Tassie is a great place for a short break – I recently went for a 2 day trip with some friends, grabbed a car and toured Hobart and surrounds – saw gorgeous scenery, ate beautiful food, experienced no traffic jams, breathed fresh crisp air and met friendly locals.

A good central place to have a nice meal in Hobart is Mures at Victoria Dock, right on the marina. They have great seafood, steaks, salads and a good gluten free choice listed on the menu. Below is a pic of the salmon I had – really really nice! Click here to see their website.

If you have time I’d recommend heading out to Richmond, only about half an hour from Hobart by car. It’s a very cute, quaint little town, one of the oldest in Australia.

We dropped into Ashmore on Bridge, a very nice little cafe on the main street, for brunch.

They have gluten free options including gluten free bread. They also have a really nice range of gourmet teas!

I must say the most interesting thing about this cafe was the toilet – it’s around the back, outside, check it out!

Ah Fiji…the paradise of islands, the island paradise…and I’m sure you’ll all be happy to hear that there are gluten free options! We stayed at the beautiful Sofiel Fiji in Denarau – a resort area only about 20 minutes from Nadi airport (the airport that most international airlines fly into). The Sofitel is located on a strip of resorts including the Sheraton and the Westin just next door. The actual resort is not huge in terms of how much land it takes up, but even at really high occupancy it doesn’t feel crowded and you can still find a secluded space by the pool or on the beach just for you to relax. As with most resorts in Fiji, all the rooms face the ocean (although not all have views) and the beach is no more than a few hundred metres away. The thing I loved most was the hammocks scattered around the beach tied to palm trees – the perfect place to hang out and read a book or take an afternoon nap!

There are a few dining options at the resort, my favourite was Salt which is right on the beach and serves a really good range of local and western food, with gluten free options marked on the menu. The food was really well priced and excellent quality, and plus you get an amazing view. We ended up going here most times for both lunch and dinner and grabbed a cocktail or two after dinner (and before at happy hour!)

The breakfast is a buffet breakfast, there is a small selection of gluten free breads and pastries, plus you can get the chef to make up an omlette on the spot so you can pick what goes in it.

The good thing about staying on Denarau is that you don’t have to be stuck in your resort – walk a few hundred metres along the beach and you can dine at any of the restaurants at Sheraton or the Westin, or walk a few minutes in the other direction and you’re at the marina with a shopping centre and selection of restaurants.

The staff are so friendly and accommodating – Fiji really is the land of friendly happy people.

If you’re looking for a nice relaxing beach getaway, Fiji is a great place to go with your other half or with the kids too.

I’ve been a bit quiet the past 2 weeks as I’ve been on holidays in Cambodia. I thought I’d do a gluten free travel review in case anyone is planning on going there. Cambodia is a beautiful country – touched by tourism but not quite at the point where it’s too touristy so you can still experience a lot of the local culture. Food wise the type of food is quite similar to Thai food – lots of coconut based curries – their main dish is Amok curry which can be done with fish, chicken or beef. Lots of stir fries, fried rice and soups too.

In terms of gluten free eating, this is not a country you want to go to if you worry about not being able to be guaranteed gluten free. In general, a lot of Cambodian food is gluten free when cooked from scratch and in the traditional method. Very basic English is widely spoken but even then a lot of time you need to point to the item on the menu to be understood properly, so getting the gluten free concept across would be a challenge to say the least! Khmer is the local language so if you’re worried I’d suggest trying to get a translation of a flash card that you can show at restaurants.

There are a lot of western restaurants run by ex-pats, many from Australia, so if you manage to see the owners you can always ask them but generally these places are still run day to day by locals. In saying that most western restaurants have the steak + veg option which, without sauces, is pretty sure to be gluten free.

In local restaurants you’ll always find an Amok curry of some kind – the ingredients to make this are all gluten free so it’s a good guess, but still, you don’t know exactly what ingredients they’ve used so it’s hard to be certain. Same story with stir fries, fried rice, etc – the ingredients are likely gluten free but once you add sauces, etc it’s really hard to be sure.

For snacks, there are a lot of general stores that have lots of western food with brands you’ll recognise (with labeled ingredients).

If you can, stay at a good hotel like the Sofitel in Ankor which will more likely cater to gluten free (although they are clearly a bit pricier!)

Here’s another entry in my Travel series, this time from a guest reviewer, Jade, one of my closest friends and the inspiration behind this website! If you’d like to sumbit a guest review email info@glutenshmooten.com.au

Nulla Nulla

75 Cronulla St, Cronulla

We wanted to stop somewhere nice for breakfast and stumbled across this cafe in Cronulla. We asked the waitress if they catered for Gluten free and they said the could adapt the “Vegetarian Breakfast” for me – so the only things you miss out on are the toast and unfortunately the hashbrown isn’t GF either. I found the staff to be very friendly and accommodating.

