Thanks to the lovely people at Mission Media, I was invited to the Genius gluten-free tea at Claridge's last week. It was the start of a genius friendship between, erm, Genius and Claridge's - who will now offer a gluten-free tea, similar to the Ritz (see previous post).
In my humble opinion, Genius bread is the best g-f bread available, and it lent itself amazingly well to crustless, triangle sandwiches with delicious fillings - anyone who didn't know would have struggled to identify the fact that they were sans gluten. As the harpist serenaded us, and champagne glasses clinked, we were brought more and more sandwiches, and then, joy of all joys - GLUTEN-FREE SCONES with cream and jam!
This was something I seriously missed at the g-f Ritz tea and these were small but perfectly formed mouthfuls of pure heaven. Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, the creator of Genius products, is a michelin-starred chef and has spent years developing her g-f recipes. Her passion for creating great g-f food really comes through in the flavours and textures of her products and these scones were no exception! Such a treat. We also scoffed Claridge's desserts that were naturally g-f - raspberry macaroons and gorgeously rich chocolate mousse-cake but nothing triumphed the fact that here we all were, eating gluten-free tea - with finger sandwiches and scones - just like the rest of the gluten-eating world. Genius.
There was a great speech by Lucinda herself, who just proved what a lovely, down-to-earth person she was, and her dedication to the g-f cause is something we should all be very thankful for. With more people like her pushing great g-f products to supermarkets etc, hopefully they will respond by stepping up their game, meaning that g-f products just keep improving! Yay!
16 comments:
Have you tried the glutenfree tea at Flemings Mayfair? http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=201&Itemid=16
will be looking through your blog more carefully when i have a chance, coming to london in november
I dont know what happened to my comment, read a bit on your blog now, great help for my trip to London in november. Have you tried the afternoon tea at Flemings Mayfair?
http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=201&Itemid=16
Thank heavens for the internet. I am from Nova Scotia and will be in London in August for a couple weeks and was looking for gluten-free places to eat and shop. I had dismissed the idea of have tea but after your post about the tea at Flemings Mayfair I am so excited. Where is Flemings Mayfair?
Av
Hiya,
Not sure where Flemings is but Claridge's is also in Mayfair (49 Brook St, W1K 4HR) and the Genius sandwiches are AMAZING!
Lizzie
Hello
I am a norwegian mommy with my daughter who is attending a London University this autumn.
I am travelling to London to se my daughter start student life, I googled "glutenfree in London", and your blog came up.
I was born with coliac deasees, and it was descovered when I almost died at 9 months old.
Well, what I really want to ask you, is advice for where to eat our meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner etc) when I am a turist in London, living en the area of Richmond park
You have a lovely blod, by the way, pleace visit my blog if you`d like.
Yours sincerely
Hege Beate Hagen
I`m sorry, but glutenfree tea??
Do you mean that I can`t drink regular tea, like earl grey, green tea and fruit tea??
If you want to try eating home made, tasty gluten free bread (and other things!) you might like to come along to our secret Supper Club. The menu for our opening night on 2nd October, in Bromley, is on our blog :-)
Hi G-F, Thanks so much for posting about the gluten-free tea; I will definitely be making a reservation at Claridges for my next special occasion! How did you get invited? I was wondering if you knew anywhere that delivered gluten-free pizzas (that aren't horrible). I had one from Hell's kitchen in Shepherd's bush and it was pretty awful. I get my bread (lovely fresh Spelt loafs) from the chain Bread in Chiswick, but can't really find many places that do fresh gluten-free cakes, pastas, pizzas (to deliver) and other gluten and dairy free products. Coming across your website is a blessing!
You are so right. Genius bread is a great thing to have in London for gluten free eaters. I talk about eating gluten free in London and elsewhere in the world in my blog about Celiac Disease and the Gluten Free Diet. Check it out!
www.glutenfreetwentysomething.com
Hi!
I live in Brixton and since I discovered I have issues with gluten my paradise became the WAG ( wheat and gluten free), a nice little shop in the new area in the market.
They have fresh pasta, pizza base, muffins, cupcakes, brownies...
Happy new year!
Hi JJ,
WAG sounds great! Will have to check it out - thank you for posting! Happy New Year to you too!
Lizzie
whatever happened to this fantastic blog?!
Genius bread is good, but I actually think that for brown bread the new Warburton's one is better! It doesn't fall apart so easily and it doesn't have big holes in the middle like the Genius often does. The Warburtons white bread sucks still though, too powdery, I think they are working on it...
Hi Keith,
Thanks for posting about the bread... Maybe you should email Genius and let them know what you think? They seem to really appreciate feedback! It's great that all the g-f products are getting so much better!
I, personally, love making my own bread - then there's no nasties in it, but it's fantastic there are so many g-f ready-made ones for when there's no time!
Lizzie
Thank you so much for this blog! I've been suffering stomach and abdominal pains for months, and sufferring dermatitis symptons - so my party lifestyle went down the drain! I've spent one week on a gluten-free diet and am starting to feel better again - one of my boyfriend's first complaints though was "This is going to be a bitch eating out!" - So your blog has literally saved our life! Who are you? Are you on Twitter?
Thanks,
Jack (The Jack of Hearts Blog)
This blog is incredible - thank you so much!
Having suffered pain in my abdomens and stomach for months, and suffered various skin problems on my body - I've just tried a gluten-free week adn I'm starting to feel so much better.
One of my concerns was "Shit - eating out is going to be a bitch now!" - So this blog has saved my life! Thank you so much. Who are you by the way? Are you on Twitter?
Jack xx
Jack Cullen (Jack of Hearts)
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