What do you eat? - In Aberdeen
Or more correctly
Where do you eat?
Spent the weekend in Aberdeen recently. Before we had even booked it my mum asked Where can you eat? Planning for a trip for me now includes Restaurants, Deli's and Cafe's.
Re-cap: - Currently I'm lactose intolerant, wheat intolerant and following a Low Fodmap diet to maintain my IBS symptoms. I'm also a Pescatarian, not just for ethical reasons. I discovered my IBS symptoms got worse when I ate meat or poultry.
Basically this makes eating out really difficult. Lucky for me I love Jacket potatoes, since I seem to be eating a lot of them lately.
If you are from Aberdeen or lived in the area then you will know what a Fly Cup is. A fly cup is basically the same as going out for a Coffee. Traditionally there is a morning and afternoon fly cup, and refers to a cup of tea on the fly during your day.
The first stop we made was too Carluccio's for our morning fly cup, as mum had been there previously with some friends.
- Union Square Centre
I could not find any menu's online showing allergy information. So didn't know if Id find anything to eat, so was pleasantly surprised.
After discovering I'm Wheat intolerant not yeast intolerant, it means I can eat bread again as long as it's Gluten free. After years of not being able to eat any, my new favourite food is toast. Lucky for me Carluccio's have it on there menu.
Even better on request you can have a Gluten free menu, or a dairy free one. My only negative comment would be that the information would be better on one menu. However not many people have a problem with both like I do.
They also do not have dairy free spread, again playing devils advocate they probably do not get it request often enough for them to stock.
- De-caff Soya milk smooth Cafe Latte.
- Toast and Jam
On entering your overwhelmed by a delicious array of cakes and tray bakes. There meringues look gorgeous and are massive. There is always at least one Gluten free option. There prices are also reasonable, my café latte and toast were under £5.00.
On the whole would really recommend you check out this restaurant. They have a lot of options for those of us living on a restrictive diet. The staff were also really nice and friendly.
Meringues are dairy free and gluten free, as there are only 2 ingredients.
Egg whites and sugar.
There are several Wagamama Restaurants in Aberdeen. We ate at the Aberdeen academy one. There online site has a really useful and helpful dietary advise tool, which allows you to search for more than one allergen at a time.
Traditional Asian food does not contain dairy, however it's always worth double checking. They also use Rice and Rice noodles which are Gluten free.
Yasai Pad- Thai
- tofu + vegetables, with rice noodles in a tamarind sauce with egg, beansprouts, leeks, chillies and red onion. garnished with fried shallots, peanuts, fresh herbs and lime
- Fresh made Tropical Juice
Total cost for my lunch =£12.45.
Can't wait to go back to this chain of restaurants. The food is fresh cooked to order, your given a decent sized portion for the price of the dish, and the restaurant had a nice relaxed atmosphere.
The one negative we had, was that my mum's food was not served at the same time as mine. Both dished should have came out together.
Giraffe
Union Square Shopping centre
Found this restaurant online, while searching for locations to eat. Looked really good, especially since they promote the use of local food. I ordered the -
No Bun Falafel with Red Pepper & Harissa Hummus
we've taken away the bun (& the fries) from our burger then added a colourful salad with lots of good things like quinoa, edamame, fresh herbs & elderflower dressing plus avocado, tomato & tzatziki
I cheated a little since the falafel contained gluten, however I'm intolerant and as long as I don't eat it regularly I'm okay. I also gave the tzatziki as miss, since it contained dairy. Dairy is not something I can take a risk on, without suffering the consequences.
Was really disappointed when I finally got my dish. It contained 5 small pieces of falafal's rather than the bugger promised and they didn't taste that great either. Iv eaten better supermarket own brands. The promised avocado was 2 small slices and was part of a really small salad. The salad was great, but I was still hungry so ended up eating half of my mums sweet potato chips.
The dish was really over priced for £10.95,
Postives: There homemade lemonade was great, one of the best iv tasted. While all the staff were really friendly and helpful. My mums chicken burger looked great and she really enjoyed it.
Did I complain, the answer is no. I work in the catering industry as a lowly food service advisor, so I know the kitchen and wait staff have to adhere to corporate guidelines and that they do not set the prices.
Wetherspoons
The Archibald Simpson - Castle street
I don't drink alcohol as it's one of my triggers, so this may seem a weird choice of location to eat. However sometimes the chain restaurants get it right. Wetherspoons have a - What can you eat tool in there menu page.
Salmon Salad - Gluten free & Dairy free
One of my favourite meals there is the salmon salad. A large bowl of salad with perfectly cooked flaked salmon. It comes as part of there meal deal, the salad and a drink only cost me £6.95.
I love this dish, Iv also had the freedom salad which is equally nice. However that was before I discovered I'm Wheat intolerant. The Freedom salad isn't Gluten free since it contains giant cous cous.
Verdict: My favourite place to eat was Carluccio's. The restaurant layout is inviting and the display of cakes when first entering is amazing. It's the only place we ate at twice, we stopped in for dinner later in the day. After lunch at Wagamama I was only after a light snack, so was delighted to find that I could order the toast at any time of the day.
The staff were excellent and really helpful when I explained my dietary requirements. They could not have done more for us.
Would love to know if anyone else has found any great deli, cafes or restaurants that are great for those of us with allergies or food intolerances xxx
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