Having being diagnosed as Coeliac in 2009 I have travelled a lot whilst gluten free, years before I started using Instagram or thinking about having a go at writing this blog. Over the years I’ve found lots of gluten free restaurants around that World that have been 100% gluten free and thought I would put them together on a blog post!
Europe
Paris, France
Paris is a city that you imagine to be extremely difficult gluten free, one where you’d be pining over gluten filled baguettes and pastries. In reality there were many 100% gluten free restaurants to work my way around that I barely had time to think about gluteny baguettes and I can’t wait to return to the city. Read my full Paris blog post here to see where I ate on my trip!
Helmut Newcake
Not exactly a meal but my top food recommendation in all of Paris are the salted caramel eclairs from Helmut Newcake. I can’t wait to book another trip to get my hands on another one of these, I absolutely love them! The patisserie is full of sweet treats for you to indulge on whilst on holiday!
Chambelland
Another favourite bakery and must visit in Paris is Chambelland where I bought some of the best bread I’ve ever had and an epic lemon meringue tart.
Bears and Racoons
http://www.bearsandraccoons.com
Bears and Racoons is a great lunch stop in Paris. I had the most delicious sandwich here and wished I bought two!! The River Run was filled with salmon and avocado and went down a treat on the way home from Paris on the Eurostar. They also had vegetarian and vegan options which are harder to find in the city.
Biosphere Cafe
A restaurant that serves up tasty galettes is always a good idea! With a fully gluten free menu that included a patisserie counter, I also managed to try a Paris Brest here which I loved. Paris has some of the best 100% gluten free restaurants!
Yummy and Guilt Free
http://www.yummyandguiltfree.com
I can’t see how they are guilt free, but the waffles from Yummy and Guilt Free are definitely yummy! I had mine filled with delightful cheesecake cream.
No Glu
Not the cheapest meal for what it was but ahead of public transport it doesn’t matter if it means a safe meal before heading home! This small and bustling restaurant should be booked if you don’t want to miss out! Located in a chic alleyway, don’t miss the amazing No Glu patisserie opposite. I bought several treats to bring home.
Helsinki, Finland
Kelia Puoti
Finland seems to be an absolute dream for coeliacs with such good awareness of gluten free needs. However, that doesn’t mean that you don’t still stop and appreciate the wonder that is the gluten free bakery Kelia Puoti located in Hakaniemen Hali (the market hall). Filled with fresh baked goods including cinnamon buns and Karelia pies as well as shelves of other gluten free products such as gluten free liquorice, you really can’t afford not to make a stop here whilst on a trip to Helsinki!
Prague, Czech Republic
Prague is a beautiful city that makes for a great value city break. I only had two nights here but found some amazing gluten free food that made the trip even better!
Alriso
One of my favourite restaurants that I’ve eaten at abroad (although not traditional Czech food) was the Italian meal I had in Prague at the 100% gluten free restaurant, Alriso. My non gluten free friends still rave about how good it was. The lasagne was amazing and a rare treat whilst eating out as a coeliac and the chocolate fondant dessert was divine. Read my full blog post on Prague for all my city recommendations here.
Budapest, Hungary
I loved the city of Budapest that I visited due to going to a friends wedding in Hungary. I had an amazing five days celebrating at the wedding in rural Hungary with friends before heading into Budapest for some Sightseeing.
Drop
Drop restaurant was a fantastic experience after the wedding as I no longer had to worry about what was gluten free and could just eat stress free. It was so good I went more than once, something I try to avoid doing! It was a great way of trying some traditional Hungarian food without worrying about gluten!
USA
Chicago
Wheat’s End Cafe
One of my favourite restaurants in Chicago was Wheats End Cafe where I could indulge in totally safe food including pancakes and cinnamon buns. This is a must visit place for those visiting Chicago, the food was delicious and the service friendly. I wish they would open a branch in London! Read about all my Chicago recommendations here.
