovely.  Sarah is gluten intolerant as is her son, though understandably neither want to go through the pain of eating gluten for six weeks to be tested for coeliac disease.  Donna is a baker of 23 years and has previously received requests from customers for gluten free cakes, and after discovering her grandson was gluten intolerant decided to set up a gluten free company with Sarah.  Their household is now totally gluten free as a result.

SamplesDonna and Sarah had a few tasters out at the market, those who know me will not be surprised to know that a headed straight for the lemon drizzle cake first!  The cake was extremely moist and loaded with lemon flavour, it may be said that I’m a bit of a lemon drizzle cake connoisseur and in my opinion that was a very good one.  The other taster was a chocolate truffle made from dates which was also delicious.  It was good to see that there were plenty of savoury and dairy free choices on offer at their stall.

steak pie + quicheAfter hearing about Gluten Free by the Sea, the girls kindly offered me some samples to take away which I was only too happy to accept.  My samples included some lemon drizzle cake, a fantastic chocolate cupcake and some cookies.  The cookies had a great crunch and were really tasty.  Savoury wise there was a cheese and tomato pizza, quiche, steak pie and sausage roll.  The pizza was tasty but didn’t crisp up, though after talking to Donna it seems I should have removed the foil tray, doh!  The sausage roll was also tasty and the quiche was nice and cheesy.  The steak pie was nice though the pastry was a tiny bit dry and the filling could have used some more seasoning.  I’ve fed this back as they were very keen for constructive feedback as they look to improve their new products.

Ladybird Bakery are currently looking into the feasibility of their own shop to sell their products, and are asking anyone who has tried their food to complete the questionnaire here as part of their business plan.  Completed questionnaires can be returned to theladybirdbakery2014@gmail.com.  In the meantime you will find them at local markets around Plymouth and Torquay, keep an eye on their Facebook page for upcoming event dates.  You can also contact Donna or Sarah on 07870 605913 or the email address above for further ordering information.  I wish them both the very best of luck with their new venture, and I look forward to catching up with them again soon.business card

UPDATE 17/01/2015: Donna and Sarah have now opened a permanent stall in Plymouth Pannier Market.  Click here for full details.

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

 

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