London, UK

I hadn't been to the UK since last Christmas and had almost given up hope of making it back to my homeland this year, when I decided that I must go and see my family. My mum's 70th birthday was approaching (she had me very late in life) and I decided we should just go. Without much planning. But it was probably the best idea I'd had in a while. God I'd missed London. And I'd missed the food even more...

M&S 

Everytime I'm gone from the UK all the supermarkets make progress in GF foods by leaps and bounds.  They've always been ahead of America, but there seems to just be a bigger market for it there. Anyways, after seeing a bunch of items from people I follow, on my GF Instagram feed,  I knew there were a few things I had to try & unfortunately some things I just didn't get to (don't worry I'll get them next time).  After eating a curry on my first night (British Indian food is just bloody awesome, and something I miss the most), the next day I headed into Oxford with my mum and made a stop at Marks & Spencer. I was determined to eat one of their pre made GF sandwiches. They didn't have any of the Christmas ones left (bah humbug), but I managed to grab a roast chicken & avocado one - right up my street. 

The bread tasted exactly like any other pre made sandwich bought from a store. 

I didn't love that there was mayonnaise in it, but it was peppery/lemony and so it was fine to eat. I'd definitely eat one of these again if I lived in England and wanted lunch on the go.

I also got a GF Sticky Toffee pudding to have with dinner at my parents later that day (because it would be rude not to buy it) and it was just... great! The sauce was incredibly rich and I added clotted cream (because apparantly I've forgotten I like having a waistline) and I loved every second of it. Does everyone else love STP? I really, really love it, so this was a perfect treat.

Lastly, I wish I could've tried all their new breaded chicken range, I've heard great things - but there was no time on this trip. Let me know if they're amazing and a must have next time. 

The Riding House Cafe

After picking Caleb up at the airport we headed back into London to our hotel and went in search of breakfast. For once, I was really feeling the idea of scrambled egg and I'm happy I was, because it was perfect! Creamy, smooth, the best consistency - yummy! And extra plus - they didn't charge extra for the GF bread! NO EXTRA can you believe it! 

Tip: This place seems like it gets ridiculously busy, so perhaps booking would be an idea. We didn't and they gave us a time frame about when we had to be out. The people next to us only ordered drinks and got told they couldn't have the table if they didn't want food! Either way, this was a great start to the day and a lucky little find. I'm happy we stopped in and would definitely go back. 

Beyond Bread 

Ok, now we're talking... Having visited this place once before at one of their own shops, I quickly hurried down to Selfridges to see their new counter in the food hall. It's so convenient now it's in a central location, I'm so happy I don't have to find their random little locations anymore! Another bonus was because I got to the food counter before 1pm, I was able to get there in time to try some of their croissants! Last time I visited, a bunch of their stuff was sold out and so limited what I could and couldn't try. So, this time I bought... Chocolate croissants (they're quite small), a chocolate & custard twist, a slice of honey cake and a cinnamon roll. All surprisingly good, I have no idea how they get the flakiness of a normal croissant. They were a little tougher than usual, but still a really good imitation. The cinnamon roll was fine (I don't love cinnamon rolls) and I think it could benefit from some kind of frosting like they have in america, but the real winner was the chocolate and custard twist. I wish I had bought two of those. They're sticky and moist and beautiful. My suggestion would be to buy a bunch of those, a slice of any of their cakes (because they are unbelievably good - buy this honey cake!) and try the croissants if like me you haven't had any in a while. I didn't have any room to try any of their individual pizzas, but daaaaammnnnn they looked good.

Pizza Express

If you know anything about me, you know every time I go back home Pizza Express is a must. Their pizza is just too good. It's magical and never fails.  

If you're looking for a quick and easy chain pizza that would actually taste of something and which has a GF crust that wont disappoint, then head here. I always get the Pollo Ad Astra and add pepperoni (because their pep is crispy and salty) and I devour it every time.

Demartino

I'm pretty sure that this place is not a chain. I've only checked quickly, but I'd be suprised. Although their graphic design looks otherwise, the place felt local and small and family orientated; they knew everyone who came through the door. Caleb found it by chance when he decided he wanted Italian for dinner and we checked to see if they had GF pasta on offer. I don't always expect that, because if I didn't have celiacs and I was Italian, I'd want to keep everything just as it was! Anyways...

After looking at their menu online and then when I was there, I actually went a little off script. I had seen that they offered GF spaghetti which is such a novelty that I had to eat it (anyone else SICK of GF penne?) and asked if they had any beef bolognese to offer instead of the boar on the menu. The waitress was brilliant and accommodating and said it would be no problem. Places like this use bolognese within their lasagne, so I had a feeling they might & I was so happy I'd asked. This was hands down the best Italian I had, had in forever and when I went in, I wasn't even hungry. The bolognese was dreamy. Melt in your mouth, perfection. Not heavy on the tomato (as it shouldn't be), and after I covered it in parmesan (as you can see from my only photo), it was even better. Parmesan is hands down my favourite cheese. I'm not a big cheese lover, but when it comes to parmesan, the more the better. And by more, I mean make my meal mostly parmesan. So apologies I don't have a photo where you can actually see my pasta, but there we go. The wine was also perfect. If you're staying in central London, you must look this up and eat here.  I wish I took more photos to justify how amazing this place was, but I was enjoying my food just too much to realise I hadn't taken any. But if I could sum this up - everyday I crave my dish and everyday I'm sad I'm not eating it. 

Galvin La Chapelle

To end this post I'm going to write about the place we went to celebrate my mum - a  French michelin star restaurant! I'm not sure if I've ever been to a michelin star restaurant before, have you guys? We went to the Chapelle in Spitalfields with the whole family and it was such a lovely lunch with the most beautful food. 

Firstly, the brought me some GF toast as they were serving bread to the table, which was welcome as I didn't want a starter and when everyone was ordering, they made sure to ask each person if there were any allergies they should be aware of.  For my main, I chose to eat the Roast chateaubriand of Cumbrian beef, truffle pomme mousseline, bone marrow & artichokes and it was absolutely, completely delicious. As soon as I saw there was truffle in the potato it was hard not to order - I am obsessed with truffle! I also don't eat fish and most of the dishes on the menu were made with some kind of seafood, so that made up my mind. The waitress was brilliant with making sure I didn't eat anything I couldn't have and letting the chefs know to change pieces of the dish incase I couldn't have some of it. The service was wonderful and the food even better. 

For dessert there were only a couple of choices I could eat, so I went for the Vanilla panna cotta, poached pears, and almond tuille. It said it was vanilla on the current website menu, but I was sure it was caramel flavour, which is fine by me, I adore caramel. There was also no almond tuille, and what felt more like bitter chocolate and caramel bark; perhaps this was the winter version of the panna cotta dessert? Either way, it was the perfect way to finish the meal. Everything was so beautiful I felt bad for eating it, but well done to this place for making everything so perfect. I highly recommend. 

And that was about it. Give or take some chip shop chips here and a curry there, I've never eaten more food in a week in my life, I'm sure of it. It was definitely all worth it. An absolutely great trip and an even better suitcase home filled with all the treats I've missed dearly. See you soon UK!