Gluten-free dining in Germany (Munich, Augsburg, etc.)

Munich - fresh fruit
Fresh fruits are always the best gluten-free snacks. These 1EUR a pint strawberries are some of the sweetest I've had since I last berry-picked in Ottawa 10+yrs ago. I got them from Munich... I should have taken a pic of the stall cuz I tried berries from other fruit stands and they are not half as good!

Augsburg - hotel breakfast

We stayed in Augsburg the first few nights when we travelled to other -burgs during the days. We also got ham and cheese with hot chocolate and fruit as we did in Switzerland but the feel is different... Cheese & milk just don't taste the same in this Germany town than fresh in the Swiss mountain!

Augsburg - Mark's

After many days of sausages and cheese, I decided to have something light and order fish for dinner. I'm not sure if the balsamic vinegar dressing is gluten free (seems so according to the University of Chicago site but I've heard the opposite.).... but you can order to have the sauce on the side.

MARK`S Gasthaus im Weissen Hasen

Location: Annastraße 486150 Augsburg, Germany0821 518508

Augustiner, Munich. The infamous beer house. A very plain dinner we got after being overfed potatoes and pork knuckle/sausages.... Roast chicken and roast pork. These should be naturally gluten-free.

Bayerischer Donisl:

Got its name from the Celiac handbook. However the server was quite clueless about gluten-free. So I got myself a feast and hoped it'll be alright... At least he advised me against those potato dumplings which he said should contain wheat flour.

Address: Weinstrasse 1, D-80333 München

Pork knuckle the Gluten free way:
To ensure gluten free, you can order plain brined pork knuckle with plain potatoes, wherever you go in Germany.

Nuremberg:

I had plain sausages with sauerkraut. Sauerkraut, or sour cabbage, is supposed to be gluten-free. Sausages... not sure what additive/preservative they used...

I only had a temporary "gluten freee allergy". I'm not a celiac and I could tolerate a bit of gluten even back then. This article is solely a report of my own travel experience... I know how hard it is to find GF info on the internet in English. So I'm posting this even though I cannot confirm 100% the gluten status. It took me a long time to find the "celiac handbook" link above, so my trial of that restaurant listed in the handbook is hopefully useful to other GF travellers - that, the restaurant, despite being listed in the celiac handbook link, is sadly clueless about what is "gluten free".

Gluten-free snacks heaven... Germany!

Germany is truly a gluten-free snack heaven! They sell Italian brand Schär, one of my favourite gluten-free snack brand, everywhere!

Look for "Reformhaus", or other "Bio-markt", "Bioladen", "Naturkostladen", etc. and you won't be disappointed.

Super thanks to sf my travel buddy for pointing out all the bio shops wherever we go, and shopped with me! I'm snacking on my findings from Germany at the very moment =)


The Reformhaus in/near Viktualienmarkt in Munich has the widest collection I've ever seen!

Thx sf for spotting Denn's biomarkt in [Bamberg??].

Detailed reviews will be posted later =)

Gluten-free Switzerland - Interlaken & general

Zurich airport
While waiting for sf in the Zurich airport, I strolled around the supermarket Migros. With the help of the store manager, I found this Farmer Crunch Corn Flakes bar that is gluten free. I'm not a corn flakes fan but this is quite a good breakfast bar. It is intended for everyone, just they processed the corn flakes in a manufacturing line with no cross-contamination from wheat.

I was planning to search further for gluten free snacks in Switzerland but didn't find much. Though, most of the times I had fruits like apples as snacks and I also had my supplies from home. So it wasn't a big deal.


Grindelwald, Hotel Derby
When picking hotels in Europe, I always pick the ones closest to the train station to avoid tugging our suitcases a long way. We stayed at Hotel Derby in Grindelwald which is literally right on the platform of the Grindelwald station.

Breakfast: They don't serve gluten free bread but I had cheese, ham, yogurt, apples, and hot chocolate for breakfast.

Dinner: Since they claimed that they have the best fondue in town (well the town is small and not many others served fondue) and we were too tired to shop around for food, we decided to eat at the restaurant.

We told the waitress that I'm on a gluten free diet and he recommended dishes accordingly. I dount that they checked with the chef for the exact ingredients..... but I didnt get allergy reaction in Grindelwald.

The cheese fondue for sf is amazing but the cheese sauce contains wine and other ingredients, and the key food in a cheese fondue is bread, so I had to skip that - but I tried a bit of the cheese fondue with potatoes, it was really yummy. Some of the best fondue I've had! I had a rosti myself. This is not the best rosti... cuz it was soaking in grease. But the potatoes, egg, cheese and bacon very fresh and delicious...

It is still a restaurant worth visiting given the location, fresh ingredients, and yummy fondue (for your non gluten free friends).

Location: Hotel Derby, right next to the Grindelwald train station.


