The Compass Bar in Leith

The Compass Bar (44 Queen Charlotte Street, Leith EH6 7EX) has been a favourite since I found it over a year ago. It's more of a restaurant than a bar, and has a variety of nuveau-Scottish dishes and friendly service. I've never been disappointed. They don't have a separate gluten-free menu, but many of their dishes are gluten-free, or can be made gluten-free. This itself is not unusual. But I was pleasantly surprised last week when the server came out with some gluten-free bread. That was a nice touch.

Loopy Lornas Shut Down

Apparently Loopy Lornas as shut down their cafe on the corner of Maxwell Street. (Their Churchill Theatre venue is still open, however.)

Guest reviews

The following guest post of reviews comes from Richard Gottfried:

Kings Manor Hotel – Best Western, Brunstane

We booked into the Kings Manor Hotel as they could offer Gluten Free food in their restaurant. We checked in quite late and while we were doing so the manager mentioned that the restaurant also had Gluten Free rolls that we could request with our meal. A nice touch. An even nicer touch was found when we got to our room, as a box of Gluten Free Chocolate Biscuits were waiting for me, along with a letter explaining that the restaurant could offer Gluten Free items, what they were, and also the items available at breakfast. It was very pleasing indeed to see the effort the Kings Manor went to make our stay there comfortable. We had two very good meals in Lauders Restaurant at the Kings Manor Hotel. The menu has a ‘c’ next to any dishes which are ‘Coeliac Friendly’. As I am always as careful as can be when taking the risk of dining out I asked a few questions, stated clearly I was a Coeliac and checked the items listed. All in all our stay at the Kings Manor Hotel was very pleasant. It’s only 7 minutes by train to Waverly Station in Edinburgh City Centre, plus it’s just a twenty minute or so walk to ‘Edinburgh’s seaside’ of Portobello & Joppa and a little further on to Musselburgh. The hotel also has a very good Leisure facility with a Pool, Sauna, Steam Room and Gym.

La Fontana Ristorante Italiano

While having a wander around Edinburgh we had a look at the menu of La Fontana Italian restaurant on Howard Street. The menu offered Gluten Free options.  

The Quay Bar & Restaurant - Musselburgh

While walking along the coast we popped into the Quay Bar and Restaurant in Musselburgh and noticed that they offered Gluten Free options (although the menu said ”Glutin”!?). The food was predominantly Indian, but there seemed to be some good options for Coeliacs dining there.

Café Andaluz

The Gluten Free options were extensive, the food was very tasty and there was very good service too.

We chose seven different Tapas dishes and all of them were excellent. I could have quite happily stayed there for longer and tried every Gluten Free item on the menu (there is plenty of choice).

For dessert I had the Crème brûlée which was the biggest I had ever soon, it’s a seriously big version!

The Mohitos were very good too.

Vaccine for Celiac disease?

Not Edinburgh-related, but interesting nonetheless: Celiac Disease Vaccine Shows Promising Results in Phase I Trial. A BBC article from last year on an earlier phase of the research can be found here.

(Thanks to the Gluten-free Goddess Blog for pointing this out, by the way.)

I'm looking for contributors

Headline says it all. I keep meaning to find the time to write down recipes (or link to others), add reviews, tips, etc. Or I pester friends for the same.

So in the meantime, if you have a place or product to review, a recipe to contribute, or other tips, do e-mail me at robrwo {at} gmail {dot} com.

Warburton's Gluten-Free Bread

I've recently noticed that Warburton's now has gluten-free breads and rolls, at least at a local Waitrose. I've not yet tried it, though. If you have, please submit a comment.

It seems to be about 50p more for a loaf than Genius bread. Also note that Genius breads are (still?) based in Edinburgh.

Back in March I wrote a piece looking at whether it is worth making your own bread.

Some More Gluten-Free-Friendly Eateries

A couple of my favourite restaurants in town are The Apartment Bistro (7-13 Barclay Place, Tollcross, EH10 4HW, allegedly with a web site) and it's sister-restaurant, The Outsider (15/16 George IV Bridge, Old Town, EH1 1EE). They often have several gluten-free options available on the menu. (I've been told that they do not put flour in their sauces.) The food is excellent at both places, and I often find myself trying to imitate some of their recipes.

Another place, just outside of town, is the restaurant at Dobbies Garden Centre in Lasswade (EH18 1AZ). The restaurant has several cafeteria counters with coffee/beer/wine, breakfast, sandwiches, hot meals, and deserts. They claim to offer gluten-free bread for sandwiches for an extra 50p, though when I was there, they were out of out of gluten-free bread, so I can't comment on the quality. They also had Honeybuns gluten-free cookies and cakes, though.

(It occurs to be that you can find Honeybuns cookies at the Cameo Picturehouse Bar, by the way.)

The Kwok Brasserie (44 Ratcliffe Terrace, Causewayside, EH9 1ST) has excellent Chinese food (including some lovely dishes not available in other places), good prices, and has many items on the menu that are or can be adapted to gluten-free. (UPDATE 9/9/11 - their lunch buffet is not gluten-free, but you can still order dishes from their main menu, and they are as always friendly and accomodating.)

A friend who visited Edinburgh recently stayed at the Kildonan Lodge Hotel, and says that one of the hotel's managers eats gluten-free, and so the chef is willing to prepare gluten-free meals. I have not yet had the chance to try it, though.