Tea 42, Manchester

My apologies for the lack of blogging this past month or so. Things have been a little crazy recently as we are in the process of buying a house and my husband is just about to start his teaching career after a year of intensive training (exciting times ahead!). However, I just have to tell you about this amazing new gluten-free restaurant, Tea 42, I have just discovered.

I finally made it to Tea 42 in Manchester on Monday after my husband's graduation ceremony (his third graduation no less). I'd heard lots of good things about this modern restaurant from my Twitter friends, so I was dying to go and check it out for myself and what better way to celebrate a happy occasion than with some great gluten-free food!

This is probably the best gluten-free place I have eaten at since diagnosis in terms of gluten-free choice, quality of food and Coeliac-friendly staff. It's a modern and stylish restaurant and amid its quirky and vibrant decor, Tea 42 offers an exceptionally high quality dining experience. I mean this could be a Michelin-starred restaurant for all I know.

I immediately felt at ease when, before taking our order, our waiter asked if there was anybody with any food intolerance's. Thumbs up to Tea 42 for understanding people's needs who suffer with allergies and intolerance's. This is probably due to the fact co-owner Will Hannah is a Coeliac himself.

Tea 42 offer an extensive gluten-free menu, practically everything on their menu is gluten-free or can easily be made gluten-free if you just ask, and the menu has options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea and even tapas. Now there aren't many places gluten-free eaters can eat out at that offer tapas. The gluten-free afternoon tea looked amazing too, I definitely need to come back and try that!

Gluten-free tapas!

I was immediately drawn to the tapas and opted for 3 dishes, all reasonably priced at £4.75 each - the Moroccan pulled pork with quinoa salad, tomato, basil and red onion bruschetta and the pesto and parmesan arancini. All 3 tapas were absolutely delicious! What I loved about the food was that each individual dish was beautifully presented and obviously a lot of time and effort had gone in to making the food look good as well as taste great.

Moroccan pulled pork and quinoa salad

Tomato, basil and red onion bruschetta

Pesto and parmesan arancini

Tea 42 offer a great selection of cakes and desserts too which are all displayed in a huge glass display case at the back of the restaurant. When I asked the waiter behind the counter which ones were gluten-free he said all of them were! I really couldn't believe it, this never happens anywhere! As we tend to "eat with our eyes" Tea 42 like you to see the desserts before choosing what to have so we all walked to the display case and had a peek at each mouthwatering cake before we chose - this is a really nice touch I thought.

Scrummy strawberry cheesecake!

Also spotted on the menu was a whole list of gluten-free beers and a host of fancy cocktails. They are a must for next time too!

I'm completely in love with this place and can't wait to go back! The freedom of being able to eat gluten-free here is what makes this restaurant so special.

Here's their website