Interlaken
Given the not-so-satisfying rosti experience in Grindelwald, I ordered rosti again at Interlaken's Chez Pierre. The restaurant is about 5 min walk from the Ost train station. sf had dried beef which sadly I've also given up. I had rosti with sausages. When I checked with the waitress, she went right to the kitchen to check with Chef Pierre and confirmed the rosti can be made gluten-free. Again, I can't guarantee that they verified the ingredient list of the sausages.... I didnt get much allergy reaction in Swiss =) [I'm not sure what is my tolerance level but my face would be covered with rashes after a MSG-flavoured meal] It was a tasty rosti. I highly recommended this place.

Location: in Hotel Carlton Europe, Hoheweg 94, 3800 Interlaken. 5 min from Ost Train Station


I miss Switzerland where the trains are always on time and well-connected, food is sweet, breeze is sweet, weather is perfect!

Gluten-free Switzerland - Bern

Still a huge back log to write...

Gluten-free life in Switzerland is not without challenge but it is relatively easy compared to Asia. Although, people understanding the term "gluten-free" doesn't mean they are serious enough to look through the ingredient list of every single item used in a dish.


We went to Bern for a day trip. With the tips from the waiter at another restaurant, we located this hidden pizzeria. We were very uncertain about this place cuz the door is in a back street and when we peeked in, we only saw 2 people sitting there. But then we saw that they also have an upper level. As we were heading up, we started to hear people chatting... It was half full at around 6, 7pm =)

Thanks sf for sharing the GF pizza with me so that we can both try another flavours =) Ok, the pizza is not those super crusty crispy flour ones. But it is more than acceptable. We got the magarita (? ) and curry chicken. The toppings are fresh. Service is friendly. Atmosphere is very warm. We were really surprised that the place was fully packed, despite the inconvenient location (while other restaurants on the main street are half empty). So if you are travelling with some friends on a normal diet, they will enjoy it as much as you do. Yuummy!

La Pizzeria

Address: Käfiggässchen 26 or 10 (?), 3011 Bern (Barenplatz)

Tel: 031 311 69 46

Fresh gluten-free bread on HK Island!

** 11/10 Update **
I warmed the bread in oven and had it with lotus spread (hint: mooncake) today. It smelt and tasted as good as fresh.

** 8/10 Update **
I picked up my order today. Texture of the bread is a bit dense compared to the usual wheat ones. It is not fluffy but it is soft and moist. However it has the eggy bakery smell. I had 2 slices of my ordered bread toasted warm (pic to the right, $20). It was a bit awkward to have it with jam and butter as I did.

Pic to the left shows the bread I brought home =) The $68/4 slices. Lemme try them tomorrow and update you =D

I'll pre-order gluten free sandwiches for lunch some time soon =)

(9/10 sweet, 10/10 savoury)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I checked with the Mandarin Oriental cake shop when having lunch there today. They do not have GF cakes, but they do sell gluten free bread at $68/4 slices. You have to order one day in advance, which means they are freshly baked.
Will order some and report back!
=D

Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop Hong Kong
5 Connaught Road, Central
Phone: 2522 0111
Direct: 2825 4008

Gluten free fusilli pasta (Carbonara)

I don't know why my photos get rotated automatically by blogger... And sorry, pic of the final product is missing.

Gluten Free Fusilli pasta is from Toronto. Gogo Quinoa, made with Rice and Quinoa.

Casa Rinaldi Cabonara sauce is from Il Bel Paese on Queens Road East, Hong Kong. It doesnt say gluten free but it listed rice starch in ingredient list.

I cooked it for ~ 15+min. And then mix in the Casa Rinaldi sauce.

Pasta: (8/10). It looks a bit whiter than wheat pasta. Texture is bit chewy as regular pasta. But most pasta broke into smaller pieces. Cooking time seems a bit longer than regular cuz they are kinda thick. It tasted good. No particular strong egg or rice flavour. Overall a decent to nice pasta. =) Your family probably can't tell that this is GF.


Side note: Il Bel Paese in Hong Kong sells gluten free (corn) pasta for about $69 500g =) But since I got so many from Toronto & Germany. I'll try Il Bel Paese's later.

Snacks from Toronto

It has been a while.. Finally some free time to update =) Remember all the souvenir I got from Toronto? Here they are .. well, some of them.

Barbara's raspberry fig bar. I took them with me in a ziplock on the trip. I suspected for a while that they might not be gluten free cuz they tasted very much like regular fig bars. Points are being deducted as they are a bit on the sweet side as they are sweetened by juice (-2) . Plus I'm not a super fig bar fans (-1). (7/10)
Dried blueberries. Naturally gluten free (10/10)
Smooze! are available in HK. But the ones in HK are not marked GF... though fruit ice should be naturally gluten free. I prefer ice cream over ice. But this is also lovely. (8/10)
My favourite favourite favourite! Sacher hazelnut wafers. It tastes better than regular wafers. The best wafers I've tried =) This is a Germany brand. I bought even more when I was in Germany =) Officially my favourite GF snack (together with Envirokidz rice crispy) (10/10)
Sacher Chocolate dipped cookies. Sacher. Enough said. (9/10)

Individually packaged - perfect to stuff a few packs in your bag for trips or as an every day snack. Tastes yummy too =) (9/10)

Grindelwald Switzerland trip

See update from after the trip here.

