Hi I just wanted to let everyone know that I went to a Wetherspoons pub for lunch yesterday and it was fantastic!
They have a new curry menu where it lists most of the curries as being gf and although they are served with nan bread it was not a problem for them to swap the nan bread for a portion of bombay potatoes which were also gf for no extra charge! It was £6.49 for curry, about 50g rice, 2 poppadoms and a nan bread (which I got changed for bombay potatoes) and a drink! And it was very tasty!
Also I had a pudding! Apple and cherry crumble with custard! This was also gf which amazed me because it was the crumble served to everyone! I got the pudding for £2 because I had had a meal! Was a great and cheap lunch out and I was overjoyed at getting gf food so easily and it being so tasty!
I would thoroughly recommend it too!
Written by
Elspeth
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It seems to vary slightly from pub to pub, but they are mostly very good at adapting and making sure you get good value for money, and as you said Elspeth, tasty too. I've never been offered bombay potatoes in place of the missing nan, but usually get extra popadoms, unless its a different curry selection I have had, which is something I will have to check out.
I've mostly tried the ones in Bromley and SE London, but the one up London proper was where I had my biggest trouble ordering food and trying to tell them if I replace the chips with the gammon meal for a jacket potato, it was then gluten free. This was the Montagu Pyke, 105-107 Charing Cross Road. A nice venue, but they clearly don't have many GF customers. Once it was sorted, however, I got the largest piece of gammon yet. As I tend towards a bottle of crabbies to accompany my meal I'm always happy to feel full without worry of 'later problems'.
I feel that its all a bit catch 22 because, they would get more customers if they advertised that they had gluten free oprions, the gluten free customers like me dont go there because they don't know !
Hiya Elspeth, thanks for sharing the Weatherspoon's info. Pre CD diagnosis, It used to be a regular mid week treat, to meet up with my partner in The Standing Order, Iron Gate, Derby. My fella works shifts & with the menu choice available there would always be something suitable to fit in with his body clock changes.
After diagnosis in 2005, I guess it was a combination of things that put me off going there. As a newby, I found myself getting irritated by the fact, that I felt I had to constantly explain... justify the reasons, for having to double check items on the menu & sweet talk the bar staff into swapping items to make it a gf friendly meal. They employ a lot of younger/student staff. Which can work for us or against us. As have found, lack of experience in the staff, can cause us anxiety & stress. Wondering if the kitchen staff have had our dietary needs passed on with the food order. Am I going to end up being 'glutened'.
Or you can strike lucky, get served by someone who is gf aware, knowledgeable in the fact that our diets are a requirement & not a whim. A need rather than a choice. Have had a few incidents, where items with gluten in, have still been placed on my plate. Having to then explain, the cross contamination 'thing', & NO! I can't just take the items off the plate. I need a fresh meal & plate! As those items were touching & that will make me ill. That wouldn't be nice for you to clean up-or me to experience! It certainly, isnt pretty!
So with those experiences & me still coming to terms with things, it hadn't taken long for me to be put off eating there.
So was nice to read your comments, realise things have improved & decide to give them another go!
Which will please my fella, as he likes his real ale- Abbot Ale being a firm favourite of his... Used to be mine too : (
That & guinness!
So will let you know how I go on....
Have heard that somewhere out there...there is a gf version of Guinness?
I'm glad you had a good meal and feel they have improved. From my experience of Weatherspoons, they could hardly get any worse. I certainly don't plan to go there in the near future.
Biggest issue I had was cross-contamination - they did me a gammon steak once that had been cooked on the same grill as gluten containing sausages and beefburgers. I was ill afterwards.
oh dear, this was one of the things we disagreed on with PONTINS in Wales. We discovered the site shop had closed and there was nowhere nearby to get any food. I got told to go to the chippy. I asked, and got treated like an IDIOT. Of course our chips are gluten free, they are just bits of fried potato!!! When this was explained about them being cross-over contaminate, she asked me to leave her shop as it was NOT CONTAMINATED.
Ive had a lot of similar tales over the years, resorted to having a card made to show them what gluten free food is, and eventually gave up, and we have to go self catering which isnt much of a holiday for me, but it is a darned sight safer all round.
Now I ring up the tourist information services, ask them before we go, is the train station wheelchair accessible, is there a good supermarket which sells gluten free food stuffs, and is there ANY restaurants which cater for coeliacs please.
WELL DONE TO BRIDLINGTON TOURIST.INFO,OFFICE. They not only told me the health food shops, the nearest supermarket with the right sort of foods, AND an ice cream shop selling local gluten free ice creams, as well as TWO restaurants. (expensive but nice for a night off from the cooking!) One has a coeliac chef.
The issues is always cross contamination. Many places are labelling GF but using oil for breaded and gf items and using the same pans/ water. As always speak to the mgr and always stress the cross contamination. Then write & praise the company so they realise there is a market for GF meals if they do well.
sometimes crumbles are made using oats in with the toppings.terry ate one in a local place and was unwell for days afterwards, even though they said it was gluten free.
I dont know if this might have been the case with me because I am still having symptoms appearing! When I was diagnosed I was asymptomatic! It was a random blood test they did at the diabetic clinic one day!
My sugar level that day was fine till about 3 hours after the crumble then it went up to 21! I checked it an hour after having the crumble and it was 5 and didnt have anything to eat till I checked it again just before dinner and it was 21! I assumed at the time it was because of the filling being sweet but now am wondering?
I've eaten at Wetherspoons on several occasions, usually when it has been Hobson's choice. From the variation in posts here on Wetherspoons in general it looks like they are always going to be a game of Russian Roulette. I've never asked about cross contamination in a Wetherspoons because I've just assumed they know what they're doing, but it seems obvious that some do and some don't, and the only way to reduce risk is to ask. As an engineer I'm familiar with the old saying 'never assume anything because it makes an ass out of you and me' , so I ought to know better. Its just that Wetherspoons come in handy for getting a hot GF meal on the go, when you haven't planned it and you are maybe tired, hungry and thirsty, and the last thing you want to do is to try and find a manager to discuss cross-contamination. If only chains like Wetherspoons could be guaranteed to have a consistent, nation wide level of understanding of gluten and CD. Surely this should be a job for the official organisation that represents us in the UK, Coeliac UK.
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