The Gluten-free List (HK)

Gluten free ("GF") restaurants in HK
Just Salad, Soho Central (***)

Cafe on the 1st at the Excelsior, Causeway Bay (*****)
Life Cafe, Soho Central - vegan also (****)
Green Waffle Diner, SOHO Central and various outpost (****)
La Creperie, Wan Chai (*****)
Eat Right, SOHO Central (**)
Coast Bistro and Bar, Soho Central. Need to request specifically for GF meals (to try)
Sesame Kitchen offers gluten free cooking class in Sheung Wan
Taco Truck, Quarry Bay, Shop E, 22 Finnie Street (to try)
Munch, TST 1 Knutsford, Buckwheat pizza! (to try)

Organic / MSG free restaurants that hopefully understand our gluten free requests:
The Chairman, SOHO Central (*****)
Yin Yang, Ship Street - Wan Chai (*****) - Closed as of 2017. they make everything from scratch with love. At $680, you can be the King and make whatever allergy requests you have. Starting at $228 (set), lunches are more affordable. I think they have ala carte menu as well.
NaturoPlus, Wan Chai (*****) - Closed as of 2016. I was there last night. They understand the term "gluten-free". However, most dishes are not GF. I usually eat the Pork dish which is amazing. They changed the sauce to a cream sauce for me, but they said the pork was marinaded in Chicken Powder... To be 100% GF, you could order the steak, the chicken with olive oil, or the fish.
健味粥 Tam Keung's Congee (****), closed MSG & chicken powder free congee. Famous for its fresh fish & pork. The place is a bit quiet most of the times cuz it is located on a infamous drinking street (Tung Lung St) but it doens't serve alcohol... But the congee tastes like how I make it at home.
Tim's kitchen, the Michelin winner (*****).  Closed as of 2017. You can check with the waiter for the exact ingredients in each dish. They are always MSG-free but also confirms that your dishes are chicken powder free and soy sauce free. Note that in HK, most deep fried dishes are made with corn starch.
Original taste workshop 原味家作, various (**)
Xiyan 囍宴, various (**)

I haven't tried all of them but you could find information and reviews of them on openrice (available in Chinese and English).

Organic/natural food shops where I do my GF snack shopping:

Little Giant, Wan Chai (*****)
Health Gate, Central (***)
OrganicToHome, Soho (**)
Safforn Bakery, 24 Square Street, Sheung Wan (gluten free bread)
Healthy Delight, Soho 34-38 Stanley Street, 2/F (to try, has organic GF milk formulas)
Just Green, Soho Central, 52 Graham St
Green Earth Society, Sai Kung, See Cheung St
有機地Organic Land, Wan Chai (181 hennessy road), Tin Hau, Central (**) e.g. Gussie Auntie's cookies. See their online product listing
點點綠Green dot dot, 18 outlets - not GF focus (*)
綠盈坊O'farm, 12 outlets - not GF focus but may have some GF items (*)
Manna Organic Path of Health Ltd 177 Wan Chai Road. Also in Yuen Long, Kwun Tong, etc. (*). Not GF focus. Has Envirokidz rice crispy. Key product is coconut oil.
Healthy Delight delivery
SpiceBox Organics in Sai Ying Pun (Western district)
iDetox food store also has classes, workshops, etc.
General grocery stores with GF selections:
Oliver's Prince's building, Central (pricier) (****)
City'super, IFC Central, Times Square CWB, etc. (***)
Great, Pacific Place Admiralty (****)
Taste of Park n' Shop, various locations
International of Park n' Shop, various locations
Mark n Spencer, Central
Market Place by Jason's
Apita and Jusco, Taikoo Shing
Wellcome, various locations