San Francisco
Mariposa Bakery
The 100% gluten free must not miss location of San Francisco is Mariposa bakery. From cinnamon rolls, to pizza slices, to sandwiches and cakes you’ll struggle to know what to pick!
New York
Senza Gluten
The 100% gluten free restaurant I see all over instragram with amazing food photos is Senza Gluten. Unfortunately on my last trip to New York I had planned a trip there on my last night only to get there and find it closed for renovations. It was only closed one or two days so was totally gutted to have missed out! The food photos do always look awesome so I hope you have a chance to try this restaurant if you visit New York!
No Glu
I didn’t actually visit No Glu in New York, but the branch in Paris features in my Paris blog post so hopefully on a future trip to New York I will get to visit. If the chocolate tart from the Bakery in Paris is anything to go by then coeliacs should definitely visit this bakery whilst in New York!
Washington DC
Rise Bakery
Everyone that gave me recommendations for gluten free in Washington DC had Rise bakery on the list, making it a must visit location! It’s a little off the tourist path but worth the effort to find as once there you will find all the baked goods including cinnamon buns, eclairs and donuts. Their sandwiches and everything bagels were also amazing and buying more than I needed meant I was in for a treat on my flight home! For all my Washington recommendations check out my blog post here.
Clearwater, Florida
Hale Life Bakery
Located in Clearwater Beach this bakery has a wide range of donuts and cupcakes available (make sure you check opening times). Through the eyes of a tourist it seems to be in a strange location on a kind of retail/industrial park but it also happened to be on our route from Clearwater Beach to Busch Gardens making a stop easy to plan! These gluten free, soy free, peanut free and vegan delights kept me going through a day at the theme park and I would recommend a visit if you can make the location work for you!
Serendipity
http://www.myserendipitycafe.com
Serendipity Cafe is located in Dunedin, Florida or about a twenty minute drive from our Clearwater Beach hotel. We visited this cafe to get a safe gluten free breakfast, a choice I was so glad we made as it meant I got some epic French toast with vanilla and cinnamon to start my holiday!
I also bought a cookie to go which I sat and enjoyed by the pool at my hotel. All the non gluten free-ers with me also tucked into one of these each with no complaints! Take me back pleeeease!
Erin McKenna’s Bakery (also branches in LA and New York)
http://www.erinmckennasbakery.com
I visited Erin McKennas bakery at Disney Springs in Florida. Gluten free and vegan this bakery was amazing full of cupcakes and donuts, the main problem of the day is deciding what to have!
South America
Santiago, Chile
I had an incredible time in Santiago seeing the sights before travelling around Chile for two weeks. I had a translation card to help me where staff spoke little English but I was definitely making the most of all the 100% gluten free restaurants found through my research so that I could eat without any worry.
Bar Italia
After a 14 hour flight and terrible plane food, I was very grateful of a 100% gluten free eatery in Santiago to fill myself back up without any stress or worry. I therefore made my first stop Bar Italia, a 100% gluten free Italian restaurant in the pretty Barrio Italia. They had English menus and everything dairy free was also marked up on the menu. It did mark vegan options too, but I only saw one so the restaurant still may still not give you many options if you are gluten free and vegan.
I had a tough time choosing between two things you don’t often get to have eating out as a Coeliac – lasagne or ravioli. I ended up opting for the ravioli stuffed with four cheeses with a truffle cream. It was delicious but very rich so may be a bit of a heavy dish for some.
My boyfriend had wagu beef and he wasn’t overly impressed by it but think that’s more to do with the fact they cooked it medium well. Apparently that’s how steaks tend to be cooked in Chile and Argentina so he’s been learning the words to have it medium rare in the future!