Bondi Pizza

180-186 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach

Now I have had a lot of Gluten free pizzas in my time – but this could quite possibly be the freshest and tastiest I have ever had! Sitting right across the road from famous Bondi Beach “Bondi Pizza” is a gluten free pizza haven. For a extra charge (I believe it was around $3.50) they can adapt just about any of their pizzas on a gluten free base. I decided to go simple and ordered the Margarita – and it was delicious! My friends ordered the Nacho Mexicana (not GF) but they CAN do that on a GF base – so I’ve been told that was delicious! Maybe a little pricey – but worth it. Click here to see their website.

Buzy Bakehouse

123 Queen St, Woolhara, click here to see their website (although you might not want to after reading below!)

Buzy Bakehouse can be found in the beautiful suburb of Woolhara. We stumbled across this very “buzy” bakehouse whilst walking down Queen St. I was so excited to read the sign out the front that had a massive “Gluten free” plastered across it! On my first visit I had the biscuits pictured – there were over 15 to chose from and I must say they were all delicious! (the question of course… was were they REALLY gluten free?… read on)

The next day whilst my friends had brunch in a nearby cafe, I thought it was time to try some of their savoury items. I ordered a GF sausage roll and GF croissant. I was told by the wait staff that the sausage roll was frozen and would have to be heated up – I said I didn’t mind as us coeliacs are used to our frozen food and not fresh! He then went to get my croissant from somewhere else – something made me feel uneasy and I said for second time “Are you SURE that it is Gluten free?” He looked at me like I was a fool and said of course it is. The cost came to around $6 – which I thought to be a  bargain as usually it would be $6 alone for ONE GF product. I went back to my friends happy with my purchases and scoffed my sausage roll which was admittedly lacking in flavour, Ive had much better. I opened up my croissant and pulled off a large section and ate it. Something seemed odd – it LOOKED like a Gluten croissant and TASTED like a gluten croissant, but I had asked TWICE so I must have been paranoid. I decided not to eat the rest at that stage, but wander back across the road to “buzy bakery” to buy a couple more croissants for the family. I went to order from a different man and was told that they were ONLY frozen not fresh! How can that be when the last one I just purchased was NOT frozen. At this stage I began to panic as I have not purposely eaten gluten in over 11 years. Management spoke to me and apologised and said all her staff should know. I expressed my anger and frustration and she “joked” that I would be “well in 5 days” and offered my money back. I said that was not the point. If you are going to sell gluten free products it is SO important that staff understand the severity of such a stupid mistake – especially when that patron asks TWICE. I would not recommend this place unless you want to play russian roulette with your coeliac.

[mappress]

I’m sure there are lots more gluten free options in Sydney so as a starting point check out Gluten Free Aussie Girl, Miss Gluten Free and Enjoy

This is the first of many posts about gluten free eating when travelling around Australia. Hopefully these posts will help you convince yourself that you need to take that holiday!

My first travel review is of Port Douglas, which is very gluten free friendly with a lot of choice for both casual and more formal dining. Plus they have a Coles supermarket for any snacks you need to top up on. By no means is this an extensive list of gluten free places but just those that I came across in my travels. If anyone has anything to add to this list please let me know – add a comment or email info@glutenshmooten.com.au

Finz

Shop 17, Portico Shopping Centre, Macrossan St

Seafood Restaurant so most gluten free options on the menu are fish dishes. You can check out their website here

Zinc

53-61 Macrossan Street

Beautiful setting with indoor and outdoor options. Gluten free choices include fish and meat dishes, risottos, salads. Click here to go to their website.

Bistro 3

Corner Wharf and Macrossan Streets

We had dinner here one night, it’s a small cosy restaurant with a few outdoor tables too. The food was beautiful, great service, I’d definitely go back here. Check out their website here.

Under Wraps

22 Macrossan St

A little cafe / take away with sandwiches, salads, smoothies

Shakes Gelati

Portico Shopping Centre, Macrossan St

One of two big ice creameries on Macrossan St – this one identifies gluten free options

Rehab

18 Macrossan St

Casual cafe with a very funky atmosphere, wireless access and some computers at the back where you can use the internet. Not a lot of gluten free options but it’s a good place to grab a drink or coffee and when I was there they had gluten free lamingtons, yum. Click here to see their website.

Mangojam

Gluten free pizza – take away or eat in. Visit their website here.

Bakery – I can’t remember the name but it’s just off Macrossan St, and it has gluten free pastries