A Coeliac abroad: Tenerife

I finally did it - I went on my first holiday abroad since being diagnosed as Coeliac. And it was brilliant!

Where we stayed: an apartment in Golf del Sur, which is on the south coast of the island, in the province of Santa de la Cruz.

Staying in an apartment we were self-catering which was perfect for me and it meant I had more control of what I was eating.

A little bit about the area:

Golf del Sur is a holiday resort and golf course in the municipality of San Miguel de Abona. Situated alongside a golf course and marina, it's a peaceful, pretty town. There are black sand and pebble beaches here, not your usual golden sandy beaches. The more touristy Los Christianos and Playa de la Americas are only a 20 minute drive away.

I felt incredibly lucky when my Mum &  Sister announced they were going to take me away on holiday for my 30th birthday. I haven't been abroad since our honeymoon to Italy 5 years ago so a holiday was very much needed! It was also my first holiday since diagnosis.

I was very much looking forward to getting away for a bit of sun. However I was nervous - eating out abroad in a foreign country where I don't speak the language AND being Coeliac - how was I going to cope? The more I thought about it the more I began to panic!

The important thing to remember when planning a Coeliac holiday abroad is: do your research before you go. I spent a lot of time researching places to go beforehand. It was a toss up really between Lanzarote or Tenerife &  none of us had ever been to either before. We wanted somewhere with pretty much guaranteed nice weather and places where I could eat out safely.

My initial research on Google came up with a few places in Tenerife so we booked to go there. But I also was very grateful for the tips provided by Claire Tulloch and her Positively Coeliac blog facebook page who had been to Tenerife just a couple of months before (thanks Claire!) I therefore felt a bit more confident going away knowing that there were a few places suitable for me.

I would definitely also recommend downloading from the internet an appropriate dietary information card in the language of the country you are going to. They are ideal if you are going somewhere & can't speak much of the language - you can simply pass to a waiter or shopkeeper & it will explain to them what dietary requirements you have & the types of food you can & can't eat. I found one in Spanish & printed off a copy from Celiactravel.com - just click here

What impressed me the most about our time in Tenerife was actually the labelling in supermarkets, in particular there was a small Dino supermarket literally a stone's throw from our apartment - this was actually way better than the main, much bigger supermarket a bit further away for gluten-free labelling.

There also wasn't a Free From Section in this Dino Supermarket, and all the gluten-free food was dotted about all over the place in amongst the 'normal' food (which I actually quite liked - it felt normal) but it was all very well labelled with these nifty signs.

In the UK we look for gluten-free or free from. In Spain it's 'Sin Gluten'.

Where did we eat?

All the restaurants we ate at were in Golf del Sur, just a short drive if feeling lazy or a few minutes walk from San Miguel residential village.

The first place we ate out at was Pata de Oro, we liked this place so much we went twice!

 

Here's their address: 

Calle Trasera San Blas | Bunaglow No. 9, 38620 Golf del Sur, Tenerife, Spain

 

Pata de Oro has a great range of tapas, a lot of it is gluten free. The guys that run the place speak very good English and seemed pretty clued up on what is and what isn't gluten-free. This immediately put me at ease. We ordered a selection of tapas. It was great!

Yummy tapas

We also spotted on the menu: Paella. This has to be ordered at least 24 hours in advance for 2 or more people, so does require a little forward planning. Spain's national dish is paella so we definitely had to try some authentic paella whilst we were here. We therefore decided to order a seafood paella for our last night in Tenerife and come back.

Check out this beauty!

Now that's proper paella!

The paella was amazing and I would definitely recommend it! This was supposed to be paella for 3 people but it could have easily fed 5. I think we did a pretty good job though.

Washed down with a large jug of sangria too!

 

Next we visited Rendezvous. You can find Rendevous at the Winter Gardens apartment complex. Their address is:-

 

Ground floor, Winter Gardens, Las chafiras, 38639 Golf del Sur, Tenerife

 

There are 2 parts to Rendezvous - a restaurant upstairs with an A la Carte menu or a bistro-style cafe downstairs overlooking a bowling green. We opted for the bistro which serves your typical bar food. If I'm honest the bistro feels more British & touristy as they were showing football on the big screen (think it was Arsenal vs someone). Don't let this put you off though. Less choice here for Coeliacs but I did manage to get chicken & chips with a nice salad. I asked behind the bar on arrival what gluten-free options they had on the menu & it is really a case of adapting what's on the menu to make it gluten-free. At least the chips were gluten-free. I think if you fancy a break from Spanish cuisine & feel like a few home comforts e.g. fish & chips then this place is for you. I personally don't like going abroad & eating food you can get back home and much prefer sampling foreign cuisine when on holiday, but everyone is different. Sometimes being a coeliac you just can't be that fussy & so eating here was absolutely fine. I think maybe next time I would choose the restaurant upstairs.

