Camden Town Eats July 2015

It's no secret that I love Camden. It's one of my favourite places in the UK to visit. The market stalls and shops in this area could probably cover every dietary need. It's a fantastic place. As we were in London for the Allergy Show we decided to stay in Camden for the weekend.

As we arrived in Camden mid afternoon we headed straight to the bustling market to pick up some lunch. Last year I ate from Maize Blaze and loved it. I've been craving it ever since so that's the stall I headed for. They do amazing gluten free and dairy free empanadas which come with an array of tasty sides. I love the chicken empanadas they are full of flavour and I chose to have mine with the salad box which included mixed leaves, tomatoes tasty fried potatoes, red cabbage and sunflower seeds. So good. My husband had the box which also contained rice and plantain. Delicious.

I can't visit Camden without stopping at Cookies & Scream. It wasnt just me that has that thought either as we found Becky (gfcuppatea) and her boyfriend Mark slurping down some scrummy milkshakes sat at the stall. I picked out the hazelnut brownies, a choc chip cookie and a bowser (brownie & cookie in one! Hell yes!). As always they were all super delicious. I always recommend Cookies & Scream to anyone visiting Camden who needs GF Vegan sweet treats.

Another place I always stop at in Camden is Chaboba for a bubble tea. I noticed they were doing a Watermelon special so I had to try it (being watermelon everything obsessed). I had it with lychee & mango bubbles and as a crush as it was so hot. Lovely and refreshing.

The first evening we decided to go to WholeFoods to stock up on food for a hotel balcony picnic. I love Wholefoods there needs to be one in every town. I picked out some sweet chill wings, falafel with a sweet tangy dip, tortillas and what I think is the best guacamole ever. I like Wholefoods as they list all the ingredients of the warm buffet food on labels making it easy to pick safe food. All was very tasty.

The following morning I went over the road to get a smoothly from InSpiral Lounge. If you've not heard of InSpiral they are a 100% gluten free, vegan & vegetarian restaurant and shop. You can buy some of their packaged products in Wholefoods. I had a Banana Karma Smoothie which is Activated Cashew Nuts, Dates, Raw Cacao and Bananas. I really enjoyed it. They have a great selection of take away juices and smoothies. They also sell nut based ice cream, desserts, kale chips and raw chocolates along with numerous menu items in the cafe.

We spent most of the day in London Zoo. It's a nice walk along the canal and through Regent's Park. I didn't eat in the zoo but I did notice that on one of the stands they had allergens shown on the labels for sandwiches etc. 

Late afternoon we popped back to the market before heading home. Another place I really wanted to try was the Louisiana Chilli Shack. I saw them at the GF Festival last year but didn't get a chance to try. I chose the beef chilli with tortillas and coriander salsa. This was one of the best Chillis I've ever tasted. It was so so good. Everything on the stall is gluten free and they have dairy & egg free options too. Thumbs up! 

Finally while I was in Wholefoods I got a few items to take home. I picked up a couple of Vego bars. I can't resist hazelnut chocolate. Some Rose & Cardamon Marshmallows which looked interesting and a chocolate orange cake from an artisan chocolatier call Pourtoi. The cake was really nice with chunks of chocolate throughout. Yum! 

What with the Allergy Show and Camden I had a great Free From weekend. Check out my previous post to see what I found at the allergy show.

Allergy & Free From Show 2015

Last Saturday I was up bright and early to travel down to the Allergy & Free From show at the Olympia. I arrived 20 minutes before opening and joined the queue which was getting pretty long. This is my 3rd year at the show so I kinda know what to expect and I always have a rough idea of the stalls I want to visit. This year I printed off a floor plan and circled the stalls that I definitely wanted to visit so I didn't miss them.

The show is split into three areas. The Allergy & Free From Show, Just V Show (Veggie & Vegan food & lifestyle) and the Love Natural Love Organic Show. All marked out with different coloured carpets in the Grand Hall. I'm glad we got there for opening as the the show gets busy very quickly. 

My first stop was the Delicious Alchemy stall. I love this brand. They sell some amazing products. My favourite being the bread mixes and the chocolate brownie mix. They were super friendly and it was nice to meet the girls behind the Twitter account. We discussed the brownies because they require egg in the mix. As I avoid eggs I usually use egg replacer but I was told to try mashed potato instead. I'll be giving this a go. 

My next stop was another of my favourites BFree. It was a nice surprise to see that they are launching Stone Baked Pita Breads that are Dairy, Egg and Gluten Free. I adore their bagels and these pita breads don't disappoint either, they are amazing. I love this brand because they don't use egg in their products. It's hard to find gluten & dairy free products without egg. Would be great to see more of their products in all the supermarkets. 

I stopped at the lovely Anandas stall as the marshmallows and Round Ups caught my eye. I'd seen that Round Ups are very popular with Vegans and I was so happy to see they had created a gluten free version too. They are amazing. Mine didn't last long at all. Who couldn't love two biscuits filled with marshmallow, jam and covered in chocolate. I also picked out some raspberry marshmallows which were (yes I've eaten them all) delicious. 

I'd seen Baskels mentioned on Twitter the previous day and noticed their mixes were egg free (as well as dairy & gluten free) and didn't require egg to make either. The mixes weren't for sale at the show but the very helpful man gave me a bag with a sample of the Artisan Bread Mix. The breads on the stall looked fab so I'm looking forward to trying this mix. 

I got a tip off the previous day from Sarah of Sugarpuffish that I needed to visit the Nana Nice Cream stall. I'm glad I did. She was right. I purchased a tub of the Vanilla Nice Cream and it was really nice. It contains simple ingredients (banana, avocado, dates, apple & vanilla) and tastes great. Hopefully they will be stocked in supermarkets soon.