Specialty shops with specific GF items:
Canadian Fine Foods (closed? I cant find them anymore) for delicious GF sausages, 3 Wan Chai Road (*****)
il Bel Paese for gluten free pasta and other italian ingredients. Queens Rd E Wan Chai near Star St (****)
NaturoPlus a restaurant that also do GF ordering delivery, Wan Chai
Mandarin Oriental HK, Central, GF bread at $68 4 slices (*****)
Ali Oli, Sai Kung, G/F, 11 Sha Tsui Path. Has GF bread with delivery. Also offers GF cakes!
cake2 Tin Hau 天后興發街 54號 - they seem to sell GF cake mix per magazine article in 2008
Xocai chocolate from Africa [to check]

GF dessert!!!
Riquiqui (closed), Central. Great after dinner hangout. (think Chickalicious in NYC). Call/email Amanda/Andrea in advance to order GF dessert like flourless chocolate cake, pavlova, ice-cream/gelato, etc. Friendly service and lovely atmosphere (****).... sadly closed....
Baking Maniac, online. Email ordering. GF cupcakes and other goodies. The chef & son pair is amazing. They are fluent in the allergy-language: egg-free / nut-free / gluten-free / milk-free, you name it. And their cupcakes taste as good as the regular ones! (*****)
Piece of cake (phone ordering. seems to be out of business)
Hagan Daz (some flavours)
Ben & Jerry (some flavours) - Times Square
Grassroots Pantry 12 Fuk Sau Lane, Sai Ying Pun, Western District - gluten free cookies!
Mana, 92 Wellington St Central also has gluten free desserts
Sweet Secrets 35 Graham St Central - gluten free cupcakes
Island Gourmet at the Shangri-la - GF version of their Chocolate Frou Frou
Sift Bakery can do GF cupcakes and some of their beautiful cakes like the feminine Ispahan
* I'll keep adding to this list. Please feel free to suggest.


Special thanks to everyone who left GF related message on geoexpat or else I could never find these amazing stores!

[Original post in 2010. Last updated: Jul 2013]

Gluten free articles in The List Magazine, HK

The June edition of The List free magazine has some info on Gluten Free in Hong Kong. In case you have missed the magazine, I've taken photos of the few pages for your reference. Here is their website: The List - Eat Smarter
Check out the articles! Our friends Baking Maniac is in the list =)
Some other stores to stock up for gluten free supplies and ... gluten free doesn't mean no more dessert indulgence!!!:
- Grassroots Pantry in Western District seems to offer gluten free cookies!
- Mana in Central at 92 Wellington St also has gluten free desserts
- Sweet Secrets with gluten free cupcakes
- Sesame Kitchen offers gluten free cooking classe in Sheung Wan
- Little Giant has always been the giant in gluten free food suppies
- Healthy Delight delivery
- Healthy Delight in Central has an organic gluten-free milk formulas
- SpiceBox Organics in Sai Ying Pun (Western district)
- Just Green in Central
- iDetox

Bon appetite

Celiac Disease English-Japanese Card

Some helpful resources for those travelling to Japan. Here are links to free Japanese celiac disease restaurant cards:
- Japanese Celiac / Coeliac Gluten Free Restaurant Cards - gif in Japanese only, gif format
- English-Japanese Celiac Gluten Free Restaurant Card - pdf in English-Japanese, so that you know exactly what you are showing to the restaurant. Thanks peko from openkyoto.com
- Customised allergy card at killerpeanut


Continental airline has a page on gluten allergy food items. You may use google translator to help. I copied the list here with English translation... Basically the first part is a list of food that we CAN eat. The second list are food we canNOT eat.

