Click here to visit the website, click here to download the menu

Have you tried any of the below places? What did you think? Leave a comment, and if you’re interested in submitting a guest review just email me at info@glutenshmooten.com.au

Contemporary:
The Firehouse, Ringwood
Website: http://www.thefirehouse.net.au

This place looks really interesting

Italian:
Fifteen, CBD
Website: http://www.fifteenmelbourne.com.au

I’ve been to Fifteen years ago and loved loved loved it. I really want to go back and this time pay more attention so I can write up a post on it

Mezzo Bar & Grill, CBD
Website: http://www.mezzobar.com.au

Never tried Mezzo but it looks beautiful

Mexican:
Mamasita, CBD
Website: http://www.mamasita.com.au

This has been on my list for a while now but I get scared off because they don’t take bookings for under 8 people! I’m waiting for the hype to die down a bit before heading out to this one

Asian:
Penang Affair, Fitzroy
Love this place – check out my review here

Jade Village, Mitcham
Heard of this place but I’m unlikely to ever be around this side of town

Gedera, Caulfield
17 Derby Rd
I know of this place but didn’t realise they do GF – they do Sri Lankan food – yum!

French:
Le Triskel, CBD
32 Hardware Lane

A French creperie I will have to try! Love crepes!

Pizza:
Pizza Piazza, Windsor
One of the gluten free institutions in Melbourne – check out my review here

Pizza Farro, Thornbury
Website: http://www.pizzafarro.com.au
Haven’t tried this place yet but have heard great things

Mr Wolf, St Kilda
Website: http://www.mrwolf.com.au
Heard good things about this one too

Cafes:
Sacs, Northcote
Another gluten free institution but haven’t been here yet

Fox in the Box, Brighton
Website: http://www.foxinthebox.com.au

Looks like a cute place

Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder
Website: http://www.rhcl.com.au

I’ve been here years ago – nice little casual cafe to do breakfast, brunch or lunch

Cafe Eden, Canterbury
Website: http://www.cafeeden.com.au

Not tried this place yet, looks like a nice casual cafe

Olmecs, Richmond

Liked this place – check out my review here

How top restaurants have honed their menus

Abla’s: Caters for the gluten-intolerant on request.

Bacash: Includes gluten-free dishes on menu and functions.

Bistro Guillaume: Can modify every dish.

Botanical: Trains staff to advise patrons.

Canvas: Uses symbols to identify dishes that are gluten-free.

Cecconi’s Cantina: Plans menu; stocks gluten-free bread.

David’s: Will make stir-fries without gluten.

Esposito: Modifies dishes to dietary needs.

Gingerboy: Designs menu with gluten and lactose intolerances in mind.

Grossi Florentino: Makes its own gluten-free pasta, offers gluten-free rolls.

Jacques Reymond: Menu largely free of gluten, caters to special needs.

The Italian: Offers bought-in, gluten-free pasta dish on request.

Longrain: Waiters carry lists of dishes without gluten.

MoVida: Separate menu for gluten and dairy-intolerant.

The Press Club: Separate dietary training and tasting for staff.

I haven’t had the pleasure of trying any of the above restaurants except for MoVida (which was beautiful) – I think I need to celebrate more “special” occasions and try a few of these restaurants!

“Orecchiette Primavera – Ear shaped pasta with Spiga dried tomato, red peppers, broccolini, baby spinach and pine nuts” – yum sounds great! Result was actually penne, not “ear shaped pasta” (maybe they only had GF penne) and hardly any of the veggies mentioned. It was also a really small serve of pasta, a bit tight when you’re charging $20 for packet pasta.

Overall Spiga was nice, but over-priced for what you get. For more details you can check out their website.

2 Menzies Alley, Melbourne – enter via 360 Elizabeth St

The Little Hungarian is now my favourite – it’s a very small restaurant, only seats about 30 people at a maximum, and is very homely – feels like you’re in someone’s dining room.

The last page of the menu book outlines gluten free options – not a massive choice but enough, and the choices are good ones. There are 2 soups and about 5 or 6 mains to choose from, including Cabbage Rolls which is what I had. No gluten free desserts but you won’t really mind – if you manage to actually eat your whole main you’ll be doing very well! The servings are massive – I could have shared my cabbage rolls with someone and still struggled to finish!