I'll be staying in Grindelwald this time.

General guide from CeliacTravel on Switzerland

Seems that various hotels/restaurants in Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald offers gluten free dishes: (I didn't try any of these)
Hotel Hirschen - Im Tuftli, 3818 Grindelwald
Hotel Jungfrau Lodge - Postfach 70, Grindelwald 3818, Switzerland
Hotel Sunstar - Haupstrasse 15, Grindelwald 3818 (A la carte meal cost: Approx. Sfr50 per person excluding wine)

Hotel Belvedere - Galliweidli, Wengen, Jungfrau Region, 3823, SwitzerlandHotel Oberland - Fuhren, 3822 Lauterbrunnen

For update, please refer to my postings:
Germany Reformhaus
Switzerland - Bern
Switzerland - Interlaken

Gluten free Germany (Munich)

I'm travelling again, to Germany and Switzerland.
Will keep updating with information I find online.

Restaurants:
Il Salento Ristorante Pizzeria - didn't try
(M-Sa 1130-230, 530-11, closed Sun)
Hess str. 15 (corner of Luisenstr)

Le Meridien Munich - stayed there but too full to order/try =b
Restaurant manager replied saying that they always have gluten free bread in the house and their chefs can prepare other gluten free meals =)
Bayerstraße 4180335 München

Bayerischer Donisl - dined there but waiter was clueless about gluten-free. I had the most plain dish in the restaurant. Yummy meal.
Traditional , authentic Bavarian cuisine
Weinstrasse 1, D-80333 München, right near the Marienplatz
Telephone: 49 (0) 89 29 62 64
Menu

Taverna Athen Greek and Mediterranean cuisine in Schwabing, Munich - didn't go

Buxs, Vegetarian restaurant, Frauenstraße 9, 80469 München - didn't go

Mercado de Mexico Schulstrasse 38, München - didn't go


Key forum: Toytown Germany (Eng speaking crowd in Germany)
Society: German Celiac Society
Blog reference: Gluten free snacks from Germany
GF Restaurant listing: Celiac handbook (Germany)


My postings:
Germany Reformhaus
Switzerland - Bern
Switzerland - Interlaken & Zurich airport

Feedback from S. Komatsu, GF Tokyo

I received an email from S. Komatsu regarding my comment that they are no longer offering GF menu (see previous post). So good news to us, they still serve GF!

Here is an extract of Aki's reply:

....it is sad that we had to suspend the gluten-free menu. In reality we still do not use flours that contain gluten in our cooking but as making everything from scratch is so time consuming we have had to resort to buying in some products, like pickles and mentaiko, and therefore cannot guarantee that they are 100% gluten free. There were other issues that made it hard to continue, like inconsiderate guests who, for example, book in as a group of 5 but then only order 2 meals to share amongst them all! ! It is only a small restaurant and we try to make our meals accessible by keeping the prices down, but literally many more hours of work goes into making a stunning gluten-free meal than a regular meal so it is devastating when this is not appreciated, or worse, goes to waste! It is guests like this who ruin it for other guests who really would appreciate our cuisine, because it becomes financially unviable for us to continue. As a result, now we would only consider serving gluten free to guests who not only book in advance with this request but also truly appreciate what we do and accept our menu and pricing structure without pettiness. As you and your partner no doubt discovered, you will get your money's worth of fine dining!
Regards,

Totally agree with Aki that the meal was "stunning". Service was amazing. And they baked my bread right when I was there so that it was warm when I got it. I'd hate to see 5 people sharing 2 meals too... maybe those are poor students with no earnings. But in Japan (and in many places), it might not be too appropriate? Especially when it is just a small restaurant that serves amazing dishes. 5500yen for the meal I had at S. Komatsu, was really more than worth it =) It was a real enjoyable experience. I wish I went again when I was in Tokyo but I was in Tokyo for a few days only. I look forward to visiting again!!!

My GF buddies, if you visit them when you are in Tokyo, you can enjoy a carefree traditional Jap dinner in a very private setting, friendly service.

Thanks S. Komatsu's team =)

Natural products show HK 2010

The Natural Products Asia Show is mainly for people to find distributors / manufacturers in HK. However, there is also an area with many stands for organic shops and health food shops.

I got the following Elderflower cordial. Aroha is still looking for distributor in HK but it seems pretty popular in New Zealand. It is supposed to be antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant... but I got cuz it is an amazing adult juice. You could mix it with gin for cocktail, with soda for a refreshing drink, or just with water as a juice. Yum.



Another thing I got is this brown rice miso from the stand of the Path of Health Ltd. I later found that they have stores in Wan Chai HK (177 Wan Chai Road), Yuen Long, Mei Fu, and Kwun Tong. Their signature products are coconut oil and sweet coconut flake. They are not GF-focus but they do sell the Envirokidz rice krispy (chocolate & p.butter flavour).


Also bought some Himalayan pink salt.

Will I go to the show again next year? If I have time but remember to go early, cuz by around 3pm, many stands were already packing up to leave. At an entrance fee is $20, it isnt a bad weekend activity.

See here for more details of the trade show.