Monday 22 February 2016

Top Tips on Dining Out Gluten Free

I love eating out, heck who am I kidding I love eating period!

So eating out is a super treat – no cooking for me hurrah.

I’m very lucky where I live in Killarney, County Kerry because we are blessed with some awesome places to eat who happily accommodate us gluten free/coeliac peeps. The Oak hotel on Muckross road have delish gluten free options including burgers and a huge array of gluten free desserts.
However as I travel around the country with my business consultancy, there have been some struggles I have come up against.



So here are some tips that just may help you out on your gluten free journey:

Call then ahead of time
Sometimes, especially in off peak times (coming from a tourism town) restaurants and eateries may not stock such a large variety of foods, so there is no harm giving them a call ahead of arriving to see if they can cater for your diet.

Tell your waitress/waiter
I used to get a few rolling eyes from chums when I would announce to the server that I am gluten free. But now I tend to be the envy of the group when dining out, as often there are additional yummy gluten free options not listed on the menu but available on request. For example the Brehon Hotel have a divine crème brulee for us Coeliacs and if I have business meetings there I order a coffee and ask for gluten free bikkies and they nearly always have them! If you don’t ask you don’t get.

Soups and Salad starters
I often find the starters have the least amount of options for gluten free. But a soup or salad is usually a safe option as long as the salad doesn’t have any croutons or gluten based salad dressings.

Chips galore
It’s an Irish thing we need loads of potatoes with our dinner and always a few cheeky chips on the side. However some restaurants don’t have the facility to offer gluten free chips (i.e. chips that haven’t been cooked in the same oil as battered foods). So it’s time to bulk up on veggies if so or ask for what other options they have.

Don’t hide away with your gluten free diet, but you have to be prepared.

There’s never a day when I switch off, I constantly have to check food labels, ask people what is in their food and if I am not organised enough I often prefer to just have some fruit rather than suffer the pain of eating gluten just because I wasn’t organised enough.

Let us know your favourite gluten free eateries so we can spread the word with others.

Have an awesome gluten free day

Heidi and the Glutenzone Team x

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