I can't go to the allergy show without buying chocolate and this year I had Cocolibre on my list of must visits. The ladies on the stall were really friendly and helpful. I went for the show deal and picked out two large items and two small. I picked out a delicious three pack of small bars (honeycomb, raspberry & orange/ginger), a big bar of honeycomb and two small bars of orange and mint. Delicious dairy free chocolate.

This one my husband spotted and wanted to try. This is a rich raw chocolate. Both flavours were tasty. The bars were pretty small but I find with dark chocolate you don't need too much anyway. 

I stocked up on the O'Choco biscuits as I don't have anywhere near me that sells them. I'm partial to these Oreo style cookies so they will go down nicely. I don't think there are any other UK brands that sell this style cookie so its great that lovemore have got us intolerant / allergic peeps covered.

Another favourite of mine is the Venice Bakery pizza bases. I've been buying them for a few years now. I like to use them for garlic bread to accompany meals as well as pizza. They are the best UK pizza bases in my opinion. Would be great if some bigger pizza chains used these as their free from option as they cover so many allergies.

I've not had Hoi Sin sauce in a long time so I had to buy this from the Sweet Mandarins stall. They sell great gluten free Chinese sauces. I'm looking forward to trying this sauce with some crispy duck. One day I want to visit their Chinese restaurant in Manchester. 

Fave snack alert! The nakd stall had a great offer on their bars so I stocked up on two of my favourite flavours. My husband likes the nibbles so I got him a selection of flavours which he hadn't tried. These will keep us going for a while. 

Ms Cupcake had made all her vegan bakes gluten free this year which was amazing. It was hard to choose from the delicious selection of flavours but I picked out a red velvet cupcake. I ate it as soon as I got back to our hotel. Yum! I need to get her book out again and start making some of her bakes. She's fab! If your ever near Brixton go visit her shop.

So there you go. That was this years Allergy Show. I had a great morning at the show and was really pleased with all my purchases. It was great to meet some of the faces behind social media accounts too.

I highly recommend visiting the show if you have allergies or intolerances. There are hundreds of stalls and lots of really helpful information.

You can visit the Allergy Show Website here or find them on Twitter @AllergyShow

London South Bank

Last weekend we jumped on the train from the East Midlands and headed down to the big smoke. The main point of this trip was for my husbands (early) birthday present. I'd booked us tickets for the Silent Disco at the top of The Shard on the Saturday evening. We normally stick to the main Central London areas or Camden so it made a nice change to stay and explore the South Bank area. 

On arrival we had a wander around Borough Market. It's a foodie heaven. We'd been a few years ago so we knew what to expect, it's a fab place for fresh produce and has a huge array of different foods. From research I did before the trip I knew a company called The Free From Bakehouse had a stall on the market so I had to find it. They sell lots of different allergy friendly treats, not all of them cover the same allergens so you do have to be a bit careful but all items are clearly labelled. I chose a spiced plumb cupcake and a banana chocolate chip loaf. The banana loaf was definitely my favourite out of the two. It's was moist and delicious. Whilst walking round I also picked up an organic iced tea and a fresh watermelon juice. 

After walking down the side of the river taking in the sights it soon became lunch time. I'd found a Leon in the area so it was a perfect lunch stop. I love their Meatball Lunch Box as it's so tasty and a perfect size. I did on this occasion have a side of the baked fries too as I love them. My husband had a pecan pie for dessert, this was gluten free but sadly not dairy or egg free so I sat and watched him enjoy it :) I'm also loving their white tea & peach drink. Very refreshing.

Early evening after having a bit of a relax at the hotel (CitizenM is highly recommended if your staying on the South Bank) we headed back down to the backside for an even meal before going to The Shard. I'd picked The Real Greek as it has lots of safe options. We both ordered a few items each. I had the hummus with crudites and the boiled potatoes and chicken wings. It was nice to sit outside and watch the world go by (you have to people watch in London it's a rule).

*Silent disco at the top of The Shard is much fun*

The following day we visited HMS Belfast and then headed over to Carnaby Street. My husband wanted to visit SAID chocolate shop. Very nice little shop and had a few dairy free options too (and did mention they could order in GF cake options with notice). I got a posh bar of dark chocolate. 

It was lunch time again and our train was 3pm so we stopped off at Whole Foods Piccadilly for our lunch. I opted for a salad box with salmon. Just wish I'd have found some sort of dressing to put on it but it filled a hole. 

I couldn't spend too much time browsing round Whole Foods so I did a supermarket sweep and grabbed a few old faves that I can't get near me and a few new finds. I love the veggie chips and the blue chips so we got those to eat with some fresh guacamole (forgot to put in pic but is delish). Also picked up the Lazy Days shortbread as I love those but not in our supermarkets. I'd never seen the ice cream tubs so look forward to some summer ice creams in those. I tried the kale chips but I ate one piece and threw them away. I like kale chips when I do them in the oven but I've come to realise that I don't like the air dried ones. 

Now onto the CUPCAKES, they deserve a section on their own. Now I've had cupcakes in the past from Whole Foods and some haven't been that great. I'm always a bit dubious of buying ones that are not freshly made or have been refrigerated. I spotted these and couldn't resist the descriptions. I didn't eat them until I got home but they travelled well. They are made by a company called Vujuria Vegana and from what I can make out are a company in Barcelona. Well theses were the BEST cupcakes I've ever purchased from a shop. The toppings were nothing like I'd ever tasted before. The blueberry one had a cream cheese style topping and was so smooth, creamy and delicious. The chocolate was more like a dense chocolate mousse and very rich but it had a sharp raspberry centre so was well balanced. I'd definitely get them again when I'm in London.