Gluten Free 4 U Birthday Present

Many seasoned Coeliacs who live in Melbourne will know of the Gluten Free 4 U bakery, first established in Moorabbin; and then later opened up a store in Kew.

Contact Details

5 / 1-3 Bignell Road, Moorabbin VIC 3189                                1345 Burke Road, Kew VIC 3101

Phone: 03 9555 5175                                                                    Phone: 03 9817 6981                    

Being from the west of the state both of these stores are over forty minutes away making them hard to get to.
I had never been to the stores and have never gotten around to ordering anything for delivery however I desperately wanted to try some of their goodies. I got lucky when on the day before my party one of my friends (who has a partner on that side of town) mentioned that they would be in Moorabbin (in fact they were just around the corner from the store) for her partners university open day.
I quickly mentioned that there was a lovely Gluten free store over there that I wanted to try and she offered to stop by and pick me up some items as a birthday present.
I mentioned to her my love of cheese and bacon scrolls (my father used to give these to me when I was younger, even after I was diagnosed; before I could realize the full extent of the damage it was causing me) and that it had been two or so years since I had eaten one. (I had managed to get one from the now closed down gluten free store located in Keilor East, which happened to be right down the street from my at the time house).

She managed to find the last two fresh scrolls in the store. The first I ate cold, too excited to taste the delicious scroll to pop it in the microwave and warm it. I literally popped it into my mouth the second she handed me the bag; thanking her most ungracefully with a mouthful of crumbs. The second I had for breakfast the morning after my party, this one I did warm up slightly.

The scrolls were divine, they were cheesy without tasting artificial and the cheese added a softness to the scrolls. The second one was a bit tougher on the edges due to having sat in the bag overnight but once warmed it did soften considerably. It was heavenly to be able to bite into warm soft bread that tasted like actual bread. There was plenty of bacon pieces to keep me satisfied as well. I am not so patiently awaiting the next chance I will get to head down to Kew and try another scroll.




As a surprise she also bought me a $15 gluten free muffin tray. In the tray there were three different flavours of muffin; Chocolate, Chocolate Chip and Blueberry.

It's safe to say that the muffins didn't last til mid-week. I shared the first three with Brody for his comments on how it tasted (from a non-gluten free eater viewpoint). The second chocolate chip muffin I shared with my Mother. The chocolate muffin became my Tuesday morning breakfast and I devoured the second blueberry this morning for breakfast.

These muffins were moist and soft to eat. The chocolate had a bit of an overpowering taste of cocoa, a bit powdery and bitter. Not that I mind, I enjoy the sharp flavour of cocoa.

Blueberry Muffin

The blueberry was a fairly plain muffin and you didn't get much flavour other than unflavoured muffin mix until you hit a blueberry, the blueberries were juicy and popped slightly when you bit into them. They were sweet enough to forget about the plain muffin but not overly sickly sweet. If there
had been more blueberries or even just better dispersed through the muffin this would have easily been my favourite.




My favourite only by a small margin was the chocolate chip muffin. A pretty standard muffin flavour but the muffin was soft and moist with large quantities of chocolate chips scattered throughout. Whereas in the blueberry I could take a few bites of plain muffin with no berries, the chocolate chip was mouthful after mouthful of melty chocolate pieces and muffin.



An absolutely delicious birthday surprise. For those of you in the area of Moorabbin or Kew, who haven't already you should definitely pop in and try some of their goodies.

Ashlee xx

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Birthday; Work Celebration

At work we have a birthday roster; every time there is a birthday in our area, one of the other people is tasked to get a cake or other celebratory dessert to help celebrate.
When I first signed up to go on the roster I was a bit worried about how much someone would have to spend for a cake for me. I hate burdening people, it is something that I feel very uncomfortable about; so as it got closer to my birthday I reminded my co-worker that they could opt for a Pavlova or even suggested that he buy a traditional cake for the rest of our co-workers and I provide my own gluten free cupcake.