Tapas & Chill

Apartamentos Aguamarina Golf Local 3 | Avda. del Atlantico 9, 38639 Golf del Sur, Tenerife, Spain



I was really pleased to stumble across Tapas & Chill. For me this place had the best allergen labelling on their menu. Each dish was clearly labelled whether there was gluten, dairy, and nuts present which was really helpful. I decided on a selection of tapas including the roasted red pepper and pork in creamy port sauce. Delicious! We couldn't really fault the food at all - authentically Spanish, a friendly atmosphere and staff and plenty of gluten-free options for me.












Everything was really helpfully labelled


On our penultimate night in Tenerife we decided to stay in the apartment and cook for ourselves. Our apartment had its own BBQ so we bought a load of BBQ stuff from the supermarket (gluten-free chorizo sausages and salmon fillets, lots of salad for me). It's really easy to self-cater in Golf del Sur, the supermarkets are really good for gluten-free and you will pretty much find everything you need to prepare a home cooked meal. You can always take a bag of gluten-free pasta in your suitcase and a few other essentials but fresh fruit, veg and meat and fish can be found in all supermarkets.

Just a couple of the many brands of

      crisps that are gluten-free in Tenerife!

                                               

Another nifty find was this great ice cream parlour also in the San Miguel residential village, I would definitely recommend you pay a visit here. There are tons of ice cream flavours to choose from and if you ask the lady who works there (she is very sweet and speaks good English) she will tell you that all the flavours are gluten-free. I was a bit dubious about the oreo cookie ice cream so I would maybe avoid that one. But I sampled numerous flavours over the course of the week and was fine with every one I tried.

Overall I would highly recommend a holiday to Tenerife, especially the Gulf del Sur resort. Absolutely stunning part of the world and great gluten-free good!

 

 

Just a little holiday snap to make you all jealous. I really miss this view!

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

Full English Breakfast at Henley Street Tea Rooms, Stratford-upon-Avon

You just can't beat a good old fashioned English fry-up. I love them! But this is one of the things I definitely miss now when staying in hotels and going on holiday - a full English breakfast is usually off limits to me being a Coeliac. But on a recent trip to Stratford-upon-Avon I was delighted to see that there were a few places that were offering a gluten-free breakfast.

We stumbled across the Henley Street Tea Rooms by accident really after checking out a few other tea rooms first we decided on here as it is located right opposite Shakespeare Birthplace. An ideal spot if you ask me for picking up the tourist trade.

The tea rooms have a whole gluten-free menu to choose from ranging from breakfast, sandwiches, afternoon tea and main meals. Just look at the choice!

The staff were really friendly and knowledgeable about the gluten-free diet which is always a pleasure to see.

The breakfast itself was great, really enjoyable. I was so happy it also came with gluten-free toast and marmalade. Perfect!

It would have been nice to have seen some a gluten-free sausage or 2 on the plate and maybe some baked beans (Heinz baked beans are gluten-free) but it was yummy all the same.

Edward Moon, Famous English Brasserie, Stratford-upon-Avon

I had a great weekend away in Stratford-upon-Avon a few weeks ago (apologies for the rather late blog about it). This was a weekend of visiting the sights of Shakespeare country, taking in the culture, and of course eating great gluten-free food.

Having done my research beforehand I had located a few potential places to eat out. So after a busy day of sightseeing on the Saturday we stopped off at Edward Moon - Famous English Brasseries. The brasserie is situated on Chapel Street and is just a 5 minute walk away from The Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Coeliac-friendly options on the menu are all marked with a (c). I would estimate that about 75% of their menu is gluten-free.

My tasty chicken dinner, complete with chips, yes proper chips!

My chicken was cooked to perfection, very succulent and full of flavour, the chips on the side were a very welcome bonus and the side salad was crisp and complimented the chicken very well. I would definitely recommend Edward Moon to anyone, but especially Coeliacs. As Coeliacs we sometimes find there isn't always a big choice on a menu but this isn't the case here - you can pretty much have whatever you want from the menu. There is also gluten-free bread if you ask.

All in all an excellent gluten-free meal out, in very classy surroundings. I would love to go back!