グルテン不耐症 Gluten intolerance

標準的な無グルテン食で摂取できる食品の一例
Example of food that can be consumed in a typical gluten free diet:
- 肉 meat
- 鶏肉・鳥肉 chicken
- 鮮魚 fish
- 米 rice
- フルーツや野菜 fruit & vegetables
- とうもろこし corn
- 塩、こしょう salt & pepper
- じゃがいもpotatos
- 砂糖やジャムなどの保存食品 preserved food such as sugar or jam
- マーガリン margarine
- タピオカ tapioca
- 植物性のサラダ油 margarine
- 乾燥豆 dry bean
- ハーブ、香辛料 herbs and spice
- 卵 egg
- 乳製品 dairy products
- ヨーグルトyogurt (not preferred)
- 熟成チーズ ripened cheese (not preferred)
- チョコレートchocolate (not preferred)

標準的な無グルテン食で摂取が禁止されている食品の一例
Example of food intake that has been banned in a standard gluten-free diet:
- 醤油 Soy sauce
- 味の素 MSG
- 小麦、小麦粉 wheat, flour
- 大麦、オーツ、ライ麦 Barley Oats Rye
- ソース類 Sauces
- パン Pancake (?)
- ケーキ、ビスケット類 Cake, paked goods
- ペストリー Pastry
- スープ類 Soups
- ソーセージ、ソーセージ肉 Sausages
- パスタ Pasta
- ソースの素、固形スープの素 Prime source stock cube
- 蕎麥麵はそば (unless 100% 蕎麥) Soba noodles (unless 100% soba with no flour)

Other usual allergens (Allergy 食物アレルギー):
- Kaki, かき、牡蠣 oyster
- カニ / 蟹 crab
- エビ /海老 /蝦 shrimp
- ホタテ貝 scallop

xo

麩質過敏症 日本 東京 旅行

Celiac disease / gluten intolerance travel card in Chinese

Through my travel research, I realised it is not easy to find free celiac disease / gluten allergy travel card. Especially those in word format I can copy and with sentense to sentense comparison back to English. While most people in HK speak English, it just feels to have a Chinese card with you all the time.

As a native Cantonese speaker, I've made the following "homemade" celiac disease / gluten allergy card in Chinese. I also included a simplied Chinese version for mainland China. Just to be safe, I make it sound very serious (intestine would bleed) so that the waiter/chef will be alerted and hopefully be extra careful in the cooking process. I've also included a jpg version (not updated for minor changes in word) you may click in for a larger version.

Also check out customised allergy card at killerpeanut.

Hope it helps!

English version:
Hi, I have Celiac Disease. I am allergic to Gluten (wheat). I would get very ill if I eat any wheat/gluten (my intestine would bleed).

Some examples of food I cannot eat: Wheat, barley, MSG, chicken powder, bread, cake, bread crumbs on fried foods, dumplings, flour, noodles, soy sauce, beer.

Examples of food I can eat: rice, meat (chicken, pork), egg, salt, sugar, most vegetables and fruits. (boil or fry vegetables)

Please kindly let me know which of the dishes in this restaurant could I eat safely?
Many thanks.

Traditional Chinese version (HK and Taiwan):
您好，我有腹腔疾病，對麵筋/小麥/麩質過敏，如果我吃任何含有小麥/麩質的食物,我會病得很重（我的腸會流血）。

一些我不可以吃的食物的例子:小麥，大麥，味精，雞粉，麵包，蛋糕，油炸食物上的炸粉，餃子，麵粉，麵條，醬油/豉油/生抽，啤酒。

我可以吃的食物的例子：大米，肉類（雞肉，豬肉），蛋，鹽，糖，粟米,大部分的蔬菜和水果(煮菜,炒菜) 。

麻煩請讓我知道在這餐廳有哪幾道菜我可以吃?
非常感謝。

Simplified Chinese version (for China):
您好，我有腹腔疾病，对面筋/小麦/麸质过敏，如果我吃任何含有小麦/麸质的食物,我会病得很重（我的肠会流血）。

一些我不可以吃的食物的例子:小麦，大麦，味精，鸡粉，面包，蛋糕，油炸食物上面的炸粉，饺子，面粉，面条，酱油/豉油/生抽，啤酒。

我可以吃的食物的例子：大米，肉类（鸡肉，猪肉），蛋，盐，糖，粟米,大部分的蔬菜和水果。(煮菜,炒菜)

麻烦请你让我知道在這餐厅有哪几道菜我可以吃?
非常感谢。