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos, but the meal was beautiful and authentic Hungarian. I’d highly recommend trying this place out – call ahead to make a booking as they seem to be quite busy on weekends.

They don’t have a website but are open Tues – Sat for dinner 4pm-11pm. Phone: 9523 6032.

Want to grab a quick gluten free dinner before catching a movie at Knox City Village Cinemas? Then why not try Red Salmon Restaurant.

Red Salmon is open all day, including breakfast when they have a Spanish omlette on offer. And for lunch and dinner there is an array of different dishes to satisfy just about any tastebud! There are risottos, curries and different meat dishes, and garlic/chilli prawns or enchiladas for entree.

I have been so satisfied with my meal each time I visit that I continue to order the same menu items! For entree I have had the chicken enchiladas which are a delicious tortilla, tomato sauce, chicken and melted cheese with a side of salad. For main I can’t go past the vegetable risotto which is delicious and rich. Other members of my family have had the smoked salmon risotto and tiger prawn risotto.

But don’t forget to leave room for dessert! The chocolate mousse is delicious in all its decadence.

There is also an outdoor seating area which has heaters when It’s a bit chilly.

Click here to see their website

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The meals didn’t take that long to arrive in the end, we had combinations of veg and meat fajitas. Excuse the poor photos, the light was pretty bad in there and didn’t help the poor iphone with it’s photo quality.

The food was nice – huge servings, you want to be hungry when you go here! Most of the menu is gluten free, although they have a weird way of showing it – you have to ask for the gluten free list that tells you what is gluten free then compare it to the main menu. Not sure why they don’t do what most other restaurants do and just mark “GF” on the normal menu.

Overall nice food, not too expensive but not amazing value for money either, strange service that leads to not a very welcoming atmosphere – a good place to check out if you’re in the area but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to go there again.

The entire menu is pretty much pizza, with some salads also available. They do gluten free pizza bases on Thursdays for a few dollars extra, if you’re going on other days make sure you call in advance to see if they can do gluten free.

They don’t really have a website but their menu can be found here.

231 High St, Northcote

I ordered a potato curry with rice noodles. The flavour was nice, but I wanted lots lots lots more curry sauce, the dish was so dry, by the time I ate the top layer I just had a bowl full of plain rice noodles, not great!

My friend got another gluten free option, a noodle stir fry which was much better.

I’m not sure I need to go back here again for a while. It wasn’t bad, just didn’t live up to my memory of it in terms of beautiful food. But in saying that, it is a good place to go to if you need something at that end of the city, nice atmosphere and good service.

So, back to Vicolo…I was impressed with the range of ristottos on the menu, over 20 to choose from. Plus they have a big range of meat dishes, pastas (can be made gluten free on request), salads…lots of choice. I figured I had to eat a risotto in a risotto bar, so I chose the Roasted duck risotto with swiss brown mushrooms finished with grana padano cheese. Beautiful meal, full of flavour and huge serving, I couldn’t even get through half of it, mainly due to the fact I was saving room for dessert! Dessert was a baked cheese cake with macadamia nuts, and was absolutely divine. We went on a Friday night and it was really busy, nice atmosphere, good service. The only thing I can fault, and this is being a bit picky, is the presentation of the risotto. I was expecting a nice looking dish, bit of garnish on the top, appetising. What I got was a big blob of mushy risotto on a plate, no garnish, no grated parmesan, just a blob of risotto. I even forgot to take a photo I was so unimpressed. Now I know risotto is not always the most attractive looking dish, but surely a tiny bit of garnish wouldn’t go astray…just a tiny bit…however aside from this little winge, it tasted delicious so all was forgiven.

I would definitely recommend going here…just make sure you save room for dessert!

This place would be really nice with a few couches and a bit more colour around, whilst the food was beautiful, the environment felt a little sterile – it didn’t feel like we could have sat around for ages like some other cafes around. However still recommended to try out. They also have a lot of home made pastas and meals you can take home to stock up.

Click here to go to their website