Review of Edinburgh's Gusto

Some days you find the right place and feel like the world is on your side. This was how I felt when I recently had lunch at Gusto on George Street.  With a really clued up team and a great range of food for the coeliac, this was a very good dining experience.

We had one small hiccup, that the whole meal that came, including the food for my non-gluten free companion, was gluten free.  However, this was a massive compensation for me, as it meant I could try the Gusto gluten free pasta option – which is extremely good and indistinguishable from the “normal”.  And my wheat friendly friend gave it the thumbs up, which is an accolade!  The other point I would make is that the menu has no indication of GF options or any pointers, so we were entirely dependent on the waiter for guidance, which could be a problem in some circumstances.

The inability of restaurants to offer gluten free chips was one of the shocks when I first started dining out, but I have to applaud Gusto for offering some delicious roast potatoes as an alternative. Flavoured with herbs and garlic, they were actually better than chips and I would not normally have thought of ordering them.   They came, accompanying a very good Romesco Salad – with goats cheese and chicken.  My unwittingly gluten free friend had a seafood pasta, which had a garlic tomato sauce, a lovely herby tang and was extremely tasty.  The food is well presented and came quickly, which is impressive as the restaurant was busy.

With two large glasses of wine, the menu came to a very good value £35 – all with good service and friendly and clear help.   Add this to your list of gluten free dining options and you will not regret it.  I was so taken with it, I plan to go back next week with a group of friends.

Apologies for the photography - we had tucked well into our delicious meal before I remembered that I had to photograph it!

SCORES

Information: 3

Serving Staff: 4 (but only as we were more GF than intended)

Choices: 4

Quality: 4.5

Overall Experience: 4.5

Gusto

135 George Street, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH2 4JS

0131 225 2555

www.gustorestaurants.uk.com

The Best Gluten Free Afternoon Tea in Edinburgh

A proper afternoon tea is a really indulgent treat when done properly.  It offers the chance for a catch-up with a friend or a family celebration.  When going for a gluten free afternoon tea it is important to book in advance to ensure the best experience possible.  Here is a small selection of some of Edinburgh’s finest.

Café Portrait

Set within the Portrait Gallery on Queen Street, Café Portrait offers a superb afternoon tea in the snug at the rear of the restaurant.  With cake stands and prosecco, this is an indulgent treat with a lovely selection of savoury and sweet delights.  With advance warning the whole stack of scones, cakes and sandwiches can be offered gluten free, including the warming little cup of soup to start.  Add in the glass of fizz and celebrate how a GF life does not need to exclude the highest quality afternoon tea!

Run by Heritage Portfolio, the same quality of food is also available at the two modern art galleries, Hopetoun House (during summer months) and at the Signet Library on the High Street.  These all offer GF lunches and treats as a matter of course.

Café Portrait

Queen Street, EH2 1JD

0131 624 6423

www.heritageportfolio.co.uk

North Bridge Brasserie Scotsman

The North Bridge Brasserie is the public restaurant within the Scotsman Hotel.  It is a great spot for a pre-dinner drink, or dinner itself.  The surroundings are modern, but comfortable and the Brasserie also offers a badged Gluten Free Afternoon Tea.  With treats including sandwiches made with Genius bread; fruit scones; lemon meringues and strawberry & ginger cake, the tea runs alongside a classic Afternoon Tea.  Also offered with champagne, this is an indulgent, but gluten free friendly option. 

North Bridge Brasserie

Edinburgh EH1 ITR

0131 622 2900

scotsman-northbridge@thescotsmanhotel.co.uk

The Balmoral Hotel

The Palm Court in Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel is a legendary location for ladies who do afternoon tea. Classic cake stands, a wonderful choice of teas and the best possible service all contribute to make this one of the city’s finest afternoon tea experiences.  Gluten free options include open sandwiches, scones and cakes, all on a separate stand.  While the website does not make this option explicit, as you might expect from a five star establishment, nothing is too much trouble!

The Balmoral Hotel

1 Princes Street, EH2 2EQ

https://www.roccofortehotels.com/hotels-and-resorts/the-balmoral-hotel/

0131 556 2414

G&V Hotel

My previous review of lunch at the five star G&V demonstrated the excellence in service and the level of understanding around gluten free dining.

The G&V also provides a delicious prosecco afternoon tea with a cake stand of treats plus tea and a glass of fizz.  Advance warning brings you a pile of delicious gluten free cakes, sandwiches and delights.  The service is always good and the hotel will undergo a refurbishment in early 2015 as it drops much of the previous Missoni branding and improves the public spaces.  Can’t wait!

G&V Hotel

1 George IV Bridge, EH1 1AD

http://www.quorvuscollection.com/gandv-hotel-edinburgh

0131 220 6666

Keeping your toast gluten free

Bread and pasta are the two wheat laden staples that for many new coeliacs represent a challenge. There are good gluten free pastas available (review to come!), whereas bread somehow is never quite the same.  However, there are some good brands out there which, with careful use, can be pretty much as good as your previous daily bread.  The Newburn Bakehouse brand by Warburtons includes some good brown seeded rolls, which I happily substitute for a "normal" brand.  And the Genius brand, developed by a very enterprising mother of a coeliac boy (based in Edinburgh!), is superb.

I have been buying the Genius three seed and brown breads.  I am not a big bread eater anyway, so I keep them in the freezer and take out a slice when needed, defrost microwave for 20 seconds and then put in the toaster.

Sharing a toaster with wheat eaters is a potential for contamination.  My second wheat ingesting mistake was putting some Genius in the toaster without protecting it.  I then felt ropey for the rest of the day - so contamination is a real threat!