When I got into work today, I received the 'meeting' request for my birthday and as the clock ticked over to two we all piled into the lunch room where there was a box from 'Cupcakes by Paolo'. Now on their website they don't specify that they are able to do cupcakes to cater for allergens however my co-worker was assured that the cupcakes we received were gluten free (the real test will be if I suffer any gluten poisoning over the weekend).
The back of the box does state that they do cupcakes to cater for gluten intolerances however they ARE made in the same facility as their normal cupcakes just with a second lot of tools (for gluten free only)

My co-worker ordered 13 cupcakes, 7 in chocolate lovers delight and 6 in oh so red velvet. Each cupcake had a swirl of icing and heart sprinkles (these I removed and did not eat due to most people not knowing that they could potentially have gluten in them)

The cupcakes were moist, soft and delicate. I can't judge about whether they were gluten free based on their taste alone as I can't remember the taste of a cupcake. The chocolate lovers delight were fudgy and jam packed with chocolate, while the red velvet cupcake with buttercream frosting were sweet and simple.

As long as I have no glutened side affects, these were perfect gluten free cupcakes. As it was a surprise I have no idea about the price of each but I am sure that if you contacted the store they could give you a quote.

Birthday Weekend; La Rustica Restaurant

I had intended to blog about our Saturday night dinner which was spent at the Hard Rock Café in Surfers Paradise. We couldn't wait to get back there after Brody and I went to the Hard Rock when we first took a trip to Surfers in 2010 and we have also been to the Hard Rock Café in Sydney. Both of those times I had a decent amount of gluten free options to choose from, however that was not the case this time.
We arrived, took our seats and opened up the menu. Three options greeted me; entre sized nachos ($20AUD), grilled Tasmanian salmon and steak.

I tend to shy away from heavy red meat dishes; they tend to bloat me and make me feel lethargic, so the steak was off the cards. We has ventured to the local Sushi Train (I desperately want this chain to take off down here in Melbourne, it was amazing to walk down the street and be able to not only have sushi but a sushi train) for lunch, meaning I wasn't in the mood for grilled salmon. This resulted in me ordering the nachos. For the size of the plate the price was fine however I wasn't anywhere near finishing the portion; it's definitely more of a share platter.
After Saturdays' experience I can't say that we will be returning to the Hard Rock Café again; I'm not sure why they have removed a lot of the gluten free options from the menu but with only three options left I cannot say I was impressed.

Our last night in Surfers found us not sure where to go for dinner, we had spent the entire day at Movie world and were well past the point of exhaustion.
A few months ago I downloaded the Gluten Free Eating Directory app. When I first got it I spent a whole car ride using the 'near me' feature to find new and exciting gluten free venues. Although it does not have EVERY restaurant that caters for gluten free (for example my local Hogsbreath will do gluten free and have gluten free possible options on the menu but are not featured on the directory) they tend to have smaller and less known places, hidden gems.
I gave the app a tap and opened up the near me locator. The first option on the menu was only a kilometre away from the hotel on the strip, easy enough to walk to; La Rustica Restaurant.

La Rustica Restaurant is a family owned restaurant; with two Italian brothers and a Turkish in-law by their own admission.
The restaurant would be hard to find if you aren't keeping an eye out; it is literally a small hole in a wall of colours with a few tables out the front.

 

After you enter the store, the front section is a take away counter and then through some beaded curtains to a rustic and quaint little dining area. The décor is mostly wooden, with photos of the family on trips and vacations, the wall next to us was adorned with definitely currency from around the world.

The menu was littered with tiny little (g) icons, my eyes lit up every time I read one of the options that I was able to eat. Brody begged me to share a starter plate with him, he had been craving Queensland prawns, talking about how fresh they always were.
We shared a gluten free garlic prawns on rice. Brody almost forgot to order the prawns gluten free and after correcting him I heard the waiter speaking to the kitchen "gluten free order, change pans"
The sauce was  delectable, so much so that even Brody was wiping his finger across the plate. We had two prawns each, all around eight to ten centimetres each if stretched out. They were most definitely fresh and incredibly tasty. I'm not a big prawn fan. The rice underneath had soaked up the sauce and was light and fluffy. There was a small side salad of lettuce, tomato and cucumber.

Brody ordered the no so gluten free lasagne (although there was a gluten free option available) for $19AUD and he couldn't finish the serving size, definitely a great price. I had been searching for a risotto or pasta dish that I didn't have to cook myself and was tossing up between a gluten free carbornara or a dish called the matthew's chicken (don't quote me I might have it wrong).
I ended up ordering the latter, a tomato based sauce with chicken pieces, semi-sundried tomatoes and gluten free penne pasta.

