Nottingham Eats January 2016

A few weekends ago we went into Nottingham. Knowing we'd be there pretty early and for most of the day I picked out a few new places I wanted to try. 

I'd heard great things about Bagel Nash on twitter so that was my first choice for breakfast. 

Their gluten free bagels are also dairy and egg free (vegan) which was great news. I picked bacon and avocado as my fillings. The bagels are toasted on the same toaster as normal bagels so you would need to be careful if you are highly sensitive. It would be nice if it was a separate toaster. The bagel its self was really tasty, nice and soft inside with a crusty outer. I'll definitely be visiting again when I'm next in Nottingham.

The Victoria Shopping Centre has been opening lots of new restaurants recently so there were a few I'd got on my list to try. We chose to have lunch at Tortilla. This reminded me a lot of Chipotle in the USA. You choose from Burritos, Tacos or Burrito Bowls and pick out your fillings from the counter.

I chose to have a Burrito Bowl. I checked with the server that the rice and chicken were dairy & gluten free. I was told yes. I obviously didn't have any cheese or sour cream but I had guacamole (dairy free according to server) and salsa. The last part of the counter was lettuce and a few other toppings. I noticed that the server was touching and wrapping flour/cheese/sour cream filled burritos with his gloves on and I didn't want to risk him picking out my lettuce with the same gloves so I chose not to have any. It would have been better if they'd had a utensil to pick out the lettuce to avoid cross contamination. I couldn't find their allergy info anywhere online so it would be helpful if it was displayed on their website or noted next to each item in store.

I loved the Burrito Bowl though it was full of flavour and reminded me of the USA.

 I'll definitely eat there again in future.

I popped into the Natural Food Company on Mansfield Road to see what goodies they had. As I don't go into Nottingham very often I like to see what different items they are selling. It's not a huge shop but it's full of cool stuff. They stock various Follow your Heart sauces which I've tried in the USA and love. The Caesar dressing is really good. They also stock quite a few different Violife cheeses which I've not tried before. I loved the smoked version and the Parmesan style is fab grated on pasta dishes (or anything you want uber cheesy). I picked up some of my favourite sweet treats, raw chocolate mulberries, cookie shots, a Vego bar and a Thumbs up bar. I also got a jar of Apricot Kernel Butter which I've not yet tried but I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like. They have a cake & savoury cabinet with fresh baked vegan & gluten free goods. I picked out a chocolate walnut slice which was delicious. I think I need to visit more regularly because it's a great shop.

While browsing Tiger I spotted this milkshake mix. I know it's not great ingredients but I fancied trying it. I blended it with a banana and some rice milk and it was actually quite nice although very sweet. I wouldn't probably buy again but I'm glad I tried it. 

I also wanted to mention a great Coffee Roaster called 200 Degrees in the city centre. We stocked up on some of their delicious coffee beans which we have been loving. Can't beat freshly ground coffee. 

They sell various drinks and foods in their lovely coffee shop which you can eat in or take away. 

I can't wait to visit Nottingham again soon as it seems to have a lot to offer at the moment. 

Have you visited Nottingham recently? What are your favourite Allergy Friendly places to eat at?

Free From Birthday Weekend

I celebrated my birthday last weekend and it pretty much revolved around a lot of Free From food.

It's an unwritten rule at my work that you take in cakes for your birthday so I made some Chocolate Orange cupcakes. Even though majority of my colleagues aren't free from I still bake free from cakes for them. They went down well as usual and didn't last very long. 

After watching Jamie Oliver's Comfort food last week I decided that I really wanted to make myself the Chocolate Celebration Cake. I like a challenge. This one was pretty simple to adapt to dairy, egg and gluten free. I used the Chocolate cake recipe from Pippa Kendrick's Free From Food for Family and Friends and split it between 3 tins. For the rice crispy layers I used Jamie's recipe with Doves Farm Choc Crispies, Pure spread, Rice Cream and Dairy Free Chocolate. The last layer should have been nougat but I changed this to my standard vanilla buttercream with a dash of Tribe Celtic Liquor. I layered it all up and topped it with some Choc orange drops. It was huge! 

For my birthday meal I decided to book the Griffins Head at Papplewick. I'd been recommended it by the coeliac's at work and also twitter friends and non free from friends. They have a huge choice of Gluten Free meals and are very acomodating to other allergies too. The waitress checked with the chef straight away if my choices could be made DF & EF as well as GF and to my delight they could. I had Scallops with Pea purée for my starter and a huge Fish & Chips for my main. Both were delicious, great portion size and good value for money. I will definetly be visiting again as all the food I saw looked fab.

I had some great free from goodies for my birthday too. Both my sister and one of my close friends made me lovely hampers filled with free from treats. I also got my favourite chocolates and some DF fudge from a work friend. It's really nice when people take time to look for things that are suitable and understand your needs. 

As part of my weekend I decided I wanted to go to Nottingham on the Sunday to visit the Gluten Free Food Fair which was organised by Sam of Gluten Free Food Nottingham. It took place at Bunkers Hill (where she does her pop up restaurant on a Friday night) and had a nice selection of local suppliers. Sam is doing great things for the Gluten Free (and other free fromers) of Nottingham. I got a nice little selection of goodies. A big slice of chocolate cake and carrot cake from Sams stall (both really nice), a lovely chocolate mint cupcake from the Cupcake Wizard, a jar of Thai Chilli & Purple Grape Jelly from Chilli Fundamentals and a jar of Apple Lavendar Jelly from the Post Office Garden. It was a great little fair to visit with very friendly stall holders. 

While in Nottingham we decided to visit the Asian supermarket just round the corner from Bunkers Hill in Hockley. I like stocking up on rice noodles from these markets as I find them better value than buying from a usual supermarket. A big bag of rice noodles is around £1.50 so you can't go wrong. I also buy the rice wrappers to make spring rolls which are great. I like finding random items too. On this occasion I found a "milky" rose tea made with non dairy creamer and some mango desserts. We also got bubble teas. I love lychee green tea with black tapioca. Yum! There are two Asian supermarkets within minutes of each other and they are both filled to the brim with delights. Great fun to browse too.

I had a fab birthday weekend (with a trip to Center Parcs Spa thrown in the mix too) and ate far to much indulgent food. Free From birthdays can still be lots of fun!