Many nutritionists and websites recommend using Toastabags (available from Lakeland!) which are designed for cheese toasties.  However, I found the bags too big to fit in the toaster and they developed heat pockets which burnt both the toast and my fingers.  I have therefore developed an ingenious alternative: take the Toastabag and cut off the top bit with the handles.  The cut off the bottom and slit open one side, leaving you with a long, folded piece of material, which slots into the toaster easily.  The bread then sits within this protective wrap, but because it is not entirely closed you do not get the nasty heat pockets.  Each Toastabag packet contains two bags so you can cut them both up and then you have two, for when you want to toast a muffin or roll, or just want two bits of toast.

Here is the newly created "ToastaWrap" in use:

As with all gluten free eating, you are advised to wipe away loose wheat crumbs before using a shared toaster.  If you are flush and have plenty of space, you could buy your own toaster, but I believe with care and your own ToastaWrap you will have no problems.   It also helps to educate the rest of your family in being careful and wiping down worksurfaces after making wheat toast!

G&V Hotel, Royal Mile

The G&V hotel on the corner of the Royal Mile and George IV Bridge in Edinburgh is a fashionista's dream.  Having rebranded from the Missoni earlier this year, the Hotel will be having a major facelift in early 2015, but the high standards of service and food will remain.  This is five star excellence at its best.

As it is Christmas, let's start with the booze: we had lunch in the restaurant after a glass of the delightful on-tap Prosecco in the modern bar.  With lunch we had a lovely glass of Soave and the ultimate in care and service.

As a coeliac, there is a massive difference between dining in an ok restaurant (Namaste Katmandu on Forrest Road did not merit a review due to a second rate experience) and dining five star.  Our waitress was immediately attentive and highlighted issues to me before I had even noticed them.  When I picked my main course, she said she would check what was in it and ensure it was ok, rather than make me choose an alternative.

The loveliest thing was the delicious brown seedy roll of gluten free bread brought for me, plus my own bowl of olive oil for dipping.  This was followed by a selection of starters which we shared (again I was told what to avoid).  The goats cheese and beetroot salad was the best I have ever eaten – light and fluffy with the goats cheese made into a soft soufflé.

As a  main course I had a piece of seriously tender lamb, with fennel and olives, all sitting in a little pool of really tasty sauce and with some potato wedges on the side.  Two of my fellow diners enjoyed a pasta dish and the restaurant assured me I could too as they make fresh pasta daily, including a gluten free option.  However, I can never resist lamb, so did not try it.  Though I am sure it is excellent, as is everything at the G&V.

We had no room for puddings, instead enjoying a pot of peppermint tea with a (non GF) piece of Christmassy gingerbread on the side (which I conveniently passed in a teaspoon to my friend).

Highly recommended if you can afford it – I know not everyone has the luxury of dining like this, though it does work well for a coeliac!  If you can’t, find someone who will take you for a special occasion. 

SCORES

Information: 5

Serving Staff: 5

Choices: 4 (but only because there were too many mushrooms on the menu!)

Quality: 5

Overall Experience: 5

Mince Pies!

Using the pastry recipe I posted earlier in December, I have just created some lovely mince pies.  I used Infinity Foods organic and gluten free mincemeat, adding a little extra brandy for effect.

delicious!

Gluten Free Sparkly Shortbread Stars

Just because you are coeliac does not mean you can't enjoy Christmas baking.  With a bit of effort or a handy Marks & Spencer there is no reason to miss out.  These sparkly stars are delicious and every bit as good (if not a bit more crumbly and soft!) than the originals.  They would make a nice Christmas present for a gluten intolerant friend ...

I cooked shortbread often before the diagnosis and want to use the same recipe.  The good thing about the Doves Farm flours is that where you have a favourite recipe, with a test run or two, you can substitute.  This is better than having to rely on a gluten free cookbook which can be much more limited.  I have always been a believer in annotations in a cookery book, so scribble down the side as you learn.

100g icing sugar

150g cornflour

150g gluten free plain flour

200g softened unsalted butter

one quarter tsp xanthum gum

sugar and hologram sparkles to dust (you can buy these in cookshops or online)

Lightly greased baking trays

Method

Put the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor or mixer, pulse to remove the lumps.  Add the very soft butter and pulse/mix well until it all joins together into one mass.

Remove from bowl and knead briefly on a floured surface.  Press or roll out onto the surface and cut out stars, placing onto the baking trays.

Bake at 160 degrees for about 17 minutes until just turning from pale to very lightly brown (Remember the colour shortbread is in the shops!)

While still hot shake sugar and hologram sparkle over the shortbread.

Urban Angel

Urban Angel
121 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1DJ
0131 225 6215 www.urbanangel.co.uk

This fantastic, cafe/restaurant at the corner of Hanover Street and Queen Street is notoriously brilliant.  It is a favourite coffee/lunch stop for me and I have always been impressed by the quality of food and standard of service.

We booked Urban Angel for a private dinner for 25 people.  The restaurant stays open late for bookings such as these and does a great job in setting up the back room and in providing good service.  The menu was a Christmas one, but no slices of turkey here!  Choices included smoked salmon, pear and blue cheese salad, a delicious venison casserole and a whole squash with kale, olices, pistachios and rice.

I am finding the eating out experience to be good for coeliacs where a restaurant embraces the idea.  Others I have found slightly slapdash and have already, at only 3 weeks into gluten free eating, had one mishap where a curry restaurant waiter waved in the general direction of the table and said "it's all fine", but it wasn't.  However, Urban Angel could not be more different.  We had pre-selected our menu and on arrival, they immediately checked with me what I would be eating and I noticed subtle differences in my meal to others where they were being cautious.

I highly recommend Urban Angel for lunch or dinner - you will not regret it!

SCORES OUT OF FIVE:
Information: 4
Serving Staff: 5
Choices: 4
Quality: 5
Overall Experience: 5