I was definitely having dessert whilst I had the option to do so. Unable to decide on one (what Coeliac is used to so much dessert choice?!) I went for the sharing board so I could try a few different desserts. In my head it was one of those deserts that come with three bite size desserts. What turned up was a board with four desserts and good sized portions considering there were four of them! The best one was the lemon meringue pie, such a treat and the dessert Paul picked for himself. My second favourite was the cheesecake, such a delicious bite of creamy heaven! Next up was the brownie that was just a normal brownie but it was topped with manjar (kind of like caramel) icecream which I loved. My least favourite was the three milk cake, it was extremely moist and kind of like a vanilla cake that had been dunked in milk. I’m not keen on milk and the texture was a bit strange so wouldn’t be my top choice of a dessert. Either way I’d eaten more than a sufficient amount by that point and I left the restaurant extremely full and happy. This has to be my favourite dessert I’ve ever ordered gluten free – anywhere!
Zoliakie Kaffee
Facebook page only
My next Gluten Free stop in Santiago was Zoliake Kaffee, a much smaller place that has huge gluten free signs on the windows and a few food items in their counters – mainly empanadas and cakes.
I of course had the empanadas to give me a chance to try some whilst in Santiago, along with a chocolate covered biscuit and a couple of profiteroles. I loved being able to have some empanadas and they were delicious, just the pastry wasn’t very crispy. Typical gluten free pastry that in this case you could tell was gluten free but I was too happy to be eating empanadas to care!
The biscuit was the same – quite nice but crumbly but the profiteroles were really good and I had a bit of a surreal moment sitting in Santiago eating them and feeling so lucky to be there!
For gluten free treats that are hard to find you should definitely check this place out if you find yourself in Santiago.
Valparaíso, Chile
Le Petit Quer
Le Petit Quer is a small 100% gluten free cafe located in Valparaíso. I love visiting gluten free places but I have to say this wasn’t one of my favourites as there were flies flying around the cafe, so it didn’t make it very inviting to sit and eat in. However, the food was all covered and had several baked treats so I got a couple of goodies to go which were worth it in a country where finding gluten free food on the go is difficult.
The ‘pizza slice’ topped with salami and cheese and a brownie topped with a berry cream kept me going up and down the hills of Valparaíso. I also bought a cake pop which I ate on my flight to San Pedro de Atacama, but it got so squashed in my bag that it wasn’t worth photographing but still tasted great!
Likuram
Valparaiso actually has two gluten free cafes. I would definitely have visited Likuram but it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays which is obviously when I was there! Another great reminder to always check opening times when planning gluten free eating!
Asia
Tokyo, Japan
Little Bird
Facebook page only
Japan is a country where it is extremely difficult to eat gluten free so I can’t explain just how much a haven this gluten free cafe is in Harajuku. I’ve never been so grateful for a 100% gluten free menu after a long flight and a couple of days struggling to find things to eat with jet lag! I had carbonara and a pizza that came on a kind of Yorkshire pudding crust but I didn’t care I was just happy to be able to eat safely. The pancake dessert was also incredible!
Australia
Queensland
Gluten Free For Me
As I mentioned in my Eating 100% gluten free in London post (which can be read here) Gluten Free For Me was the first restaurant I ever came across that was 100% gluten free and I was so excited to eat there. We headed there on our drive down the East Coast of Australia where we drove from Cairns to Brisbane over a couple of weeks, stopping at the cafe on the way to Australia Zoo. The waffles tasted like heaven on a plate to me! I also got a sandwich made up to takeaway in case the zoo couldn’t cater for me so I had an amazing day!
However when checking website addresses for this blog post it appears that this cafe closed in early 2017. Another reminder to always check whether places are still open but I’m gutted that this wonderful cafe is no longer trading!
100% gluten free restaurants are opening all the time. I don’t restrict myself to these restaurants but I do like eating at them ahead of flights to take no risks, or I like them for breakfast if I can find them near my hotel to know I can always get a safe start to the day of sightseeing whilst on holiday! Sometimes it’s lovely just to be able to eat at a restaurant and choose anything off the menu without asking loads of questions and worrying whether the staff have really understood your needs.
These are only 100% gluten free restaurants that I have eaten at so of course there are many more. Which ones would you recommend I try?
Happy travels!
The Sightseeing Coeliac x
The Sightseeing Coeliac 
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