The pasta was perfectly cooked, the sauce was like the usual creamy tomato pasts or risotto and the sundried tomatoes weren't chewy or hard. I added extra chilli flakes for a bit of a spicy kick.
It was $3AUD extra for Gluten free (total of $23AUD) for mine.

This is a little hidden gem on the strip and it was well worth the visit. I will be returning next time I am in Surfers Paradise.

Birthday Weekend: Primal Pantry, Brisbane

By the time we hopped off the plane on Friday (6th of March) and made our way to the hire car it was safe to say we were starving. I'd done a little bit of research before leaving about interesting places to eat, thankfully Primal Pantry was not far away.

Primal Pantry is a 100% Gluten Free and Paleo restaurant situated in three locations around Brisbane. We visited the Teneriffe Village location on the corner of Florence and Macquarie Street.
I personally am not on a Paleo diet, I just couldn't go past the 100% Gluten free sign on their menu.
I was inundated with options when I viewed the menu and despite having 'studied' it before I left Melbourne it was still hard to decide on one dish. I finally settled on the Mexican Beef Cheeks with crispy tortilla and cucumber salsa, for $20.50AUD. Brody ordered the Primal Grill for $27.50AUD.

Mexican Beef Cheeks

The Mexican Beef Cheeks were nicely flavoured, however they massively overdid the garnish. Though tougher than other chunks of beef it was still delicious and the combination of the cucumber salsa and herbed sauce was beautiful. The tortillas weren't what I would usually call 'crispy' but they were firm enough to fold up with the meat and salsa filling still inside. The flavour of the tortillas was of coconut and nut. Delicious as an after taste even though I'm usually not massive on coconut flavour. Once I removed the garnish the flavours worked well together.

Although I was not disappointed with the food, Brody was. His meal didn't fill him up and I couldn't expect it to with the portion size, fine for me but not for his appetite. The pork ribs were more bone than rib although delicious and the meat just fell off the bone. The steak looked a little tough from what I saw, it may have just been dense, the sausages were lovely in the tomato relish they provided. It is definitely a lovely place to eat but only once or twice a year perhaps and for those with a larger appetite it's probably not the best option.
For me it was wonderful to see lots of variety that you don't often see in restaurants and although I probably wouldn't go back for those on a Paleo diet it is a beautiful place.

Birthday Weekend: Villa and Hut Kafe at the Airport

This past weekend (for those here in Melbourne the labour day long weekend) my partner and I decided to celebrate my 23rd birthday (10th of March) by travelling up to the wonderful Gold Coast and spending the long weekend. This was our first holiday in four years, it mirrored our first ever trip together when we drove up to the Gold Coast December 2010, two months after we got together.

This time we decided to take the easier way out and fly up. Now that we are both off of our P-Plates we were able to hire a car so there was no need to take our own.

While we were waiting for boarding, I noticed that one of the little café stands "Villa & Hut Kafe" had gluten free muffins on display. Each flavour was displayed under separate glass domes; there were two flavours, one sweet a raspberry and apple muffin and one savoury ricotta and pistachio.

I chose the Raspberry and Apple muffin. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos in the terminal so I don't have any photos to share at this point in time. However there is a store at the Essendon DFO outlet, which I intend to go back to, if that location has gluten free options I will most definitely try them.
The muffin was soft and moist, there was raspberry jam in the centre. The dehydrated apple was crunchy but not so crunchy that it was a deterrent. Personally this muffin was smoother and more tasty than any of the Gluten free muffins I've had before. It was around 4.90 I think but at the size and quality it was definitely worth it.

We flew via Tiger Airways, which is currently not connected to the main Melbourne Airport terminal, however according to the website they are also located in the International arrivals lounge and the Qantas terminal.
I am not sure whether or not the flavours are always the same or if they change week to week.
I am also currently unaware if any of their other locations provide gluten free options. If you have had any experience with the chain please let me know in the comments.

Over the weekend, I ate at several venues; I will blog about some of them so don't forget to check back.