Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner!

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner, that I love London sooooooooo tra la la! Couldn't help a little opening sing song but I do really love London- the hustle and bustle, the busyness, the "no making eye contact on the tube / stand to the right on the escalator" un-written rules, the architecture, the theatre and.....oh.....the food!! Us Gluten Free-ers don't do too badly here in the big smoke. So, with summer hol time on my hands I've been out and about! Consider this weeks post a "travel slash food blog"!

Mum and I had the pleasure of going to Regents Park Open Air Theatre a couple of weeks ago. If you haven't been, you really should, it's lovely. I packed a mac and umbrella.....typically the sun shone and we got sun burnt! Oh well! We ate a picnic in the park before hand and I got to sample a Waitrose GF chicken salad sandwich

It was lovely to have a choice (chicken or cheese), however these do seem to be the bog standard GF sandwich choices wherever you go! Nevertheless, the bread was good and I loved the seeds on top. I also (finally) got round to trying The Coconut Collaborative yog (www.coconutco.co.uk)

I must confess I was a little reluctant after my Coyo disappointment but these were very different. Very creamy and I particularly like the layer of passion fruit at the bottom. I found the plain one a little sharp and would probably add a dash of honey to that one. I now regularly pick these up in Waitrose and Sainsbury's and have even got Mum hooked on them too!

I was thrilled to find the famous Bad Brownie (www.badbrownie.co.uk) peeps at Broadway Market! Obviously, I sampled their salted caramel GF brownie!

Oh my....these are good! I completely get what all the fuss is about. There are quite pricey at £3.50 a brownie but wow it was worth it! The GF version was kept well away from the regular ones and had a separate  cake cutter. Guess what....?! 3 days later I was shopping at Brent Cross.....guess who was there.....Bad Brownie.....arghhh!! I think I may be addicted....I must confess......I ate another!!!! Again, the GF brownies were sealed in a seperate box behind the counter! BUT my addiction gets worse because I also bought this...

....which I am currently slathering on anything that stays still long enough! Amazing on ice cream but even more amazing on a spoon straight from the jar......oooops! 

Ok, we all know how fab Leon is (www.leonrestaurants.co.uk) and I don't want to make their heads any bigger but they really are amazing! So much GF choice! I finally decided on a chicken and chorizo hot box mmmmmm

So, I mentioned Brent Cross, it'd be rude not to mention Lakeside right?! (My name is Elizabeth Price and I'm a shopaholic.....who is also a salted caramel fan!). I was excited to see that Gino D'acampo has a pasta bar which cooks GF pasta woohoooo! (www.mypastabar.co.uk). The GF sauces were a little limited but still, it was nice to have a pasta dish on the go.

Situated up in the food court, it made a nice change. The pasta held together well and the sauce was tasty. It was cooked to order in fresh water.

I was also pleased to see that Pret a Manger (www.pret.com) have finally got a GF sweet treat to sustain weary coeliac shoppers!

Added bonus...it had caramel on it!!

Dale took me on a mystery day out last week! We ended up walking over the O2! What a surprise! 

Can really recommend.....great views of lovely London from the top! Next we went for GF hot dogs at Top Dog (www.top-dog.com) woop!

We got a little confused by the wording on the website which is a bit mis leading. We have since spoken to them about it and they have reassured us they will be changing it. The website states all the hot dogs are GF, which we took to mean all the varieties on the menu would be ok. However, what they actually meant was that all the hot dog sausages were GF. Some toppings were ok but by the time we had discussed website wording I opted for a plain pork dog in a GF bun with sweet potato fries. It was delicious and the bun was great! I was stuffed! I look forward to returning when we have worked out what toppings I can have! I would like to say that the staff were really helpful and checked lots of things  for us, they were very keen to keep me safe...which is always a good thing in my book!!

I met my friend from work last week and we went to Bang Bang (www.bangbangcanteen.co.uk) on Warren Street. It's a Vietnamese restaurant which seems to be pretty allergy aware. We enquired about GF options as well as nut free options. We got an immediate response saying over 90% of the menu is GF and no peanuts are used on site. Result! We both ordered a brisket pho

and it was delicious! I made my debut into the chopstick eating world and all I can say is that it wasn't pretty! Thank goodness we are good friends! As I was wiping the soup from my chin and picking bits out of my hair, I was very glad I wasn't on a first date! (Too proud to ask for a fork?!)

Finally, I took the plunge and purchased one of these

I'm a big baby when it comes to drinking gross tasting things (especially if they are thick...bluergh??!). I have been experimenting lots but any tips for nice tasting, non thick smoothies (that don't involve ice cream, chocolate or salted caramel!!!) would be greatly appreciated!

Have a great fortnight everyone! Xx (@lizprice79)