A question for coeliacs/gluten avoiders

[Boglin]

What options would you like to find in a café for breakfast and/or lunch? And what are you sick of seeing as the GF option/s?

Oh and the sausages will likely be GF as standard too because I can't stand shit sausages so we will be getting them from local farmers so they will be along the lines of the heck 97% ones which are GF and DF.

Tesco finest sausages are now GF so plenty of sausages out there are. If you’re doing fish and chips, use GF batter. No one will know the difference and it’ll keep your fryers completely GF.
Separate toasters, separate pans, separate chopping boards, separate knives.

For ideas have a look at Jane Devonshire’s new cookbook, which is solely GF food (her son is coeliac). I met her last week and sampled some of the food - it’s incredible and you wouldn’t know it was GF. Focaccia, mince pies, lemon drizzle cake, muffins... I’d definitely recommend it for ideas.

If you're likely to be somewhere with repeat customers, having some ideas for menu changes six months down the line, twelve months down the line would also be good. One of my friends is coeliac and there is a cafe we often go to. Normal cakes change daily, there are some changes to the main normal menu every three months or so. The GF menu has remained exactly the same (and, yes, includes the ubiquitous chocolate brownie) for the three years we have been going.
It's the only cafe in this area (think beauty spot type place) so we can't change which cafe we go to. We do increasingly take a picnic and just grab a coffee from them.

It’s really helpful to have a separate gluten free menu, rather than making people read the full list of things they can’t eat to spot the few that they can.

I saw one cafe where most plates were white with blue borders but GF meals were served on plates with green borders, all the tools and pans for GF stuff were labelled in green and the GF menu was printed on green paper. It’s really reassuring to know that every member of staff involved in making and plating up the food knows it’s a gluten free meal so would be careful.

Definitely no brownies.

Spring rolls or in fact anything in pastry would be amazing. It must be possible (m and s do decent sausage rolls) but nowhere seems to have them.

Agree with everybody else that most people who are gluten free just want normal food, not kale smoothies or whatever.

Please don’t forget the dairy free people.

GF vegetarian food please - DR is a lifelong veggie just diagnosed as coeliac and her choices are woefully limited.

I feel like I might need to make some Venn diagrams when we menu plan!

Separate menus and plates/utensils are a great idea thanks and thanks also for book/recipe recommendations.

Jackshouse, we won't forget DF don't worry - one of my best friends is vegan and I've been dairy-free myself a few times so I'm fairly confident on that score. Will again read up on cross-contamination though to make sure we don't make anyone ill. What has been your favourite café/coffee shop find?

I find it frustrating when places lump together all allergies/dietary requirements - so if I want a gluten free thing it ends up also being the vegan option. I like my meat! Also a good, comforting option that is gluten free...for those of us who aren't into the healthy eating fad of gluten free-ness!

Brownies are definitely overdone.

I wonder if it might be worth also contacting The Coeliac Society for advise.
My mum is a coeliac and is also fed up with chocolate brownies. I have made all sorts of cakes and just changed normal flour with gluten free flour and baking powder and they have all turned out well.
She would love to have things like pain au chocolat, quiche etc.
Cross contamination is always a big worry for her.

Praline hot chocolate has been my fav find so many praline things have wheat in them

I find it frustrating when places lump together all allergies/dietary requirements - so if I want a gluten free thing it ends up also being the vegan option. I like my meat! Also a good, comforting option that is gluten free...for those of us who aren't into the healthy eating fad of gluten free-ness!

This is annoying. It must be worse for DF people, because at least the GF menu often features plain meat (sadly with a bloody baked potato).

Sometimes I think the best menus are those where much of it can be ordered for different diets without needing to have completed separate menus (which would be tough for cafes). So sandwiches that can be ordered as GF or DF (or both, or neither) can be a good thing, so long as the kitchen is set up to avoid cross-contamination.

OP: it’s probably a good idea to start checking up on the unexpectedly gluten (and dairy) containing foods too. Things like Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce, for example, are usually full of gluten but often you wouldn’t think to check. You can get GF alternatives though. I have to keep reminding my mum to check literally everything because she thinks it’s just bread and pasta etc. Luckily DS2 is old enough to check for himself (and determined to do so because he hates being sick and headachey) or I’m not sure I could trust her.

The coeliac society would be a great source of advice.

A restaurant near us only does GF in their fryer so you can have the chips and they do a mean GF battered fish, tempora veg etc

For breakfast french toast, maple syrup and bacon would be my number pne choice

For lunch falafal, homous and pitta.

but I've found a pork pie that I can eat suprised that I love it I wasn't mad keen on them when I was younger

Where from?

But getting to the question, anything but omelettes please.

Nice GF is hard to find - taste test loads.

Sorry; Nice GF BREAD is hard to find.

GF bread is often much better as French toast than just as it comes. The moisture really helps it.

Sainsburys I messaged everyone a picture of it they were all

I've seen it in Tescos too

Op, Where will your cafe be?

If local, I will bring my daughter! 😀

Thanks everyone, yes I will contact the Coeliac Society. I think some of these things will have to be on the longer term plans as our primary focus is on getting the café open (it needs a lot of work!) but we can certainly put some things in place from the beginning.

Jengle, we will be in east Manchester, once all the social media is set up I can send a link to you if you'd like?

If you are using GF bread, please don't short change us, the slices are miniscule.
I went into an old favorite place of ours and have recently diagnosed CD. Usually they give huge portions and fill us up. My cheese on toast looked too small to fill a childs belly. I was so disapointed. The rest of the family had their normal sized portions.
Love sausages so GF Sausages are a hit. I also still like baked potatoes with beans and cheese or tuna.
I had a big breakfast in one place last month, Bacon, beans, eggs. They plated the rest for Dd so she got my black pudding, sausages, toast and hasbrowns. But they are lovely there and gave me a big GF cookie with my coffee and extra food on my plate to make it full.

Yes that’s a great point about bread slices, so often the GF slices are tiny, you need to make sure we’re getting the same amount of bread as everybody else!